Off to the Wilds | Page 5

to the wilds."
CHAPTER TWO.
WHY THEY WENT AWAY.
It was about two years before this that Mr Edward Rogers, a gentleman
holding a post of importance in the City of London, had purchased
some land and come out to dwell in Natal. For physician after
physician had been consulted, seaside and health resort visited, but as
the time glided on the verdict of the doctors became more and more
apparent as a true saying, that unless Mrs Rogers was taken to a
warmer climate her days would be few.
Even if she were removed the doctors said that she could not recover;
but still her days might be prolonged. What was more, they strongly
advised such a course in favour of young Richard, who was weak and
delicate to a degree.
"Then you really consider it necessary?" said Mr Rogers to the great
physician who had been called in.
"I do indeed. As I have said, it will prolong your wife's days, and most
probably it will turn that delicate, sickly boy into a strong man."
On being asked further what country he would recommend, he
promptly replied,--

"South Africa."
"Natal is the place," he continued. "There you have the Drakensberg,
and you can choose your own elevation, so as to get a pure, temperate
climate, free from the cold of the mountains and the heat of the plains."
Mr Rogers was a man of prompt action, for the health of those dear to
him was his first consideration. The consequence was that after rapidly
making his arrangements, and providing the necessaries for his new
home, he took passage to Durban, arrived there in safety with his wife,
two sons, and Dennis; then made his way to Maritzburg; and soon after
he had purchased an extensive tract of land, and a pleasantly situated
home, with garden in full perfection, the owner of which, having made
money in the colony, wished to retire to England.
Here for a time Mrs Rogers had seemed better, and undoubtedly her life
was considerably prolonged. Gardening, farming, and a little hunting
formed the occupations of the father and sons, and for a time all was
happiness in the sunny far-off home. Then the much-dreaded day came,
and they were left to mourn for a tender wife and mother, whose loss
was irreparable.
Richard, who partook greatly of his mother's nature, was, like his father,
completely prostrated by the terrible loss; and though time somewhat
assuaged his grief, he seemed to have gone back in his health, and lost
the way he had made up since he left England, and he had become so
weak and delicate that Mr Rogers had consulted the doctor, who from
time to time visited their far-off home.
"Medicine is of no use, my dear sir," he said frankly. "I can do him no
good. I suppose he sits indoors a good deal and mopes?"
"Exactly."
"Then look here, my dear sir, give him a thorough change. You are not
tied to your farming in any way?"
"Not in the least."

"Then fit up a waggon, take your horses, and have a few months'
campaign in the wilds yonder. You want a change as badly as the boy,
and you will both come back, I'll venture to say, doubled in strength.
Why, the ivory and skins you'll collect will pay your expenses. I wish I
had the chance to go."
It was settled then, and the waggon was being fitted up with
ammunition and stores; horses, guaranteed to be well-salted, had been
purchased for Mr Rogers and his boys. The two young Zulus who had
been hanging about the place for months, making little trips with Dick
and Jack, were to go; and in addition a couple of trustworthy blacks,
experienced as waggon-driver and foreloper, had been engaged; so that
in a very few days they would say good-bye to civilisation for months,
and go seek for health in the far-off wilds.
The boys were delighted, for Mr Rogers proposed that they should aim
for the Zambesi River, and seek some of the seldom-traversed lands,
where game abounded, and where the wonders of nature would be
opened to them as from an unsealed book.
If Dick and Jack were delighted, the two Zulu boys were half mad with
joy. As soon as they knew that they were to be of the party they seemed
to have become frantic, going through the actions of hunting and
spearing wild beasts--knocking down birds with their kiris, which they
threw with unerring aim--pantomimically fighting lions, one of them
roaring and imitating the fierce creature's "oomph, oomph," in a way
that sounded terribly real, while the other threatened him with his
assegai.
Then they were always showing their cleverness as hunters by stalking
people--crawling up to them