Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland | Page 8

Jew."
"Ah," said Peter, "that's why I wasn't able to make out at first what
nation you could be of; your dress, you know--" Then he stopped, and
said, "Trading here, I suppose? Which country do you come from; are
you a Spanish Jew?"
"I am a Jew of Palestine."
"Ah!" said Peter; "I haven't seen many from that part yet. I came out
with a lot on board ship; and I've seen Barnato and Beit; but they're not
very much like you. I suppose it's coming from Palestine makes the
difference."
All fear of the stranger had now left Peter Halket. "Come a little nearer

the fire," he said, "you must be cold, you haven't too much wraps. I'm
chill in this big coat." Peter Halket pushed his gun a little further away
from him; and threw another large log on the fire. "I'm sorry I haven't
anything to eat to offer you; but I haven't had anything myself since last
night. It's beastly sickening, being out like this with nothing to eat.
Wouldn't have thought a fellow'd feel so bad after only a day of it.
Have you ever been out without grub?" said Peter cheerfully, warming
his hands at the blaze.
"Forty days and nights," said the stranger.
"Forty days! Ph--e--ew!" said Peter. "You must have have had a lot to
drink, or you wouldn't have stood it. I was feeling blue enough when
you turned up, but I'm better now, warmer."
Peter Halket re-arranged the logs on the fire.
"In the employ of the Chartered Company, I suppose?" said Peter,
looking into the fire he had made.
"No," said the stranger; "I have nothing to do with the Chartered
Company."
"Oh," said Peter, "I don't wonder, then, that things aren't looking very
smart with you! There's not too much cakes and ale up here for those
that do belong to it, if they're not big-wigs, and none at all for those
who don't. I tried it when I first came up here. I was with a prospector
who was hooked on to the Company somehow, but I worked on my
own account for the prospector by the day. I tell you what, it's not the
men who work up here who make the money; it's the big-wigs who get
the concessions!"
Peter felt exhilarated by the presence of the stranger. That one unarmed
man had robbed him of all fear.
Seeing that the stranger did not take up the thread of conversation, he
went on after a time: "It wasn't such a bad life, though. I only wish I
was back there again. I had two huts to myself, and a couple of nigger

girls. It's better fun," said Peter, after a while, "having these black
women than whites. The whites you've got to support, but the niggers
support you! And when you've done with them you can just get rid of
them. I'm all for the nigger gals." Peter laughed. But the stranger sat
motionless with his arms about his knees.
"You got any girls?" said Peter. "Care for niggers?"
"I love all women," said the stranger, refolding his arms about his
knees.
"Oh, you do, do you?" said Peter. "Well, I'm pretty sick of them. I had
bother enough with mine," he said genially, warming his hands by the
fire, and then interlocking the fingers and turning the palms towards the
blaze as one who prepares to enjoy a good talk. "One girl was only
fifteen; I got her cheap from a policeman who was living with her, and
she wasn't much. But the other, by Gad! I never saw another nigger like
her; well set up, I tell you, and as straight as that--" said Peter, holding
up his finger in the firelight. "She was thirty if she was a day. Fellows
don't generally fancy women that age; they like slips of girls. But I set
my heart on her the day I saw her. She belonged to the chap I was with.
He got her up north. There was a devil of a row about his getting her,
too; she'd got a nigger husband and two children; didn't want to leave
them, or some nonsense of that sort: you know what these niggers are?
Well, I tried to get the other fellow to let me have her, but the devil a
bit he would. I'd only got the other girl, and I didn't much fancy her;
she was only a child. Well, I went down Umtali way and got a lot of
liquor and stuff, and when I got back to camp I found them clean dried
out. They hadn't had a drop of liquor in camp for ten days, and the
rainy season coming on and no knowing when they'd get any. Well,