Between Snow and Fire — page 250: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

‘TWEEN SNOW AND FIRE. Tele + - submitting to either process if he could possibly help it. He continued to make himself remarkably scarce. Another character who was very particularly wanted was Hlangani, and for this shrewd and daring leader the search was almost as keen as for Kreli himself. Common report had killed him over and over again, but somehow there was no satisfactory evidence of his identification. Then a wild rumour got about that he had been sent by his chief on a mission to invoke the aid of the Zulu King, who at that time was, rightly or wrongly, credited with keeping South Africa in general, and the colony of Natal in particular, in a state of uneasiness and alurm. But, wherever he was, like his chief, and the “ bold gendarmes”’ of the burlesque song, he continued to be “ when wanted never there.” All these reports and many more reached Eustace Milne, who had taken no active part in frontier affairs since we saw him last. He had even been sounded as to his willingness to undertake a post on behalf of the Government which should involve establishing diplomatic relations with the yet combatant bands, but this he had declined. He in- tended tc do what he could for certain of the rebels later on, but meanwhile the time had not yet come. Moreover, he was too happy amid the peaceful idyllic life he was then leading to care to leave it even for a time in _ order to serve a potentially ungrateful country. And it was idyllic. There was quite enough to do on the place to keep even his energetic temperament active. The stock which had constituted the capital of their common. partnership and had been sent to Swaanepoel’s Hoek at the outbreak of the war required considerable looking after, for, owing to the change of ve/dt, it did not thrive as well as could be wished. Andthen the place afforded plenty of sport; far more than Anta’s Kloof had done. Leopards, wild pigs, and bushbucks abounded in the bushy kloofs; indeed, there were rather too many of the former, looking at it from the farming point of view. The valley bottoms and the water courses were full of guinea fowl and francolins, and high up on the mountain slopes, the vaal rkybok might be shot for the going after, to say nothing of a plentiful sprinkling of quail and now and then a bustard. Eustace was often con- strained to admit to himself that he would hardly have be- lieved it possible that life could hold such perfect and un- alloyed happiness. Gomilcboo <S (E(o)