Finding We Had No Carriage, He
Posted Off And Borrowed A Cart Of One Man And Harness Of Another,
And Put His And His Son's Riding Horses To It, To Take Mrs. D- And
Me Home.
As it was still early, he took us a 'little drive'; and
oh, ye gods!
What a terrific and dislocating pleasure was that! At
a hard gallop, Mr. M- (with the mildest and steadiest air and with
perfect safety) took us right across country. It is true there
were no fences; but over bushes, ditches, lumps of rock,
watercourses, we jumped, flew, and bounded, and up every hill we
went racing pace. I arrived at home much bewildered, and feeling
more like Burger's Lenore than anything else, till I saw Mr. M-'s
steady, pleasant face quite undisturbed, and was informed that such
was the way of driving of Cape farmers.
We found the luckless Jack in such a state of furious drunkenness
that he had to be dismissed on the spot, not without threats of the
'Tronk', and once more Kleenboy fills the office of boots. He
returned in a ludicrous state of penitence and emaciation, frankly
admitting that it was better to work hard and get 'plenty grub',
than to work less and get none; - still, however, protesting against
work at all.
January 7th. - For the last four days it has again been blowing a
wintry hurricane. Every one says that the continuance of these
winds so late into the summer (this answers to July) is unheard of,
and MUST cease soon.
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