When the sun rose they found themselves in a tract somewhat less arid
and inhuman; and, at last, at the rise of a gentle slope, they saw, half
a mile before them, a large farmhouse partly clad with creepers, and a
little plot of turf, the fruit of eternal watering; item, a flower-bed;
item, snow-white palings; item, an air of cleanliness and neatness
scarcely known to those dirty descendants of clean ancestors, the Boers.
At some distance a very large dam glittered in the sun, and a troop of
snow-white sheep were watering at it.
"ENGLAND!" cried Christopher.
"Ay, sir," said Phoebe; "as nigh as man can make it." But soon she began
to fret: "Oh, dear! where are they all? If it was me, I'd be at the door
looking out. Ah, there goes Yuke to rouse them up."
"Come, Pheeb, don't you fidget," said Dick kindly. "Why, the lazy lot
are scarce out of their beds by this time."
"More shame for 'em. If they were away from me, and coming home, I
should be at the door day AND night, I know. Ah!"
She uttered a scream of delight, for just then, out came Ucatella, with
little Tommy on her shoulder, and danced along to meet her. As she came
close, she raised the chubby child high in the air, and he crowed;
and then she lowered him to his mother, who rushed at him, seized,
and devoured him with a hundred inarticulate cries of joy and love
unspeakable.
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