for a man to hear;
The road winds onward white and long,
And the best of earth is here!"

XIX

THE CONVENTIONALITIES ONCE MORE

Later in the day they reached Enkeldorn and once more pitched their
tent beside the police camp; but the place is not inviting, and they
were glad to leave early the following morning; for Enkeldorn is the
centre round which many Dutch people congregate to farm small farms,
in what it must be confessed is often the most slovenly and lazy
fashion conceivable. And some of them speak quite openly of how they
hate the English, and look forward to a day when they will be strong
enough to turn them out of the country.

But before that day can come, before union with a South Africa in
which there is Dutch predominance, it is to be hoped England will send
out more and yet more strong, vigorous young settlers, to put brains
and heart and energy into the virgin soil, waiting only for the
craftsman's hand; and so ensure for ever, in union or out of it, an
unswerving predominance of Cecil Rhodes's countrymen: holding his high
aims and hopes and splendid Imperialism in Cecil Rhodes's land.

Two days later the party arrived in Salisbury, and not a little to
their regret, the fashionable garments that had travelled thither by
train to await their arrival had to be duly unpacked and worn. Diana
glanced at herself disconsolately the first afternoon, dressed in an
elegant summer frock, awaiting tea in a drawing-room, and one or two
lady callers known to Mr. Pym who were likely shortly to arrive.
Meryl, seeming lovelier than ever, though perhaps a trifle frailer, as
if some sadness in her mind weighed upon her waking and sleeping
hours, stood at the window, looking over the pretty, well-kept town.

"Why are we here? This is not the wilderness," Diana said grumblingly;
"this is suburban mediocrity. It was not fair to bring me all this way
from home, to have to dress up and look pleasant, and talk banalities
to people I have never seen before and probably shall never see
again."

"You are so inconsistent, Di," Meryl said, with a little affectionate
laugh. "When we arrived at Zimbabwe you said you did not want only old
ruins, you wanted a man. Judging by the number of cyclists in
flannels, carrying tennis racquets or golf clubs, who have passed this
window in the last half-hour, you will find more men, ready no doubt
to hang upon your lightest smile, than you will know what to do with."