“Pieter stood up and stretched gently, trying not to escalate the ache in his ribs to an unbearable pain. The 30 000 Kruger pounds he’d been given should be safe until he could come back for them.
With a sign of relief, Pieter made his way to the barn which housed his covered wagon. Mosiko and Mhlopi arrived and assisted him with inspanning the oxen in preparation for the trek to his brother’s farm which was quite a distance away from any major cities or towns.
We will be safer there.
The other farmworkers were sent to round up his cattle and goats, a tedious task which would take two to three hours.
Pieter checked the yokes, skeis and strops for each pair of oxen. He did not want his animals to be damaged in any way during the journey. Next he checked the trek chain, wooden wheels and spokes and the iron tyres covering the rims of the wheels. He filled the water barrel and hung it under the wagon with the cages filled with chickens.
When he was satisfied that the wagon was ready for the journey, Pieter spoke to his farmworkers: “The British soldiers are coming. Mosiko and Mhlopi will come with me and lead the oxen. Feile and Kleinbooi will help me to drive the cattle. The rest of you must take your women and children and go back to your villages until the danger has passed.”
As he dismissed his farmworkers and told them to travel safely, bitterness burned in his heart like acid.
My farm is lost to me now. It is time for me to assess the future for me and my family.
The wagon was loaded with farm equipment, seeds, kitchen utensils, bedding and clothing. Lastly, Marta and their two little girls, Renette and Suné, wearing their button-up boots and carrying their rag dolls, climbed into the wagon. Mosiko, who assumed the position of voorloper when the family trekked, took his place at the head of the oxen to lead them. Mhlopi, the driver, would walk next to the oxen. Mhlopi cracked his shambok and the heavily-loaded wagon lurched down the rutted track that lead away into the bush veld.
He smiled down reassuringly at Marta from his position on his horse next to the wagon. “Willem and Sannie will be glad to see us. We can help them around their farm until we decide what to do next.”
An extract from A ghost and his gold which explains the meaning of inspanning a team of oxen in historical South Africa. This post was written for Sue Vincent’s weekly photo challenge which you can participate in here: https://scvincent.com/2019/07/04/thursday-photo-prompt-span-writephoto/
roberta-writes.com 
Cool. I love that you are entertaining and informative at the same time! Well done.
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Thank you, Annette. I spent quite a lot of time working out exactly how inspanning worked.
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Great story! Thank you so much for sharing, Robbie! Best wishes, Michael
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A glimpse into a world known to few of us, Robbie. Thank you.
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Thanks, Sue. That is why I wanted to write this novella. To share this war experience with the war as it is so poorly known compared to other wars.
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A story that needs to be told, Robbie.
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What an interesting glimpse into a tough life which is about to get tougher.
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You are right, Janet. This is just the beginning and a lot of the Boer women and children died during this war in the concentration camps. Of course you know I like to write ghost stories.
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That was a good response to Sue’s prompt! (She found a lovely photo for this iteration.)
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Sue does have amazing prompts and a huge selection of great photographs, Priscilla. I love her prompts.
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That’s very good
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Thank you, Danny
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I could feel his fear but determination to get his fsmily to safety!
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I am trying to bring in lots of emotion and show not tell, Denise. I have your new novella on my TBR and am looking forward to reading it.
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🙂 I have a couple of yours on my TBR list. Can’t decide which to read first!
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Thank you, Denise. I appreciate your support.
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Excellent. When will this book be released?
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This is a novella, Darlene, about the Second Anglo Boer War. I still need to send it to Esther for developmental editing. I am going to try to do that next week. I will only release it next year as I have Through the Nethergate coming out in early September and three anthologies coming out in the next few months. I have been very busy.
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You certainly have been busy. I look forward to this one as you have shared bits of it.
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Inspanning is the act of yoking up oxen. My grandpa used the word anytime he was ‘hooking something together.’ He’d inspan the horse trailer to the trucks hitch, for instance. I always thought of it as a romantic western work. Funny, huh?
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That is really interesting, Tom. I thought it was a South African term. It probably is in connection with yoking oxen but the American usage is good to know.
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I was thinking it was Germanic or Old French, which would lead to both South Africa and the US.
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Yes, you are probably right about that. Good point.
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I can imagine Pieter’s anger and the hopelessness he’s fighting to hide from his family. Enjoyed this, Robbie.
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Thank you, Jacquie. I found researching the Second Anglo Boer War quite distressing. The concentration camps were a truly terrible thing and people had to flee their homes as they do in all wars.
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nice share
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Lovely taste of history, you paint the picture and their feelings well!
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Thank you, Kate. The Boer Wars was an interesting time in South African history. There were Aussies here too, fighting on the side of the British.
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I’m fully aware of that, Australia is the ever obedient younger sibling doing UK and USA bidding with the inability to mature or think for ourselves!
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I’ve just finished reading some historical fiction about early America. This piece reminds me of that and the hardships of starting over. The books are: ‘The Dutchman’ in the 1600’s and ‘The Kingsbridge Plot’ in the 1700’s if you were closer I’d mail them to you. Unfortunately there hasn’t been a media rate for out of country for a long time. But if you look for them and find them I think you might enjoy them.
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Hi Jules, thank you for the recommendations and your kind thoughts. It is a fortune to send books to South Africa from the US. I order paperbacks from the UK as it is much more reasonable. I will look these up.
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A intriguing snippet. I am unacquainted with inspanning. I love how you combine history and fiction in your works, Robbie. It’s what I enjoy doing as well.
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It seems that most writers also enjoy research, Mae. I am glad you found this interesting. Inspanning is a very South African term.
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This is absolutely brilliant Sue. I am sure I have read part of this story before.💜💜💜
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I think you have read little pieces, Willow.
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Yes and I remember this guy packing the wife and children off. Excellent story Robbie 💜
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It seems that humans must always be on the run from something. Your historical details as usual fit seamlessly in to the story. (K)
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Unfortunately, you are right about that, Kerfe. That is true to this very day.
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