The wanderer in Africa

In Short

Set against the backdrop of an African wasteland and an English farm, the book follows David Aspinall, a wilful youth who rejects his father's quiet guidance for a life of selfish indulgence. After falling into crime in London and fleeing to foreign shores, he is abandoned by a cruel employer in the desert. Through thirst, a lion encounter, and spiritual awakening tied to the Thirty-second Psalm, David repents, returns home with a restored conscience, and finds peace at last on a snowy Christmas Eve.

The Story

The narrative opens in a sandy African waste where the Dutch Boer Hans Kuhe and his Hottentot driver, Pollux, abuse their exhausted oxen. David Aspinall, an English lad serving as the Boer's overworked and underappreciated helper, nurses a bruised ankle from an ox kick. Left behind in the desert to perish after asking to ride on the overloaded wagon, David faces certain death from thirst and wild beasts. In his utter desolation, childhood memories of his Dorsetshire home and scripture lessons, particularly the Thirty-second Psalm, flood his mind. He discovers a water-melon and an edible root, which sustain him, and later survives a terrifying confrontation with a lion when English hunters—Manners and Carlton—shoot the beast just as it prepares to spring.

Flashbacks reveal how David reached this desolate state. The son of an honest, God-fearing Dorsetshire farmer, John Aspinall, David despised farm life and the prospect of a quiet future. Despite gentle pleas from his mother, his sister Minnie, and warnings about his duty to his ailing father, David chose to seek fortune in London. His reckless path of drinking and destructive mischief culminated in an arrest for property damage. Dragged before a magistrate, David was crushed to find his aging father present, having traveled to London on crutches after receiving a telegram. Refusing to face his village, David rejected his father's plea to return home and instead worked his passage to the African coast, plunging deeper into hardship under the tyrannical Hans Kuhe.

Following his rescue by Manners and Carlton, David finds a heavy leathern purse filled with gold dropped by the fleeing Boer on the track. Tempted to steal the money to fund his journey home, conscience prevails over the tempter, and David resists. Shortly afterward, the hunters discover Hans Kuhe's wagon abandoned and plundered by Bushmen, with the cruel Boer lying mortally wounded in the sand from a poisoned dart. Despite receiving water and brandy, Kuhe dies without hope or repentance, buried near the Quagga Fountain.

The scene shifts months later to Greenside Farm on a freezing Christmas Eve. The household—including Farmer Aspinall, who no longer needs his crutch, his wife, and his daughters Minnie, Jenny, Eliza, Bessy, and little Nelly—prepares evergreen decorations for the holiday. Amid reflections on past trials and blessings, David returns home a changed man, humbled, repentant, and reconciled with his family, proving the timeless truth that those who trust in the Lord are compassed about with mercy.

How It Unfolds

• Night on the waste: Stranded in the African desert with a swollen ankle, David Aspinall meditates on the Thirty-second Psalm as memories of his English home provide unexpected comfort.
• Wanderings: A look backward reveals David's privileged upbringing in Dorsetshire, his stubborn rejection of his father's wishes, his move to London, and his subsequent arrest for rowdy street behavior.
• Forsaken: Confronted by his haggard father in a London courtroom, David stubbornly refuses to return home and instead ships out to Africa, where he is eventually abandoned by the brutal Boer Hans Kuhe to die of thirst.
• Not forsaken: Alone in the wilderness, David discovers a life-saving water-melon and edible root, maintains a protective night fire, and survives a tense, nerve-wracking encounter with a stalking lion when passing hunters shoot it dead.
• Resolutions: Rescued by Manners and Carlton, David refuses to steal a lost purse of gold belonging to his former master, choosing honesty over personal gain and resolving to seek divine guidance.
• Home: Months later, after the deserted Hans Kuhe dies unrepentant from a Bushman's dart, David returns safely to Greenside Farm just in time for a joyful, restored family Christmas.

The People

• David Aspinall: An ambitious, sharp, and self-willed English lad who loves himself best of all. He runs away from his rural home for excitement, suffers the severe consequences of crime and desertion in Africa, and ultimately returns transformed through repentance and humility.
• John Aspinall: David’s honest, God-fearing father and a Dorsetshire farmer whose frail health and quiet integrity are strained by his son's rebellion. He bears deep grief with dignity and ultimately regains his health and his son.
• Minnie Aspinall: David’s gentle, thoughtful eldest sister. She acts as her father's comfort and makes a final, tender appeal to David's duty before his departure, remaining a steadfast voice of grace throughout the family's trials.
• Hans Kuhe: A coarse, bulky Dutch Boer whose bloated features reflect a life of intemperance fueled by a brandy-bottle and a pipe. He treats his servants with cruel disdain, abandons David in the desert, and meets a lonely, unregenerate end.
• Manners and Carlton: Generous English hunters exploring the African interior. They rescue David from the lion, admire his courage and honesty, and unknowingly highlight his past mistakes through casual conversations about character.

In Its Own Voice

• > "'Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.'" This verse from the Thirty-second Psalm breaks through David's despair on his first lonely night in the desert, offering him his initial spark of spiritual comfort.
• > "'I'll never go back!'" David utters this passionate exclamation in London, refusing his father's plea to return to Greenside Farm because he is too proud to face the judgment of his village.
• > "'There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.'" This solemn epitaph marks the lonely woodland grave of Hans Kuhe, who dies without faith, repentance, or hope after a life governed by self-will.

What It's Really About

The book serves as a narrative illustration of the Thirty-second Psalm, exploring the heavy spiritual and psychological toll of unconfessed sin and stubborn pride. It argues that true repentance requires more than mere remorse or self-hatred; it demands a surrender of personal will to divine guidance. Through David's physical and moral trials in the African wilderness, the text examines the contrast between the self-seeking sinner—who must be held in check with bit and bridle—and the godly individual who is guided gently by the eye of faith. It poses fundamental questions about human accountability, the dangers of rejecting parental and spiritual authority, and the certainty of divine mercy for the truly repentant.

Why Read It Today

Modern readers seeking a fast-paced, action-packed adventure might find the heavy didactic tone, archaic period attitudes, and lengthy theological musings challenging to navigate. However, anyone patient enough to look past its Victorian Sunday-school framing will discover a remarkably vivid psychological portrait of youthful arrogance and redemption. The descriptions of the African desert—the scorching sand, the lonely campfire vigil, and the heart-pounding standoff with a stalking lion—possess a raw, atmospheric tension that keeps the pages turning. Reading it feels like stepping into a nineteenth-century lantern slide show of moral earnestness paired with genuine physical peril. What stays with you long after the final page is the striking contrast between the harsh, unforgiving wastes of the outer world and the warm, glowing hearth of the English farmhouse where forgiveness ultimately waits.