t prevented her receiving
his addresses more kindly, but that if an elopement could be arranged
she would be willing to accompany him. At the same time the manner of
the fair one altered; she met her admirer's gaze with a disingenuously
languishing eye, she pressed his hand at meeting and at parting, she
replied to his frequent letters in fervent if ungrammatical terms. Old
Moore was in the seventh heaven of delighted anticipation.

D acted the part of mutual friend. The details of the elopement were
duly arranged; it was to take place on the following Saturday night,
after the bar had closed. The lady's absence would thus not be noticed,
the bar being closed on Sunday. By Monday the lovers would be over the
Boshof Hills and far away across the wide plains of the Orange Free
State. Old Moore acquiesced ecstatically, and engaged, at a very heavy
cost, a cart with a spanking team of horses.

At the specified time, 12.30 a.m. on Sunday, the equipage stood ready
at the appointed spot. Soon a cloaked figure, heavily veiled, was seen
to approach with faltering steps, leaning on the arm of the mutual
friend. The latter whispered to the impatient lover that the lady felt
her position keenly, and begged that she might be left to herself for a
time until her feelings became composed. Shrinkingly and in silence she
climbed into the cart. Moore followed, and a start was made along the
Boshof road.

The first stopping-place was at a wayside hotel a few miles out. Here
Moore alighted for the purpose of obtaining some refreshment. On
returning to the cart he was astonished to find that his companion had
so far recovered from her nervousness as to be able to alight as well.
She was standing in the road. A full moon, appropriate to the occasion
in more senses than one, was shining. Feeling that the time had arrived
when he might assume the privileges of a lover, Moore approached and
attempted to slip an arm around his charmer's waist. To his
astonishment, however, she lifted up her skirts and began to dance a
"can-can" in the road. It then became apparent that her legs were
clothed in trousers. The lady was at home in bed; she had been
personated by a graceless young cub whose stature was about the same as
hers.

The morning market at "New Rush" used to be crowded by wagons loaded
with game. Most of this was shot on the flats beyond the Boshof Hills
that range which is visible, about ten miles to the north-eastward,
from Kimberley.