ermost ends of being. But unhappily of their experiences we
remember nothing when we awake. In half sleep it is different;
then we do retain some recollection.

In this curious condition of mind it seemed to me that Rodd said
to Marnham--

"Why have you brought these men here?"

"I did not bring them here," he answered. "Luck, Fate, Fortune,
God or the Devil, call it what you will, brought them here,
though if you had your wish, it is true they would never have
come. Still, as they have come, I am glad. It is something to
me, living in this hell, to get a chance of talking to English
gentlemen again before I die."

"English gentlemen," remarked Rodd reflectively, "Well, Anscombe
is of course, but how about that other hunter? After all, in
what way is he better than the scores of other hunters and Kaffir
traders and wanderers whom one meets in this strange land?"

"In what way indeed?" thought I to myself, in my dream.

"If you can't see, I can't explain to you. But as I happen to
know, the man is of blood as good as mine--and a great deal
better than yours," he added with a touch of insolence.
"Moreover, he has an honest name among white and black, which is
much in this country."

"Yes," replied the doctor in the same reflective voice, "I agree
with you, I let him pass as a gentleman. But I repeat, Why did
you bring them here when with one more word it would have been so
easy--" and he stopped.

"I have told you, it was not I. What are you driving at?"

"Do you think it is exactly convenient, especially when we are
under the British flag again, to have two people who, we both
admit, are English gentlemen, that is, clean, clear-eyed men,
considering us and our affairs for an indefinite period, just
because you wish for the pleasure of their society? Would it not
have been better to tell those Basutos to let them trek on to
Pretoria?"

"I don't know what would have been better. I repeat, what are
you driving at?

"Heda is coming home in a day or two; she might be here any
time," remarked Rodd as he knocked the ashes out of his pipe.

"Yes, because you made me write and say that I wanted her. But
what of that?"

"Nothing in particular, except that I am not sure that I wish her
to associate with 'an English gentleman' like this Anscombe."

Marnham laughed scornfully. "Ah! I understand," he said. "Too
clean and straight. Complications might ensue and the rest of
it. Well, I wish to God th