d be content
with such work at such a wage. Yes, I have envied Kafirs,
Katje; there are times for all women when we envy the dead.

"But it was the day after that that the trouble came upon
us, great and violent and unawaited. Kornel had been up at
daybreak again, working as strongly as ever, though his
mouth was loose with the strain and his face very yellow
and white. The drying and the dry bricks were lying on the
ground in long rows, and some which were hard were already
stacked to make room for others. It was a tremendous output
for one man in the time it had taken; and when the Kafirs
turned out, gabbling and laughing as usual, they stopped to
look in surprise at our plot and the great quantity of
bricks. They gathered in a group, and talked among
themselves and pointed, and presently I was aware there was
something toward. One of them in particular,--a great brown
brute, with bulky shoulders and huge arms, seemed to be
concerned in the affair; he stared continually towards
Kornel, and talked loudly, his voice running up into the
squeak of a Kafir when he is excited, or angry, or afraid;
and presently he stepped over our border line and walked
down to the bricks. He was jabbering to himself all the
time as he stooped and picked up bricks and examined them
closely, and glanced down to the spruit where Kornel was
still working.

"I watched him, but I said nothing, hoping he would go away
before Kornel saw him; but he kept on, and presently my man
looked up.

"He saw the Kafir at once, and climbed up the bank pretty
quickly. There was something like a smile on his face, a
look as though he had found the relief he needed. He walked
swiftly over to the Kafir.

"'What are you doing here?' he demanded, keeping his eyes
unwinkingly on the staring eyes of the Kafir.

"The latter held a dried brick in his great paw, and now he
thrust it forward and broke into a torrent of speech. He
accused Kornel of having trespassed in the night and stolen
the bricks of the Kafirs. No man, he said, could have made
so many by himself, and then he began to call names. I
shuddered and put my hands before my face, and took them
down again in time to see Kornel's fist fly up and out, and
the great Kafir reel back from a vicious blow in the face.

"But he gave way for a moment only. Next instant he
recovered and his huge arm rose, and I screamed and ran
forward as the brick, dry and hard as a stone, struck
Kornel on the head and t