till powerful. Watching my
chance, I dropped my knob-kerrie on the shoulder of the highwayman. His
arm fell helplessly to his side; at the same time my uncle struck him
with his fist and he fell to the ground.

We did not wait to see more, because these men were usually provided
with pistols, and after the treatment they had received, we believed
they would not be very particular about their use. We therefore moved
off as rapidly as we could, and reached home in safety; my uncle little
the worse for his struggle, except that his coat was torn. At that date
the regular police did not exist, and our report of the affair produced
no results. We, the next day, visited the scene of our encounter, and
found unmistakable "spoor" of the highwaymen having suffered, as there
was a great deal of blood on the ground where the man whom I had struck
had fallen.

I was much complimented by all my friends, to whom my uncle related the
adventure; but I explained to them that such scenes were not new to me,
that the life I had formerly led had trained me specially so as not to
be surprised or taken at an advantage, and it would be strange indeed
if, now that I had come to civilisation, I should forget all my early
education.

Whether it was this adventure, or merely the memory of the past that
caused me to become unsettled, yet it was a fact that I had a growing
desire to once more visit the country where I had passed such eventful
years. In the solitude of my bedroom I used to carry on imaginary
conversations in Caffre with my old companions, and retraced my career
through the various adventures that had occurred. Weeks passed without
my mentioning this feeling to my uncle; but one evening he was speaking
about Mr Rossmar, when I said that I believed a very profitable trip
might be made to Natal, where ivory, ostrich-feathers, and leopard-skins
could be procured for a few beads or some cheap guns.

My uncle remarked that Mr Rossmar had, curiously enough, suggested the
same thing, the difficulty being to find a trustworthy person who knew
the country, and who would undertake the business.

I at once said, "I could do it myself. I know the country, can speak
the language, and should be able to do away with `middle men,'" middle
men being the intermediate traders who make their profit by buying cheap
and selling dear.

"Would you like such a trip?" said my uncle.

"Most certainly I should," I replied. "Lately I have though