gun or one of the rifles. There
will be four of us--you and I and Cornelis and Adrian--and we can drive
out that _hoek_ thoroughly."

"I don't care to hunt to-day, Oom Stephanus," said Adrian. "I must get
back. I have many things to do at home."

Stephanus looked narrowly at his nephew, whose manner struck him as
strange. He had replied in Dutch, whereas the conversation hitherto had
been in English, but that might be due to his new-born and exuberant
patriotism.

"Of course, then, you must see to them, nephew," he said. "The reason
why so many of us don't get on is, that we are too fond of sitting on
the stoep and smoking our pipes." He himself and his son had been at
work in the "lands" and at the goatkraals ever since sunrise. At the
same time he was rather surprised at the refusal of his nephew, who was
a keen sportsman, and would have had a chance of testing his new rifle,
which had already been inspected and its points critically discussed.

But Adrian had an object in his refusal, and the name of that object was
Aletta. Hardly had the other three men got out of sight than he tried
to persuade the girl to take a turn in the garden with him. Ordinarily
she would have needed no persuasion, but to-day a sort of instinct
rendered the idea distasteful to her. But he waxed eloquent upon their
common topic--The Cause--and she yielded.

He told her about the delegate from Pretoria--"the Patriot," as he
reverentially termed him, and how that Olympian Jupiter had talked with
him--had it been the President himself he could hardly have felt more
proud. He told her how the seed had been sown on well-watered and
well-prepared ground, and she listened with real interest, for they had
an ideal in common, these two young people, and were both burning with a
lofty enthusiasm. Besides, the girl was really very fond of Adrian, who
was a fine, manly fellow. Now she predicted great things for him. He
would rise to be one of the most prominent men in the new Dutch South
Africa. There was no limit to the dazzling honours she beheld in store
for him.

Yes, the conspiracy was nearly complete. There was not a Dutchman
within a radius of fifty miles, he told her, who was not ready to rise,
who would not muster at the appointed time and place, rifle in hand, to
throw off the English yoke. Those cursed English! He trusted that
their future rulers would not allow one single Englishman to remain in
the country--no, not o