mile away, and this was the result of irrigation, not
of the opening of the windows of heaven. But, although the sun shone
down from a cloudless sky in the full glory of his midday splendour, his
rays were without power, for there was a keen icy edge upon the air,
stirred by a light breeze that was suggestive of exhilaration combined
with warm clothing, and imparted a very entrancing touch of additional
colour to the cheeks of the girl standing there.

She is a pretty girl, the large pupils of whose blue eyes lend to those
attractive orbs a velvety softness which is in strange contradiction to
the firm cut of the chin and the full though decided lips. She is of
medium height, and her well-rounded figure is arrayed in a blouse and
skirt, about as neat and serviceable a form of feminine attire as
exists--on the veldt or elsewhere; but her hair, wavy and golden, is,
save for a rebellious lock or two over the forehead, concealed within an
ample white _kapje_, or sunbonnet--so becoming a framework to a pretty
face.

Standing there among the dry mimosa bushes which fringe the river bank,
her eyes wander meditatively forth over the brown and treeless plains
beyond. Here and there, black dots moving near or far represent the
staple wealth of that section of country, in the shape of male ostriches
in full plumage, and now and again the stillness is broken by a triple
booming, as that most truculent of bipeds lifts up his voice; but these
are everyday sights and sounds and of them the girl takes not the
smallest notice, nor yet of the antics of one great savage bird, who,
with all his jetty plumage bristling in wrath, towers up to a formidable
height as he presses against the wires of the dividing fence in his
futile efforts to reach her and kick her into smithereens.

Suddenly her eyes dilate and she gives a slight start--even losing a
little of her colour. For this yon black demon stalking up and down in
impotent menace but a few yards off is in no wise responsible. The
fence will take care of him. Can such an effect be produced by the
sight of that tourniquet of dust, far away over the plain, yet whirling
nearer and nearer? Perchance, for no mere erratic "dust-devil" is
yonder cloud. It is raised by the hoofs of a horse.

Yet no assignation is this. Not for the purpose of meeting anybody is
this girl here to-day. For all that her breast heaves somewhat, and her
forsaking colour returns with a little more added as