with a force of Nature that is
titanic, terrifying, and irresistible.

[Illustration: THE GRAVE OF CECIL RHODES]

IV

Since we bid farewell to Cecil Rhodes in this chapter after having
almost continuously touched his career from the moment we reached
Capetown, let us make a final measure of his human side,--and he was
intensely human--particularly with reference to Rhodesia, which is so
inseparably associated with him. His passion for the country that bore
his name exceeded his interest in any of his other undertakings. He
liked the open life of the veldt where he travelled in a sort of gypsy
wagon and camped for the night wherever the mood dictated. It enabled
him to gratify his fondness for riding and shooting.

He was always accompanied by a remarkable servant named Tony, a
half-breed in whom the Portuguese strain predominated. Tony bought his
master's clothes, paid his bills, and was a court of last resort "below
stairs." Rhodes declared that his man could produce a satisfactory meal
almost out of thin air.

Rhodes and Tony were inseparable. Upon one occasion Tony accompanied him
when he was commanded by Queen Victoria to lodge at Sandringham. While
there Rhodes asked Tony what time he could get breakfast, whereupon the
servant replied:

"Royalty does not breakfast, sir, but you can have it in the dining-room
at half past nine." Tony seemed to know everything.

Throughout Rhodesia I found many of Rhodes' old associates who
affectionately referred to him as "The Old Man." I was able to collect
what seemed to be some new Rhodes stories. A few have already been
related. Here is another which shows his quickness in capitalizing a
situation.

In the days immediately following the first Matabele war Rhodes had more
trouble with concession-hunters than with the savages, the Boers, or the
Portuguese. Nearly every free-lance in the territory produced some fake
document to which Lobengula's alleged mark was affixed and offered it to
Rhodes at an excessive price.

One of these gentry framed a plan by which one of the many sons of
Lobengula was to return to Matabeleland, claim his royal rights, and
create trouble generally. The whole idea was to start an uprising and
derange the machinery of the British South Africa Company. The name of
the son was N'jube and at the time the plan was devised he held a place
as messenger in the diamond fields at Kimberley. By the system of
intelligence that he maintained, Rhodes l