h so that he soon became of real help to Mr Hunter.

In the afternoon he played cricket or drove out with Wilfred, and in the
evening he and his friend frequently sauntered into the town, and played
billiards at a large restaurant which was a popular rendezvous. Here he
met numbers of Englishmen, and in addition several Boers, some of whom
he learnt to like. But the younger men were for the most part odious,
and gave themselves such airs that the Uitlanders held aloof from them.

Now it happened that Jack and Wilfred frequently played with two other
young fellows, one of whom was a delicate lad about Jack's age, who had
come to Africa for the sake of his health. His name was Mathews, and
Jack took a great fancy to him. He was quiet and dignified, seldom
spoke unless asked a question, and was as inoffensive and harmless a
being as anyone could have wished to meet.

But this very mildness was to be the cause of trouble, as Jack was soon
to learn.

Amongst the young Boers who visited the restaurant was one tall young
man of about twenty-five, who made himself more objectionable than any
of the others. He was bumptious to a degree, and openly expressed his
hatred of all Englishmen. Even in the billiard saloon his sneers were
loudly uttered, so that Jack itched to thrash him on several occasions.
But Wilfred dissuaded him.

"Be careful, Jack," he exclaimed earnestly, one evening, when the Boer
had been more than usually hostile. "Don't take any notice of the
brute, or it will lead you into trouble. I know him well, and so does
Father, and I can tell you that Piet Maartens, as he calls himself, is a
scoundrel, and a most dangerous man to have anything to do with. He is
thickly in with the Kruger gang, and if all is true that has been said
of him, he has a reputation that would hang a man in England. I have no
wish to blacken his character. I merely tell the truth when I say that
he has treated more than one of the Kaffirs on his father's farm so
brutally as to cause death. Keep clear of him, Jack!"

"I'll do my best, Wilfred," Jack answered slowly, "but he'd better look
out. I'm not going to stand quietly by much longer and listen to his
sneers. One would think we Englishmen were dirt beneath his feet. Up
to the present his remarks have been general, but I'll tell you this, if
he shouts any of his names at me, I'll show him that an Englishman is as
good as, and perhaps better than, a Boer. I've got a game