purpose. The sight of him
comforted me, in spite of his tale.

'But what can he hope to do?' I asked. 'Though he roused every Kaffir
in South Africa he would be beaten. You say he is an educated man. He
must know he has no chance in the long run.'

'I said he was an educated man, but he is also a Kaffir. He can see
the first stage of a thing, and maybe the second, but no more. That is
the native mind. If it was not like that our chance would be the
worse.'

'You say the scheme is ripe,' I said; 'how ripe?'

Arcoll looked at the clock. 'In half an hour's time Laputa will be
with 'Mpefu. There he will stay the night. To-morrow morning he goes
to Umvelos' to meet Henriques. To-morrow evening the gathering begins.'

'One question,' I said. 'How big a man is Laputa?'

'The biggest thing that the Kaffirs have ever produced. I tell you, in
my opinion he is a great genius. If he had been white he might have
been a second Napoleon. He is a born leader of men, and as brave as a
lion. There is no villainy he would not do if necessary, and yet I
should hesitate to call him a blackguard. Ay, you may look surprised
at me, you two pragmatical Scotsmen; but I have, so to speak, lived
with the man for months, and there's fineness and nobility in him. He
would be a terrible enemy, but a just one. He has the heart of a poet
and a king, and it is God's curse that he has been born among the
children of Ham. I hope to shoot him like a dog in a day or two, but I
am glad to bear testimony to his greatness.'

'If the rising starts to-morrow,' I asked, 'have you any of his plans?'

He picked up a map from the table and opened it. 'The first rendezvous
is somewhere near Sikitola's. Then they move south, picking up
contingents; and the final concentration is to be on the high veld near
Amsterdam, which is convenient for the Swazis and the Zulus. After
that I know nothing, but of course there are local concentrations along
the whole line of the Berg from Mashonaland to Basutoland. Now, look
here. To get to Amsterdam they must cross the Delagoa Bay Railway.
Well, they won't be allowed to. If they get as far, they will be
scattered there. As I told you, I too have laid my train. We have the
police ready all along the scarp of the Berg. Every exit from native
territory is watched, and the frontier farmers are out on commando. We
have regulars on the Delagoa Bay and Natal lines, and a system of field
telegraphs laid