om Zeeta and went to bed.

Japp was sober next morning and made me some kind of apology. He had
chronic lumbago, he said, and 'to go on the bust' now and then was the
best cure for it. Then he proceeded to initiate me into my duties in a
tone of exaggerated friendliness. 'I took a fancy to you the first time
I clapped eyes on you,' he said. 'You and me will be good friends,
Crawfurd, I can see that. You're a spirited young fellow, and you'll
stand no nonsense. The Dutch about here are a slim lot, and the
Kaffirs are slimmer. Trust no man, that's my motto. The firm know
that, and I've had their confidence for forty years.'

The first day or two things went well enough. There was no doubt that,
properly handled, a fine trade could be done in
Blaauwildebeestefontein. The countryside was crawling with natives,
and great strings used to come through from Shangaan territory on the
way to the Rand mines. Besides, there was business to be done with the
Dutch farmers, especially with the tobacco, which I foresaw could be
worked up into a profitable export. There was no lack of money either,
and we had to give very little credit, though it was often asked for.
I flung myself into the work, and in a few weeks had been all round the
farms and locations. At first Japp praised my energy, for it left him
plenty of leisure to sit indoors and drink. But soon he grew
suspicious, for he must have seen that I was in a fair way to oust him
altogether. He was very anxious to know if I had seen Colles in
Durban, and what the manager had said. 'I have letters,' he told me a
hundred times, 'from Mr Mackenzie himself praising me up to the skies.
The firm couldn't get along without old Peter Japp, I can tell you.' I
had no wish to quarrel with the old man, so I listened politely to all
he said. But this did not propitiate him, and I soon found him so
jealous as to be a nuisance. He was Colonial-born and was always
airing the fact. He rejoiced in my rawness, and when I made a blunder
would crow over it for hours. 'It's no good, Mr Crawfurd; you new
chums from England may think yourselves mighty clever, but we men from
the Old Colony can get ahead of you every time. In fifty years you'll
maybe learn a little about the country, but we know all about it before
we start.' He roared with laughter at my way of tying a voorslag, and
he made merry (no doubt with reason) on my management of a horse. I
kept my temper pretty well, b