over the Bakwains.

I explained the impossibility of my complying with his wish, even though
my principles as an Englishman had not stood in the way, by referring to
an instance in which Sechele had gone with his whole force to punish
an under-chief without my knowledge. This man, whose name was Kake,
rebelled, and was led on in his rebellion by his father-in-law, who
had been regicide in the case of Sechele's father. Several of those who
remained faithful to that chief were maltreated by Kake while passing
to the Desert in search of skins. We had just come to live with the
Bakwains when this happened, and Sechele consulted me. I advised mild
measures, but the messengers he sent to Kake were taunted with the
words, "He only pretends to wish to follow the advice of the teacher:
Sechele is a coward; let him come and fight if he dare." The next
time the offense was repeated, Sechele told me he was going to hunt
elephants; and as I knew the system of espionage which prevails among
all the tribes, I never made inquiries that would convey the opinion
that I distrusted them. I gave credit to his statement. He asked
the loan of a black-metal pot to cook with, as theirs of pottery are
brittle. I gave it and a handful of salt, and desired him to send back
two tit-bits, the proboscis and fore-foot of the elephant. He set off,
and I heard nothing more until we saw the Bakwains carrying home their
wounded, and heard some of the women uttering the loud wail of sorrow
for the dead, and others pealing forth the clear scream of victory. It
was then clear that Sechele had attacked and driven away the rebel.

Mentioning this to the commandant in proof of the impossibility of
granting his request, I had soon an example how quickly a story can grow
among idle people. The five guns were, within one month, multiplied into
a tale of five hundred, and the cooking-pot, now in a museum at Cape
Town, was magnified into a cannon; "I had myself confessed to the loan."
Where the five hundred guns came from, it was easy to divine; for,
knowing that I used a sextant, my connection with government was a
thing of course; and, as I must know all her majesty's counsels, I was
questioned on the subject of the indistinct rumors which had reached
them of Lord Rosse's telescope. "What right has your government to
set up that large glass at the Cape to look after us behind the Cashan
Mountains?"

Many of the Boers visited us afterward at Kolobeng, some for m