only help he has.

Who is Swartboy?

Look into the horse-kraal, and you will there see Swartboy engaged,
along with his young master Hendrik, in saddling a pair of horses. You
may notice that Swartboy appears to be about thirty years old, and he is
full that; but if you were to apply a measuring rule to him, you would
find him not much over four feet in height! He is stoutly built,
however, and would measure better in a horizontal direction. You may
notice that he is of a yellow complexion, although his name might lead
you to fancy he was black--for "Swartboy" means "black-boy."

You may observe that his nose is flat and sunk below the level of his
cheeks; that his cheeks are prominent, his lips very thick, his nostrils
wide, his face beardless, and his head almost hairless--for the small
kinky wool-knots thinly scattered over his skull can scarcely be
designated hair. You may notice, moreover, that his head is monstrously
large, with ears in proportion, and that the eyes are set obliquely, and
have a Chinese expression. You may notice about Swartboy all those
characteristics that distinguish the "Hottentots" of South Africa.

Yet Swartboy is not a Hottentot--though he is of the same race. He is a
Bushman.

How came this wild Bushman into the service of the ex-field-cornet Von
Bloom? About that there is a little romantic history. Thus:--

Among the savage tribes of Southern Africa there exists a very cruel
custom,--that of abandoning their aged or infirm, and often their sick
or wounded, to die in the desert. Children leave their parents behind
them, and the wounded are often forsaken by their comrades with no other
provision made for them beyond a day's food and a cup of water!

The Bushman Swartboy had been the victim of this custom. He had been
upon a hunting excursion with some of his own kindred, and had been
sadly mangled by a lion. His comrades, not expecting him to live, left
him on the plain to die; and most certainly would he have perished had
it not been for our field-cornet. The latter, as he was "trekking" over
the plains, found the wounded Bushman, lifted him into his wagon,
carried him on to his camp, dressed his wounds, and nursed him till he
became well. That is how Swartboy came to be in the service of the
field-cornet.

Though gratitude is not a characteristic of his race, Swartboy was not
ungrateful. When all the other servants ran away, he remained faithful
to his master; and since that t