wards
Hans at a hand gallop.

"Ah! it is that devil of a man, Frank Muller!" ejaculated Coetzee. "Now
I wonder what he wants? I always feel cold down the back when he comes
near me."

By this time the plunging black horse was being reined up alongside of
his pony so sharply that it reared till its great hoofs were pawing the
air within a few inches of Hans' head.

"Almighty!" said the old man, tugging his pony round. "Be careful,
nephew, be careful; I do not wish to be crushed like a beetle."

Frank Muller--for it was he--smiled. He had made his horse rear
purposely, in order to frighten the old man, whom he knew to be an
arrant coward.

"Why have you been so long? and what have you done with the Englishmen?
You should have been back half an hour ago."

"And so I should, nephew, and so I should, if I had not been detained.
Surely you do not suppose that I would linger in the accursed place?
Bah," and he spat upon the ground, "it stinks of Englishmen. I cannot
get the taste of them out of my mouth."

"You are a liar, Uncle Coetzee," was the cool answer. "English with the
English, Boer with the Boer. You blow neither hot nor cold. Be careful
lest I show you up. I know you and your talk. Do you remember what you
were saying to the Englishman Niel in the inn-yard at Wakkerstroom
when you turned and saw me? I heard, and I do not forget. You know what
happens to a 'land betrayer'?"

Hans' teeth positively chattered, and his florid face blanched with
fear.

"What do you mean, nephew?" he asked.

"I--ah!--I mean nothing. I was only speaking a word of warning to you as
a friend. I have heard things said about you by----" and he dropped
his voice and whispered a name, at the sound of which poor Hans turned
whiter than ever.

"Well," went on his tormentor, when he had sufficiently enjoyed his
terror, "what sort of terms did you make in Pretoria?"

"Oh, good, nephew, good," he gabbled, delighted to find a fresh subject.
"I found the Englishmen supple as a tanned skin. They will give up their
twelve prisoners for our four. The men are to be in by ten to-morrow.
I told their commandant about Laing's Nek and Ingogo, and he would not
believe me. He thought I lied like himself. They are getting hungry
there now. I saw a Hottentot I knew, and he told me that their bones
were beginning to show."

"They will be through the skin before long," muttered Frank. "Well,
here we are at the house. The General is there. He has jus