of grass-clothed veldt beneath, bending and
rippling like a corn-field in the quick breath of the morning, space
upon space of deep-blue sky overhead with ne'er a cloud to dim it, and
the swift rush of the wind between. Then to the left there, impressive
to look on and conducive to solemn thoughts, the mountains rear their
crests against the sky, and, crowned with the gathered snows of the
centuries whose monuments they are, from aeon to aeon gaze majestically
out over the wide plains and the ephemeral ant-like races who tread
them, and while they endure think themselves the masters of their little
world. And over all--mountain, plain, and flashing stream--the glorious
light of the African sun and the Spirit of Life moving now as it once
moved upon the darkling waters.

John stood and gazed at the untamed beauty of the scene, in his mind
comparing it to many cultivated prospects which he had known, and coming
to the conclusion that, however desirable the presence of civilised man
might be in the world, it could not be said that his operations really
add to its beauty. For the old line, "Nature unadorned adorned the
most," still remains true in more senses than one.

Presently his reflections were interrupted by the step of Silas
Croft, which, notwithstanding his age and bent frame, still rang firm
enough--and he turned to greet him.

"Well, Captain Niel," said the old man, "up already! It looks well if
you mean to take to farming. Yes, it's a pretty view, and a pretty place
too. Well, I made it. Twenty-five years ago I rode up here and saw this
spot. Look, you see that rock there behind the house? I slept under it
and woke at sunrise and looked out at this beautiful scene and at the
great veldt (it was all alive with game then), and I said to myself,
'Silas, for five-and-twenty years have you wandered about this great
country, and now you are getting tired of it; you've never seen a fairer
spot than this or a healthier; be a wise man and stop here.' And so I
did. I bought the 3,000 _morgen_ (6,000 acres), more or less, for 10
pounds down and a case of gin, and I set to work to make this place, and
you see I have made it. Ay, it has grown under my hand, every stone and
tree of it, and you know what that means in a new country. But one way
or another I have done it, and now I have grown too old to manage it,
and that's how I came to give out that I wanted a partner, as Mr. Snow
told you down in Durban. You see, I told