hey have
come and looked, and, like false Sextus, turned back again. The Boers,
too, have more than once threatened to destroy him, for it is unpleasant
to them to have so intelligent a witness in their midst, but they have
never dared to try. The place is really impregnable to Basutus and
Boers; Zulus might carry it, with their grand steady rush, but it would
be at a terrible sacrifice of life. In fact, Dr. Merensky has been
forced, by the pressure of circumstances, to teach his men the use of a
rifle, as well as the truths of Christianity; to trust in God, but also
to "keep their powder dry." At a few minutes' notice he can turn out 200
well-armed natives, ready for offence or defence; and the existence
of such a stronghold is of great advantage to the few English in the
neighbourhood, for the Boers know well that should they attack them
they might draw down the vengeance of Dr. Merensky's formidable body of
Christian soldiers.

We only passed one night at Botsabelo, and next morning went on to
Middelburg, or Nazareth, which is an hour's ride from the station. Here,
too, we met with a warm welcome from the handful of English residents,
but we were eager to push on as rapidly as possible, for our kind
friends told us that it would be impossible to proceed to Secocoeni's on
horseback, because of the deadly nature of the country for horses. So
we had to hire an ox-waggon, which they provisioned for us, and, much to
our disgust (as we were pressed for time), were obliged to fall back on
that dilatory method of travelling.

We decided that we would take the three oldest and least valuable horses
with us, in order to proceed with them from Fort Weeber, which was our
next point, to Secocoeni's town, whither waggons could not reach. Few
English readers are aware that there is a mysterious disease
among horses in South Africa, peculiar to the country, called
"horse-sickness." During the autumn season it carries off thousands of
horses annually, though some are good and others bad years--a bad fever
year being generally a bad horse-sickness year also, and _vice versa_.
A curious feature about it is, that as the veldt gets "tamed," that is,
fed off by domesticated animals, the sickness gradually disappears.
No cure has yet been discovered for it, and very few horses pull
through--perhaps, five per cent. These are called "salted horses," and
are very valuable; as, although they are not proof against the disease,
they are not so