oner she was married and had a husband of
her own to preach to, the better it would be for all of us.

Thus ended the story of the coming of the Englishmen, and of how Ralph
lost his wealth and rank. We never heard or saw more of them, seeing
that in those days before the great Trek we did not write letters,
and if we had we should not have known where to send them, nor did the
post-cart pass the door twice a week as it does in this overcrowded land
of Natal.

Now I must go on to tell of the doings of that devil upon earth, Swart
Piet, and of how the little Kaffir witch-doctoress, Sihamba Ngenyanga,
which means She-who-walks-by-the-moonlight, became the slave and saviour
of Suzanne.

At this time the Heer van Vooren, Swart Piet's father, had been dead for
two years, and there were strange stories as to the manner of his death
which I do not think it necessary to set out here. Whether or no Swart
Piet did or did not murder his father I cannot say, nor does it matter,
for at the least he worked other crimes as bad. After the death of the
Heer van Vooren, however he may have chanced to die, this is certain,
that Swart Piet inherited great riches as we used to reckon riches in
those days; that is, he had vast herds of cattle and goats and sleep,
some of which were kept for him by native chiefs far away, as much land
as he wanted, and, it was said, a good sum in English gold. But he was
a strange man, not like to other men, for he married no wife and courted
no misses, that is until he took to courting Suzanne, and his only
pleasure was to keep the company of Kaffir chiefs and women and to mix
himself up with the devilments of the witch-doctors. Still, as every man
has his fate, at last he fell in love with Suzanne, and in love with her
he remained during all his wicked life, if that can be love which seeks
to persecute and bring misery upon its object. It was just before the
coming of the Englishmen that this passion of his manifested itself, for
whenever he met the girl--outside the house for the most part, since
Jan did not like to have him in it--he made sweet speeches and passed
foolish pleasantries which, to be just, I am sure Suzanne never
encouraged, since all her heart was elsewhere.

Now Swart Piet had information of everything, for his Kaffir spies
brought it to him; therefore he very soon learned that Jan and Ralph had
gone away with the cattle to the warm veldt, and that we two women
were alone in the ho