now, for
he was a harmless body. Perhaps it was because he played the flute,
which I have always thought contemptible in a man.

CHAPTER IV

THE SHADOW OF THE ENGLISHMEN

Now I will pass on to the time when Ralph was nineteen or thereabouts,
and save for the lack of hair upon his face, a man grown, since in our
climate young people ripen quickly in body if not in mind. I tell
of that year with shame and sorrow, for it was then that Jan and I
committed a great sin, for which afterwards we were punished heavily
enough.

At the beginning of winter Jan trekked to the nearest dorp, some fifty
miles away, with a waggon load of mealies and of buckskins which he and
Ralph had shot, purposing to sell them and to attend the Nachtmahl, or
Feast of the Lord's Supper. I was somewhat ailing just then and did not
accompany him, nor did Suzanne, who stayed to nurse me, or Ralph, who
was left to look after us both.

Fourteen days later Jan returned, and from his face I saw at once that
something had gone wrong.

"What is it, husband?" I asked. "Did not the mealies sell well?"

"Yes, yes, they sold well," he answered, "for that fool of an English
storekeeper bought them and the hides together for more than their
value."

"Are the Kaffirs going to rise again, then?"

"No, they are quiet for the present, though the accursed missionaries of
the London Society are doing their best to stir them up," and he made a
sign to me to cease from asking questions, nor did I say any more till
we had gone to bed and everybody else in the house was asleep.

"Now," I said, "tell me your bad news, for bad news you have had."

"Wife," he answered, "it is this. In the dorp yonder I met a man who
had come from Port Elizabeth. He told me that there at the port were two
Englishmen, who had recently arrived, a Scotch lord, and a lawyer with
red hair. When the Englishmen heard that he was from this part of the
country they fell into talk with him, saying that they came upon a
strange errand. It seems that when the great ship was wrecked upon this
coast ten years ago there was lost in her a certain little boy who,
if he had lived, would to-day have been a very rich noble in Scotland.
Wife, you may know who that little boy was without my telling you his
name."

I nodded and turned cold all over my body, for I could guess what was
coming.

"Now for a long while those who were interested in him supposed that
this lad was certainly dead with all