ures after you shot the elephant; for we found your spoor,
and came to that, though too late to rescue you."

That evening was pleasantly passed at the waggons. Hans informed his
friends of all the adventures he had gone through, and of the strange
scenes he had encountered, and his account was listened to with great
interest. "And now, Victor, tell me the news."

"All the Mensch are well," replied Victor, "and Katrine is getting well
now she knows you are alive. When she heard from us that you were lost,
and were probably dead, we thought at first that it would have killed
her, and she was like a body with no life in it. When your letters
came, we thought you would soon come too, but then we heard you might
stop in Cape Town some time."

"Did you know who had taken me?" inquired Hans.

"No; we could not find any spoor after the first day, because of the
rain that had fallen; but having stopped a week near where your elephant
lay, and having gone out each day in various directions firing our guns,
we were compelled to believe that you must have been carried right away.
We were very sad, Hans, when we were obliged to return without you; but
when a month passed, and we heard nothing of you, we felt sure you must
be dead. All you possess is safe, though; it has been kept for you, and
it is as you left it."

"And has there been peace in the land?"

"Yes, all has been peace. Panda has kept faith with us, and will do so,
I believe. We have thus been able to sow corn, and the English soldiers
have left us in possession of our country; and so we shall have peace in
the district, and can govern ourselves as we wish to do."

"That is good news, indeed," said Hans; "and now I am only anxious to
get to the Natal district and settle down."

We must here close the history of our hero, though he afterwards passed
through many adventures, and encountered dangers of various kinds.
Natal was not yielded to the Dutch Boers, but was claimed by the British
Government, and is even now any thing but a region of entire peace.

That portion of the history of the Dutch emigrants which we have here
referred to is probably one of the most extraordinary on record, and it
needs neither exaggeration nor high colouring to endow it with interest
to those who study the great movements which sometimes influence
society, or the singular legislation which may convert friends into
foes.

The fruitful and prosperous district of Natal had fo