eir
stock; and if they found a chance, murdered them with their women and
children, as they had tried to do at Maraisfontein; though there, it is
true, they had some provocation. That British virtue had liberated the
slaves without paying their owners a fair price for them, and so forth.

But, to tell the truth, it was not of these matters of high policy,
which were far enough away from a humble youth like myself, that I was
thinking. What appealed to me and made my heart sick was the reflection
that if Henri Marais and his friends trekked, Marie Marais must perforce
trek with them; and that whereas I, an Englishman, could not be of that
adventurous company, Hernando Pereira both could and would.

On the day following our arrival home, what between the fresh air,
plenty of good food, for which I found I had an appetite, and liberal
doses of Pontac--a generous Cape wine that is a kind of cross between
port and Burgundy--I found myself so much better that I was able to hop
about the place upon a pair of crutches which Hans improvised for me
out of Kaffir sticks. Next morning, my improvement continuing at a rapid
rate, I turned my attention seriously to the shooting match, for which I
had but five days to prepare.

Now it chanced that some months before a young Englishman of good
family--he was named the Honourable Vavasseur Smyth--who had accompanied
an official relative to the Cape Colony, came our way in search of
sport, of which I was able to show him a good deal of a humble kind.
He had brought with him, amongst other weapons, what in those days was
considered a very beautiful hair-triggered small-bore rifle fitted with
a nipple for percussion caps, then quite a new invention. It was by a
maker of the name of J. Purdey, of London, and had cost quite a large
sum because of the perfection of its workmanship. When the Honourable
V. Smyth--of whom I have never heard since--took his leave of us on
his departure for England, being a generous-hearted young fellow, as a
souvenir of himself, he kindly presented me with this rifle,* which I
still have.

[*--This single-barrelled percussion-cap rifle described by
Allan Quatermain, which figures so prominently in the
history of this epoch of his life, has been sent to me by
Mr. Curtis, and is before me as I write. It was made in the
year 1835 by J. Purdey, of 314 1/2, Oxford Street, London,
and is a beautiful piece of workmanship of its kind. W