" I said. "Why do you talk such bad words?"

"Because they are true words, Baas Allan. Oh, you laugh at the poor
Totty; but I had it from my father, and he from his father from
generation to generation, amen, and you will see. You will see, as I
have seen before now, and as the Heer Marais will see, who, if the great
God had not made him mad--for mad he is, baas, as we know, if you Whites
don't--might have lived in his home till he was old, and have had a good
son-in-law to bury him in his blanket."

Now I seemed to have had enough of this eerie conversation. Of course it
is easy to laugh at natives and their superstitions, but, after a long
life of experience, I am bound to admit that they are not always devoid
of truth. The native has some kind of sixth sense which the civilised
man has lost, or so it seems to me.

"Talking of blankets," I said in order to change the subject, "from whom
did you get these karosses?"

"From whom? Why, from the Missie, of course, baas. When I heard that you
were to sleep in the cart I went to her and borrowed them to cover
you. Also, I had forgotten, she gave me a writing for you," and he felt
about, first in his dirty shirt, then under his arm, and finally in his
fuzzy hair, from which last hiding place he produced a little bit of
paper folded into a pellet. I undid it and read these words, written
with a pencil and in French:--

"I shall be in the peach orchard half an hour before sunrise. Be there
if you would bid me farewell.--M."

"Is there any answer, baas?" asked Hans when I had thrust the note
into my pocket. "If so I can take it without being found out." Then an
inspiration seemed to strike him, and he added: "Why do you not take it
yourself? The Missie's window is easy to open, also I am sure she would
be pleased to see you."

"Be silent," I said. "I am going to sleep. Wake me an hour before the
cock-crow--and, stay--see that the horses have got out of the kraal
so that you cannot find them too easily in case the Reverend wishes to
start very early. But do not let them wander far, for here we are no
welcome guests."

"Yes, baas. By the way, baas, the Heer Pereira, who tried to cheat you
over those geese, is sleeping in an empty house not more than two miles
away. He drinks coffee when he wakes up in the morning, and his servant,
who makes it, is my good friend. Now would you like me to put a little
something into it? Not to kill him, for that is against the law in