re was a full moon. It could be
done--barely, and now I was glad indeed that Hernan Pereira had not won
my swift mare in that shooting match.

I called to Hans, who was loafing about outside, and said quietly:

"I ride to Port Elizabeth, and must be there by eight o'clock to-morrow
morning."

"Allemachte!" exclaimed Hans, who had been that road several times.

"You will go with me, and from Port Elizabeth on to Delagoa Bay. Saddle
the mare and the roan horse, and put a headstall on the chestnut to lead
with you as a spare. Give them all a feed, but no water. We start in
half an hour." Then I added certain directions as to the guns we would
take, saddle-bags, clothes, blankets and other details, and bade him
start about the business.

Hans never hesitated. He had been with me through my recent campaign,
and was accustomed to sudden orders. Moreover, I think that if I had
told him I was riding to the moon, beyond his customary exclamation
of "Allemachte!" he would have made no objection to accompanying me
thither.

The next half-hour was a busy time for me. Henri Marais's money had to
be got out of the strong box and arranged in a belt of buck's hide that
I had strapped about me. A letter had to be written by my father to the
manager of the Port Elizabeth bank, identifying me as the owner of the
sum lodged there in my name. A meal must be eaten and some food prepared
for us to carry. The horses' shoes had to be seen to, and a few clothes
packed in the saddle-bags. Also there were other things which I have
forgotten. Yet within five-and-thirty minutes the long, lean mare stood
before the door. Behind her, with a tall crane's feather in his hat,
was Hans, mounted on the roan stallion, and leading the chestnut, a
four-year-old which I had bought as a foal on the mare as part of
the bargain. Having been corn fed from a colt it was a very sound and
well-grown horse, though not the equal of its mother in speed.

In the passage my poor old father, who was quite bewildered by the
rapidity and urgent nature of this business, embraced me.

"God bless you, my dear boy," he said. "I have had little time to think,
but I pray that this may be all for the best, and that we may meet again
in the world. But if not, remember what I have taught you, and if I
survive you, for my part I shall remember that you died trying to
do your duty. Oh, what trouble has the blind madness of Henri Marais
brought upon us all! Well, I warned him t