l
that you did to save me. Had it not been for you, oh! had it not been
for you"--and she glanced at the blood stains on the earthen floor, put
her hands before her eyes and shuddered.

"Nonsense, Marie," I answered, taking her hand feebly enough, for I was
very weak. "Anyone else would have done as much, even if they did not
love you as I do. Let us thank God that it was not in vain. But what is
all that noise? Have the Quabies come back?"

She shook her head.

"No; the Boers have come back from hunting them."

"And did they catch them and recover the cattle?"

"Not so. They only found some wounded men, whom they shot, and the body
of Monsieur Leblanc with his head cut off, taken away with other bits of
him for medicine, they say to make the warriors brave. Quabie has burnt
his kraal and fled with all his people to join the other Kaffirs in the
Big Mountains. Not a cow or a sheep did they find, except a few that had
fallen exhausted, and those had their throats cut. My father wanted to
follow them and attack the Red Kaffirs in the mountains, but the others
would not go. They said there are thousands of them, and that it would
be a mad war, from which not one of them would return alive. He is wild
with grief and rage, for, Allan dear, we are almost ruined, especially
as the British Government are freeing the slaves and only going to give
us a very small price, not a third of their value. But, hark! he is
calling me, and you must not talk much or excite yourself, lest you
should be ill again. Now you have to sleep and eat and get strong.
Afterwards, dear, you may talk"; and, bending down once more, she
blessed and kissed me, then rose and glided away.

CHAPTER IV. HERNANDO PEREIRA

Several more days passed before I was allowed out of that little
war-stained room of which I grew to hate the very sight. I entreated my
father to take me into the air, but he would not, saying that he feared
lest any movement should cause the bleeding to begin again or even the
cut artery to burst. Moreover, the wound was not healing very well,
the spear that caused it having been dirty or perhaps used to skin
dead animals, which caused some dread of gangrene, that in those days
generally meant death. As it chanced, although I was treated only with
cold water, for antiseptics were then unknown, my young and healthy
blood triumphed and no gangrene appeared.

What made those days even duller was that during them I saw very little