e it was," said
Peter.

"And the people of the land: did England give you the people also?"

Peter looked a little doubtfully at the stranger. "Yes, of course, she
gave us the people; what use would the land have been to us otherwise?"

"And who gave her the people, the living flesh and blood, that she might
give them away, into the hands of others?" asked the stranger, raising
himself.

Peter looked at him and was half afeared. "Well, what could she do with
a lot of miserable niggers, if she didn't give them to us? A lot of
good-for-nothing rebels they are, too," said Peter.

"What is a rebel?" asked the stranger.

"My Gawd!" said Peter, "you must have lived out of the world if you
don't know what a rebel is! A rebel is a man who fights against his king
and his country. These bloody niggers here are rebels because they are
fighting against us. They don't want the Chartered Company to have them.
But they'll have to. We'll teach them a lesson," said Peter Halket, the
pugilistic spirit rising, firmly reseating himself on the South African
earth, which two years before he had never heard of, and eighteen months
before he had never seen, as if it had been his mother earth, and the
land in which he first saw light.

The stranger watched the fire; then he said musingly, "I have seen a
land far from here. In that land are men of two kinds who live side by
side. Well nigh a thousand years ago one conquered the other; they have
lived together since. Today the one people seeks to drive forth the
other who conquered them. Are these men rebels, too?"

"Well," said Peter, pleased at being deferred to, "that all depends who
they are, you know!"

"They call the one nation Turks, and the other Armenians," said the
stranger.

"Oh, the Armenians aren't rebels," said Peter; "they are on our
side! The papers are all full of it," said Peter, pleased to show his
knowledge. "Those bloody Turks! What right had they to conquer the
Armenians? Who gave them their land? I'd like to have a shot at them
myself!"

"WHY are Armenians not rebels?" asked the stranger, gently.

"Oh, you do ask such curious questions," said Peter. "If they don't
like the Turks, why should they have 'em? If the French came now and
conquered us, and we tried to drive them out first chance we had; you
wouldn't call us rebels! Why shouldn't they try to turn those bloody
Turks out? Besides," said Peter, bending over and talking in the manner
of one who imparts