usiness to be wiped out,' he said. 'This shame
cannot rest with us. For my part, I could not pray with a
clear mind and that Englishman alive.'

"They all agreed with him, though, as Koos admitted, with
the death-rattle shaking him, they were all dreadfully
afraid of that big swaggering man. The old man had done a
fair share of fighting before, and at Potchefstroom, as he
said, he had killed three rooineks, so he was ready enough
for the business.

"But the young men had only been out against the Kafirs,
and there is not very much in that.

"Now old Mynheer van der Poel was not such a fool as to
risk his life or the lives of his sons in fighting the
Englishman. The war against the rooineks had made him slim;
for it is chiefly by wits and knowledge that the Boers have
beaten the English. So instead of going out to be shot like
a fool, he made a plan.

"You know how Bothaskraal lies. At the back of it there is
nothing but the Kafir country and the thorn bush; and if
you would get to the dorp, or to the road, or to the
railway, you must cross the Dolf Spruit, and for miles the
only crossing place is Morder Drift. So at Morder Drift
they set a watch, four in the day time and three in the
night, never losing sight of the drift.

"In this manner they waited a month till the evil night
came. It was a night sent by the devil's own design, a
gruesome, cloud-heavy, sulphurous night, and at the drift
were the old man, Koos, and the lad Hendrik. Koos was on
watch among the bushes; the other two crouched below the
bank out of the wind. A little rain dribbled down, and of a
sudden Koos whistled like a korhaan.

"The two got their rifles and went down into the water on
foot, the old man up stream, the lad down, stepping
carefully, for the stream was very strong and pulled at
their waists dangerously. Koos walked into the road, above
the water and in the shadow, and waited.

"Three horses came down the other side of the drift, and
three persons on them. The one was the Englishman, the
other was Christina, the third a Kafir. In the darkness of
the drift they could not see the watchers, and in the swirl
of the water they could not hear the click of the rifles.

"Into the water they rode, and then Koos, who had a
magazine rifle, suddenly stood up and shot the Kafir. He
screamed and fell into the water, and his horse turned and
galloped on.

"'Keep still, Mynheer Dunn,' cried Koos. 'A movement and
you are dead. Better rai