e, and his own flesh became a
curse to him. The very marrow in his bones bred fire to
feed on his body, and he lay on his bed in the torments of
hell. For weeks he writhed and screamed like a madman,
tossing on his blankets and tearing at his body, or
struggling and howling as his sons held him down for fear
he should injure himself in his frenzy. The whole thing was
very terrible and mysterious; and it was said among the
farms that Andries van der Linden could not have been so
good after all, or God would not thus visit him with such a
scourge.

"For myself, I never believed this, and what he afterwards
did will show that I had the right of it. Still, good or
bad, the affliction was undeniable, for I myself heard him
screaming like a beast as I drove to Nachtmaal.

"The malady lasted for months, and all herbs and pills that
were given him did not an atom of good. Even the Kafirs
could do nothing, though Klein Andries, the old man's
eldest son and a good lad, caught a witch-doctor and
sjamboked him to pieces to make him help. In short, the
illness was plainly beyond mortal cure, and the old man at
last came to see this.

"I should have told you that he had times of peace, when
the agony forsook him, and left him limp like a wet clout.
Then he would sweat and quake with terror of the pains that
would return; and so pitiful was his condition that he
could not even listen with a proper patience to the reading
of Scripture or the singing of David's psalms. You will see
from this what a terrible visitation to a God-fearing man
this illness was.

"So he made up his mind. One morning early, while quietness
was with him, he called for Klein Andries and bade him shut
the door of the room.

"'Andries,' he said, 'I have been thinking the matter to a
finish, and I am determined to have an end to this
torment.'

"'Have you found any means?' began Klein Andries.

"'Listen,' said the old man. 'It is plain to me, that I
shall gain no cure on earth, and I have decided to die. So
I shall die at the end of a week about two hours after
sunrise.'

"Andries was of course very much taken aback. 'I do not
understand,' he said. 'You cannot mean to kill yourself?'

"'Of course not,' answered the old man. 'That will be your
part.'

"'How do you mean?' cried Andries.

"'I shall lie here in my bed, with clean pillows and fresh
sheets, and the best coverlet. Our people will all be
here,--you will see to that,--and when I have s