y.

"They took the body of Emmanuel under the armpits, one on
each side of him, and thus carried him down the stairs. A
man met them on the way, his face bland and foolish in the
glow of a candle he carried.

"'Drunk, eh?' he said, without particular curiosity.
'Almost dead, by the looks of him.'

"'Quite dead,' answered Barend, and they passed him and
came down to the horses, hitched at the sidewalk.

"They put the body in the saddle, and rode on either side,
close in, and Peter held it upright with a hand on its
shoulder, as a man might conceivably ride by a comrade.
There was yet no light of day, only a grayness that
streaked the night sky, and a bitterness in the air like a
note of mourning. Slowly, walking their sleepy horses, they
passed along the streets, dark save where a lamp at a
corner shed a yellow and dismal light about it. Creatures
of the night, slouching here and there, looked at them;
policemen, screening from the wind in dark corners, thrust
forth heads; but they rode on, and none stopped them, and
thus they came forth of the city and faced the veld again.

"They raised their faces to its freshness, familiar and
friendly as the voice of one's kin, and pushed the horses
to a trot, while behind them the blur of light that was the
city paled and died down as the miles multiplied under
their hoofs. Peter had the leading rein of the middle horse
while Barend steadied its burden, and thus they traveled
towards the east and home.

"When the sun was high, they no longer dared follow the
road. Out of those they must meet and exchange words with,
there would surely be some whom they could not deceive-some
who had seen death before and knew the signs of it. So they
pulled aside, and made for the high land of Baviaan's Nek,
riding across the gray grass and among the yellow ant-hills
till close on noon. Then, dipping to a hollow, where some
willows cast a shade upon a pool of a spruit, they
dismounted and laid the dead man in the cool, while they
off-saddled the horses and rested themselves. There were
biltong and bread in their saddle-bags, and tobacco they
did not lack, and the need for food drove them to make a
big meal. They were concerned with this so deeply that they
did not notice that a Kafir, carrying the bundles which
Kafirs always carry on the trek, had come up to them.

"He was an old Kafir, his wool gray and his skin rough with
age, but his eyes were bright with the full of strength and