as Landdrost. But there
was practically no law to administer in Schalkburg, for now every man
did what was right in his own eyes, unless some misguided and
commandeered native shirked or strove to abscond. In such cases the
newly fledged Landdrost did administer the law, resulting in vehement
contact between raw hide and the aboriginal cuticle.

Jelf was not a little anxious on the score of his absent subordinate,
who had been away on one of those semi-official investigations what time
the town was captured. He hoped Morkel had not come to grief with those
fiery English aspirations of his; and then he would smile to himself as
he reflected that such sentiments were patient of sudden metamorphosis
under stress of circumstances. No, Morkel would turn up again sooner or
later, he supposed.

He had felt very disgusted at the behaviour of Jan Grobbelaar. This was
the ultra-loyal Field-cornet then! Stephanus De la Rey, at any rate,
had been an honest man, but Swaart Jan was a snake in the grass, and he,
Jelf, had not hesitated to tell him so when he had ridden up beside
Commandant Schoeman to demand the keys of the offices. But the little
man had merely shown his tusks in a deprecating grin. "What would
Mynheer have?" he said. "A man must march with his own countrymen. But
Mynheer and he need be none the less friends for all that."

As a matter of fact, Jelf had no reason to complain of his treatment
under the circumstances. He was a good-natured man and not unpopular
among the Dutch farmers of his district, and now these showed him
respect and consideration.

Schalkburg just then comprised another inmate, and that a personage not
the least important in the unfolding of our narrative, namely, Aletta De
la Rey. She was staying with some relatives, an old couple who had
retired from farming, to settle in the township on their own _erf_; and
she had been obliged to seek shelter with them because on reaching home
she had found that all the family were away in the Free State--a fact
which had not been known to her, partly owing to her sudden and
unexpected homeward move, partly that, thanks to the war, communication
was frequently interrupted and always uncertain. But, as it happened,
she welcomed the discovery with a feeling of intense relief. She had
shrunk in anticipation from the questionings of her own family, now she
would be spared these for a while longer. The Van Heerdens, her
relatives, were a very old