y laid for the
discomfiture of a respected and brave enemy.

Below, on the ridge, Adrian De la Rey is lying--lying where he fell, the
bayonet which had let out his life in a great gaping gash resting across
his body as it had fallen from the dying grip of the soldier--his dead,
rigid face staring upward to the sky.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ratels Hoek again, peaceful and prosperous--the blue smoke curling up
from its chimneys, the flocks and herds scattered over their grazing
grounds in the broad valley, black ostriches, with snowy wing-plumes,
stalking truculently along the wire fences in the "camps"--Ratels Hoek
peaceful and prosperous, as though no stern fratricidal war were going
on not so very many miles away.

Down by the river bank two persons are wandering in easy restful
happiness, and these two we should recognise, for they have borne their
part throughout the time of trial and of storm, which for them, at any
rate, has come to an end--has found its climax in the dawn of a lifelong
joy and peace.

Around, the sunlight bathes, in a misty shimmer, the roll of veldt, and
the slope of mountain and iron-faced cliff. The air, clear and fragrant
and balmy, is redolent of the _very_ breath of a new life, and the sky,
arching above in unbroken and cloudless blue, is even as their own clear
and dazzling horizon. They are talking of many things, these two--of
the dark days of doubt and trial, and peril--all of which have but
served to refine and cement their great and mutual love--of the wedding
which took place but a few days ago in Schalkburg, on such a scale never
before witnessed in that somnolent _dorp_. "One would have thought it
Nachtmaal time" had been the comment of more than one of the guests, so
extensive was the gathering assembled to do honour to that most
substantial and respected burgher, Stephanus De la Rey; and indeed the
gathering had been as homogeneous as extensive--for every conceivable
relative of the bride, whether on the paternal or maternal side, and
every casual acquaintance or even stranger, had flocked into Schalkburg
to witness it. The church, tightly packed as it was, would not hold
them all, nor yet would Ratels Hoek, whither all who could, subsequently
repaired to spend the next two days and nights in uninterrupted
festivity.

Of all this they were talking now, these two--and of the hundred and one
droll and ludicrous incidents w