the traitor, eh? The
sjambok--fifty strokes, a hunderd strokes--a t'ousand! Krool--Krool is
a traitor, and the sjambok for him. What did he do? What did Krool do?
He help Oom Paul against the Rooinek--against the Philistine. He help
the chosen against the children of Hell.

"What did Krool do? He tell Oom Paul how the thieves would to come in
the night to sold him like sheep to a butcher, how the t'ousand wolves
would swarm upon the sheepfold, and there would be no homes for the
voortrekker and his vrouw, how the Outlander would sit on our stoeps
and pick the peaches from our gardens. And he tell him other things
good for him to hear."

Stafford was conscious of the smell of orchard blossoms blown through
the open window, of the odour of the pomegranate in the hedge; but his
eyes were fascinated by the crouching passion of the figure before him
and the dissonance of the low, unhuman voice. There was no pause in the
broken, turgid torrent, which was like a muddy flood pouring over the
boulders of a rapid.

"Who the traitor is? Is it the man that tries to save his homeland from
the wolf and the worm? I kill Piet Graaf to save the Baas. The Baas an'
I, we understand--on the Limpopo we make the unie. He is the Baas, and
I am his slave. All else nothing is. I kill all the people of the Baas'
country, but I die for the Baas. The Baas kill me if he will it. So it
was set down in the bond on the Limpopo. If the Baas strike, he strike;
if he kill, he kill. It is in the bond, it is set down. All else go.
Piet Graaf, he go. Oom Paul, he go. Joubert, Cronje, Botha, they all
go, if the Baas speak. It is written so. On the Limpopo it is written.
All must go, if the Baas speak--one, two, three, a t'ousand. Else the
bond is water, and the spirits come in the night, and take you to the
million years of torment. It is nothing to die--pain! But only the Baas
is kill me. It is written so. Only the Baas can hurt me. Not you, nor
all the verdomde Rooineks out there"--he pointed to the vast camp out
on the veld--"nor the Baas' vrouw. Do I not know all about the Baas'
vrouw! She cannot hurt me..." He spat on the ground. "Who is the
traitor? Is it Krool? Did Krool steal from the Baas? Krool is the Baas'
slave; it is only the friend of the Baas that steal from him--only him
is traitor. I kill Piet Graaf to save the Baas. No one kills you to
save the Baas! I saw you with your arms round the Baas' vrouw. So I go
tell the Baas all. If he kill