pushed
farther into the country, fighting one long continuous fight against
hordes of natives and against lions and other savage beasts. Every step
they advanced had to be fought for; for, just as the Bed Indians in
America have persistently resisted the onflow of strangers into their
hunting-grounds, so have the natives of South Africa fought to resist
the onward progress and invasion of the white settlers into the land
which they considered theirs by right of birth.

"But now--to hark back for one moment to that time when England stepped
in and took possession of the colony--a factor arose to upset the peace
and general agreement of Boer and Briton. The fact that they had been
handed over by their own government to the British, like so many sheep,
had roused the fiercest anger amongst the Boers. And now this
resentment was inflamed by the restraining hand which our government
laid upon them with regard to the natives.

"Years before, the Boer settlers had become accustomed to slave labour,
and as they pushed on into the country, natives were pressed into their
service. And these they had punished as each man considered the case
deserved. Probably because there was a plentiful supply of Kafirs and
Hottentots our Boer friends had not stopped at whipping the poor
fellows. They treated them with absolute brutality, even going to the
length of taking their lives.

"Such barbarous doings awoke in England a storm of anger, for, thank
God, our country has long been opposed to slavery. Freedom and equality
has been our motto for many years, and we have sustained it at no small
cost to ourselves.

"When the tales of Boer brutality became known to the folks at home, the
indignation it caused resulted in the emancipation of all slaves, and
from that date the `Baas', as the master is called, and the native `boy'
had equal rights; and to injure one of them was a crime punishable by
the same laws as hold good in England.

"You can imagine, my lads, what rage this new arrangement caused in the
hearts of the Boers. For years they had been free to do as they chose,
and now their slaves were theirs no longer, and the natives, who had
been in their masters' eyes like mere cattle, were now their equals in
point of law, and were not to be ill-treated with impunity.

"This was too much for the Dutchmen. The very sight of an Englishman
roused their anger and hate, and rather than be forced to live side by
side with them and b