the properties he approved of, and leave Mr Hunter and the other
partners to purchase them and secure the rights. In this way Jack
quickly became hardened to the saddle, acclimatised and weather-beaten,
and moreover was a rider who by constant practice could have held his
own now in an American ranche out west by the Rockies. He was, as even
Piet Maartens would have been compelled to admit, a strapping,
well-set-up young fellow, whose laughing lips and open face almost
belied the bull-dog squareness of his chin, and the daring, unflinching
look in his eyes. The sun had tanned his cheeks and arms, and as he sat
his native pony, his left hand well down, while his right grasped his
rifle and leant the butt against his thigh, the natural, upright pose of
his body and set of his head, together with a certain jauntiness,
don't-care-who-comes-along sort of style, imparted by an artful bend in
the brim of his hat, made Jack Somerton look just what he really was, a
plucky young Englishman, who had come out to rough it in this far-away
country, and had done exactly what he had intended.

But Jack was not only a fine-looking young fellow. His rough life and
his contact with the Boer had made him quick and slim. He looked
even-tempered and easy-going, and appeared to take little heed of what
he heard or saw; but he was wide-awake, very wide-awake. He missed
nothing, and he put all he saw away to be remembered. Thus his various
rides had not only made him acquainted with many people, but by now he
knew the surrounding country, and could have found his way over it in
the darkest of nights.

In addition, he had had many opportunities of practising with his
weapon.

"You've got a gun there, Jack, my lad," Tom Salter had said when they
first started out prospecting, "and it's not for appearances only. You
want to learn to use it. I never miss a chance even now, and I'm a
pretty good shot, I can tell you, without the slightest wish to boast.
Still, I am always practising, because I know there is nothing one gets
out of so easily. You must be at it constantly to be a good shot. If
you've got good eyes, and can spare the time to shoot, you're bound to
turn out a marksman. Look at the Boers! Every one of them living
outside the towns is a crack shot, simply because he starts when he's
young and sticks to it. Now what you want to do is to take a pot shot
at any likely object we come across out in some of these deserted
pla