leg, but that
won't prevent me from tackling him if it's necessary."

"Take my advice; keep clear of him," repeated Wilfred. "After all, if
you had lived all your life here you would have become accustomed to the
doings of these young Boers. Ever since Majuba they have been brought
up to think of us and our soldiers as cowards, and their absolute
ignorance prevents them from seeing their mistake. I never take any
notice of them."

"Yes, I dare say that is the best plan," Jack answered stubbornly; "but
when I was at school a fellow had to take the consequences of what he
said. If he called another chap names there was safe to be a row, and
someone got a licking. That's what happens in ordinary life, and it's
going to be the same here if that Piet Maartens doesn't look out.
Perhaps he could lick me if we had a fight, but I'd rather get knocked
about and teach the fellow manners than sit down quietly and be
insulted."

Jack meant every word he said. Himself a kind-hearted and polite young
fellow, to hurt the feelings of a comrade, or of a foreigner who
happened to be anywhere within hearing of him, was the last thing he
would have thought of doing. And to be forced to listen to sneers which
were meant for any Englishman who might happen to hear them was so
galling that it set his blood on fire. Just as his stepbrother's
attempts to control his actions had raised his ire, so did the behaviour
of this young Boer irritate him and stir him to anger. Jack was not
pugnacious, but the mere suspicion that he was in the presence of a
bully ruffled him, and his meetings with Piet Maartens had so convinced
him that this was what he was at heart, that Jack, in his own quiet
dogged way, determined to discomfit him at the very first opportunity.

"He's a bully," he muttered to himself after Wilfred's warning, "and I'm
not going to put up with his sneers any longer."

A few nights later the four lads were playing billiards in the
restaurant, and the opposite table was occupied by Piet Maartens and a
friend, while a number of Uitlanders and Boers were looking on. Jack
had completely forgotten his determination, and, wrapped up in the game,
had scarcely noticed the other players. Mathews was his partner, and,
suddenly getting the balls into a favourable position, was adding
rapidly to the score. The onlookers became interested, and all stood up
to watch the game. Even Piet Maartens stepped over, and, rudely pushing
Jack