That won't do, sonny. This stuffs too valuable till we get clear of
the mopani belt. Here--give it to me." And he held it to the other's
lips.

"More--more."

"No; that's enough to go on with. Well--a little more, then. Now, pull
yourself together and come along with me. What? Starving? Oh ay.
Well, chew at this chunk o' biscuit. It ain't soft tack but it's better
than nothing, and I'm too old a sailor--prospector, I mean--to be
navigating these seas without a shot in the locker."

The other munched fiercely at the brown, uninviting bit of biscuit. His
succourer looked approvingly on.

"That's right," he said. "Now we'll serve out some more water. Then
I'll put you on my horse--he's anchored t'other side of the _sluit_--and
we'll shape a course for my donkey-carts. They're out-spanned on the
road."

"The road? Are we near the road?" stammered the other.

"Mile or so. But keep your tongue down, sonny, until we get there. You
don't want to talk a lot till you've had some proper skoff."

CHAPTER TWO.

A PIONEER FARM.

The walls of the room were hung with dark blue "limbo," which gave an
impression of refreshing coolness and restful, subdued light, in
grateful contrast to the hot, white glare outside. The furniture of the
room was pre-eminently of the useful order, consisting of a plain
`stinkwood' table, three or four ditto chairs much the worse for wear, a
sideboard consisting of two packing-cases knocked into one, a bookshelf,
and a camp bedstead whereon now reclined the, at present, sole occupant
and--in general--proprietor of the place.

He had been indulging in a siesta, which had run into hours. The
naturally dark face was tanned a rich brown by the up-country sun and
winds, and it was just the face that the up-country life would go to
strengthen--with its firm eyes and square, determined chin. As now seen
it was clear that the thoughts of its owner were not of a pleasant
nature. Briefly, they might be summed up somewhat in this wise--

"Is that foolery destined to haunt me for the remainder of my natural
life? I shut it down and turned my back on it more than a year ago--and
yet, and yet, I can't even take an afternoon snooze without dreaming all
that idiocy over again."

The jaded lassitude usually attendant on immediately awakening out of a
day sleep to those who seldom indulge in one was upon this man.
Moreover, the last vision of his dreams had been one of a lovely,
repro