by this time in a very broken condition of nerves. I had often thought
that it was my duty to advise him to leave, and to see him safely off,
but I shrank from severing myself from my only friend. I thought, too,
of the few Dutch farmers within riding distance, and had half a mind to
visit them, but they were far off over the plateau and could know
little of my anxieties.

The third day events moved faster. Japp was sober and wonderfully
quiet. He gave me good-morning quite in a friendly tone, and set to
posting up the books as if he had never misbehaved in his days. I was
so busy with my thoughts that I, too, must have been gentler than
usual, and the morning passed like a honeymoon, till I went across to
dinner.

I was just sitting down when I remembered that I had left my watch in
my waistcoat behind the counter, and started to go back for it. But at
the door I stopped short. For two horsemen had drawn up before the
store.

One was a native with what I took to be saddle-bags; the other was a
small slim man with a sun helmet, who was slowly dismounting.
Something in the cut of his jib struck me as familiar. I slipped into
the empty schoolroom and stared hard. Then, as he half-turned in
handing his bridle to the Kaffir, I got a sight of his face. It was my
former shipmate, Henriques. He said something to his companion, and
entered the store.

You may imagine that my curiosity ran to fever-heat. My first impulse
was to march over for my waistcoat, and make a third with Japp at the
interview. Happily I reflected in time that Henriques knew my face,
for I had grown no beard, having a great dislike to needless hair. If
he was one of the villains in the drama, he would mark me down for his
vengeance once he knew I was here, whereas at present he had probably
forgotten all about me. Besides, if I walked in boldly I would get no
news. If japp and he had a secret, they would not blab it in my
presence.

My next idea was to slip in by the back to the room I had once lived
in. But how was I to cross the road? It ran white and dry some
distance each way in full view of the Kaffir with the horses. Further,
the store stood on a bare patch, and it would be a hard job to get in
by the back, assuming, as I believed, that the neighbourhood was thick
with spies.

The upshot was that I got my glasses and turned them on the store. The
door was open, and so was the window. In the gloom of the interior I
made ou