s--of anybody but hisself?"

"Perhaps not, but Conrad Marais does, and so do many other men of like
mind. God, the Father of all men, is a God of peace, and does not
permit His children to gratify feelings of revenge. Jesus, the Saviour
of lost man, is the Prince of peace; He will not deliver those who
wilfully give way to revenge."

"I no want deliverance," said the robber chief sternly.

"I know that," replied Orpin, "and it was to deliver you from that state
of mind that Jesus came. Think, Ruyter, think--"

He was interrupted at this point by the sound of an approaching
ox-waggon. Ruyter, being a well-known outlaw, did not dare to show
himself at the fair, although not a whit worse in any respect than most
of the Kafir chiefs who walked openly there unchallenged. He shrank
back into the shelter of the jungle while the trader awaited the coming
up of the waggon.

"Aha, here you are, Orpin--not kept you waiting long, I hope?" said John
Skyd as he followed his waggon into the glade.

"Not long," answered the trader; "but we must make the most of our time
now, for the day is far spent."

"It is, but I could not manage to get away sooner. We had to lay in a
supply of powder and lead for the hunt, besides many other things.
Dobson will be here with the other waggon immediately--he's not fifty
yards behind,--and then we shall start fair for the elephant-ground.
You're quite sure that you know the way, I suppose?"

"I would not undertake to guide you if I were not sure."

In a few minutes Dobson came up with the second waggon, and the whole
party set forth on a hunting expedition into the interior, under the
guidance of Stephen Orpin, who had already wandered so much about the
colony that he was beginning to be pretty well acquainted with a great
extent of the border line.

About the same time that Skyd and Dobson went off to the interior
another party of hunters and explorers set out on an expedition from the
Scottish settlement of Glen Lynden. But before touching on this, we
will turn aside to relate an incident which affected the movements of
both parties, and has reference to a small though not unimportant
personage of our story.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

DESCRIBES A SERIES OF EARLY RISINGS.

One fine morning early, high up among the krantzes and dark jungles of a
kloot or mountain gorge, which branched off from Glen Lynden, a noble
specimen of an African savage awoke from his night's repose and
str