his pipe and began to light it.

This was not meant as a piece of bravado, but Stephen was eccentric, and
it occurred to him that there was a "touch of nature" in a pipe which
might possibly induce the Bushmen to be less rude to him personally than
if he were to stand by and look aggrieved while his waggons were being
pillaged.

In this conjecture he was right. The robbers rushed towards the waggon
without doing him any harm. One of them, however, picked up the gun in
passing. Then the leader seized the long whip and drove the waggon
away, leaving its late owner to his meditations.

Stephen would have been more than human if he could have stood the loss
of all his earthly goods with perfect equanimity. He groaned when the
oxen began to move, and then, feeling a desperate desire to relieve his
feelings, and a strong tendency to fight, he suddenly shut his eyes, and
began to pray that the robbers might be forgiven, and himself enabled to
bear his trials in a becoming manner. Opening his eyes again, he beheld
a sturdy Bushman gazing at him in open-mouthed surprise, with an
uplifted assagai in his hand. Stephen judged that this was the chief of
the band, who had remained behind to kill him. At all events, when he
ceased to pray, and opened his eyes, the Bushman shut his mouth, and
poised his assagai in a threatening manner.

Unarmed as he was, Stephen knew that he was at the man's mercy. In this
dilemma, and knowing nothing of the Bushman language, he put powerful
constraint on himself, and looked placidly at his wallet, in which he
searched earnestly for something, quite regardless, to all appearances,
of the deadly spear, whose point was within ten feet of his breast.

The Bushman's curiosity was awakened. He waited until Stephen had drawn
a lump of tobacco from his pouch--which latter he took care to turn
inside out to show there was nothing else in it. Rising quietly, the
trader advanced with a peaceful air, holding the tobacco out to the
Bushman, who looked suspicious--and distrustfully shook his assagai; but
Stephen took no heed. Stopping within a couple of yards of him, he held
out the tobacco at the full length of his arm. The Bushman hesitated,
but finally lowered his assegai and accepted the gift. Stephen
immediately resumed his pipe, and smiled pleasantly at his foe.

The Bushman appeared to be unable to resist this. He grinned hideously;
then, turning about, made off in the direction of his c