of the English captain, steadily practised in Hans's
household in Waterberg. Even Hans's wife, obstinate Boer woman though
she is, has long since admitted their merits. On the other hand,
Meredith had to acknowledge that he could not improve upon the Steyns'
coffee-making, which, performed though it was in an ordinary iron
kettle, was as good as could be. Many an Englishman, however, has
discovered that fact.

As for Jacoba, she foregathered with Meredith as often as she had
opportunity. It was a delightful thing for this simple, untaught Boer
maiden to hear news of that vast, dim outer world, and to gather some
little idea of modern civilisation. For the Transvaal Boers, you must
understand, to this day, linger in their isolation at least a hundred
years behind the average European. Sometimes, when the captain came
home early from hunting, Jacoba would walk with him to the river-side,
or to the spreading lagoons which were now everywhere forming upon the
flats, and watch him shoot wild-duck and geese, or some rare specimen or
curious bird. Those were delightful times for the girl, as she and her
hero strolled home in the soft African twilight, with all the glamour of
evening about them. For within the secret recesses of her maiden heart
she had long since set up the handsome Englishman as her hero. Jacoba
at seventeen was a very comely girl; her complexion was fresh and
clear--a rare thing among Dutch Afrikanders. She looked, as indeed she
was, always pleasant and good-tempered; her blue eyes were as clear and
honest as an African winter morning; from beneath her big sun-bonnet
(_kapje_) her plentiful fair hair fell in a single thick plait down her
back. Her figure, it is true, was nothing to boast of; but then, in the
faraway veldt, who troubles about an inch or two at the waist? Meredith
liked this frank, comely, modest South African maiden; even he, man of
the world though he was, could scarce help but feel a little flattered
at the manifest preference she showed for his society. Then the child--
for, measured by the European standard, she was but a child--had so many
questions to ask him upon all sorts of subjects; and it really was a
pleasure to answer some of these naive, unsophisticated inquiries, and
to try and teach her something of the life and thoughts of Europe. And
so it befell that Jacoba's heart insensibly slipped from her, and she
grew in her secret soul to love and almost to worship this f