hin the mark.

"How are you, Captain?" he said in English, for he could talk English
well, "and how do you like the Transvaal?--must not call it South
African Republic now, you know, for that's treason," and his eye
twinkled merrily.

"I like it very much, _Meinheer_," said John.

"Ah, yes, it's a beautiful veldt, especially about here--no horse
sickness, no 'blue tongue,'[*] and a good strong grass for the cattle.
And you must find yourself very snug at _Oom_ Croft's there; it's the
nicest place in the district, with the ostriches and all. Not that
I hold with ostriches in this veldt; they are well enough in the old
colony, but they won't breed here--at least, not as they should do. I
tried them once and I know; oh, yes, I know."

[*] A disease that is very fatal to sheep.

"Yes, it's a very fine country, _Meinheer_. I have been all over the
world almost, and I never saw a finer."

"You don't say so, now! Almighty, what a thing it is to have travelled!
Not that I should like to travel myself. I think that the Lord meant us
to stop in the place He has made for us. But it is a fine country, and"
(dropping his voice) "I think it is a finer country than it used to be."

"You mean that the veldt has got 'tame', _Meinheer_?"

"Nay, nay. I mean that the land is English now," he answered
mysteriously, "and though I dare not say so among my _volk_, I hope that
it will keep English. When I was Republican, I was Republican, and
it was good in some ways, the Republic. There was so little to pay in
taxes, and we knew how to manage the black folk; but now I am English,
I am English. I know the English Government means good money and safety,
and if there isn't a _Raad_ (assembly) now, well, what does it matter?
Almighty, how they used to talk there!--clack, clack, clack! just like
an old black _koran_ (species of bustard) at sunset. And where did they
run the waggon of the Republic to--Burghers and those damned Hollanders
of his, and the rest of them? Why, into the _sluit_--into a _sluit_ with
peaty banks; and there it would have stopped till now, or till the flood
came down and swept it away, if old Shepstone--ah! what a tongue that
man has, and how fond he is of the _kinderchies!_ (little children)--had
not come and pulled it out again. But look here, Captain, the _volk_
round here don't think like that. It's the '_verdomde Britische
Gouvernment_' here and the '_verdomde Britische Gouvernment_' there, and
_bymakaars_ (meet