he expected
each instant to discover the assegai of an ambushed foe or to hear the
footfall of some savage beast of prey. Absolutely there was no reason
why he should behave in this fashion; he was simply indulging his
natural instincts where he thought nobody would observe him. Life at
Mooifontein was altogether too tame and civilised for Jantje's taste,
and he needed periodical recreations of this sort. Like a civilised
child he longed for wild beasts and enemies, and if there were none at
hand he found a reflected satisfaction in making a pretence of their
presence.

Presently, however, whilst they were yet a long way off, his quick ear
caught the sound of the horse's footfalls, and he straightened himself
and listened. Not satisfied with the results, he laid himself down, put
his ear to the earth, and gave a guttural sound of satisfaction.

"Baas Frank's black horse," Jantje muttered to himself. "The black horse
has a cracked heel, and one foot hits the ground more softly than the
others. What is Baas Frank coming here for? After Missie I think. He
would be mad if he knew that Missie went down to the plantation with
Baas Niel just now. People go into plantations to kiss each other"
(Jantje was not far out there), "and it would make Baas Frank mad if he
knew that. He would strike me if I told him, or I would tell him."

The horse's hoofs were drawing near by now, so Jantje slipped as easily
and naturally as a snake into a thick tuft of rank grass which grew
between the blue gums, and waited. Nobody would have guessed that this
tuft of grass hid a human being; not even a Boer would have guessed it,
unless he had happened to walk right on to the spy, and then it would
have been a chance but that the Hottentot managed to avoid being trodden
on and escaped detection. Again there was no reason why he should hide
himself in this fashion, except that it pleased him to do so.

Presently the big horse approached, and the snakelike Hottentot raised
his head ever so little and peered out with his beady black eyes through
the straw-like grass stems. They fell on Muller's cold face. It was
evident that he was in a reflective mood--in an angrily reflective mood.
So absorbed was he that he nearly let his horse, which was also absorbed
by the near prospect of a comfortable stall, put his foot in a big hole
that a wandering antbear had amused himself on the previous night by
digging exactly in the centre of the road.

"What is B