u, who twice have saved her life and once have saved mine also."

Now I suppose that he saw on my face the joy which I could not conceal,
for he added hastily: "Yet, Allan, years ago I swore on the Book before
God that never with my will should my daughter marry an Englishman, even
if he were a good Englishman. Also, just before we left the Colony, I
swore again, in her presence and that of Hernan Pereira, that I would
not give her to you, so I cannot break my oath, can I? If I did, the
good God would be avenged upon me."

"Some might think that when I came here the good God was in the way of
being avenged upon you for the keeping of that evil oath," I answered
bitterly, glancing, in my turn, at the graves.

"Yes, they might, Allan," he replied without anger, for all his troubles
had induced a reasonable frame of mind in him--for a while. "Yet, His
ways are past finding out, are they not?"

Now my anger broke out, and, rising, I said:

"Do you mean, Mynheer Marais, that notwithstanding the love between us,
which you know is true and deep, and notwithstanding that I alone have
been able to drag both of you and the others out of the claws of death,
I am never to marry Marie? Do you mean that she is to be given to a
braggart who deserted her in her need?"

"And what if I do mean that, Allan?"

"This: although I am still young, as you know well I am a man who can
think and act for himself. Also, I am your master here--I have cattle
and guns and servants. Well, I will take Marie, and if any should try to
stop me, I know how to protect myself and her."

This bold speech did not seem to surprise him in the least or to make
him think the worse of me. He looked at me for a while, pulling his long
beard in a meditative fashion, then answered:

"I dare say that at your age I should have played the same game, and
it is true that you have things in your fist. But, much as she may love
you, Marie would not go away with you and leave her father to starve."

"Then you can come with us as my father-in-law, Mynheer Marais. At
any rate, it is certain that I will not go away and leave her here to
starve."

Now I think that something which he saw in my eye showed him that I was
in earnest. At least, he changed his tone and began to argue, almost to
plead.

"Be reasonable, Allan," he said. "How can you marry Marie when there is
no predicant to marry you? Surely, if you love her so much, you would
not pour mud upon her name, eve