Tom was a prospector who * came in ' occasionally 

 for supplies or licenses ; and there came a day when 

 Barberton was convulsed by Lying Tom's latest. 



He had been walking along the bank of the Crocodile 

 River, and on hearing screams ran down just in time 

 to see a kaffir woman with a child on her back dragged 

 off through the shallow water by a crocodile. Tom 

 ran in to help " I kicked the dashed thing on the 

 head and in the eyes," he said, " and punched its ribs 

 and then grabbed the bucket that the woman had in 

 her hand and hammered the blamed thing over the 

 head till it let go. By Jimminy, Boys, the woman was 

 in a mess : never saw any one in such a fright ! " 



Poor Tom suffered from consumption in the throat 

 and talked in husky jerks broken by coughs and laughter. 

 Is there one among them who knew him who does not 

 remember the breezy cheeriness, the indomitable 

 pluck, the merry blue eyes, so limpidly clear, the 

 expressive bushy eyebrows, and the teeth, too perfect 

 to be wasted on a man, and ever flashing with his un- 

 failing smiles ? 



Tom would end up with " Niggers said I was 

 ' takati ' : asked for some of my medicine ! Blamed 



niggers ; got no pluck : would've let the 

 I " 



woman 



go 



Of course this story went the rounds as 

 latest and best ; but one day we turned 

 up in Barberton to deliver our loads, and 

 that evening a whisper went about and 

 men with faces humorously puzzled 

 looked at one another and said 



Tom's 



