THE LEGEND OF JAN PRINSLOO'S KLOOF. 369 



and that nothing would induce them to stay another 

 night on the farm. 



" We like the N'kose (chief or master) well," 

 they said, " but we dare not stay longer in this 

 country, or we shall be slain by the witchcraft we 

 see around us ; why do you not get a ' smeller out r 

 to cleanse this place from the evil ? " The two 

 men, who in daylight were, as most Kaffirs are, 

 bold, hardy fellows, were evidently in earnest in 

 what they said, and though Goodrick, who could 

 ill afford to part with them at a moment's notice, 

 offered them increased wages, they steadfastly 

 declined ; and at length finding he could not shake 

 their resolution, he reluctantly paid them their 

 money and let them go. Goodrick learned some 

 months afterwards from a friend, that these men had 

 marched straight for the boundary of the Colony, 

 crossed the Kei, and rejoined their own tribe, the 

 Gaikas, in Kaffraria. 



Goodrick now began to think somewhat seriously 

 of the matter, and to ask himself with inward 

 misgivings what it meant. Brave man though he 

 was, like most mortals he was not quite proof 

 against superstition, and he began to find himself 

 half fearing that there was something not quite 

 canny about the place. How else could he account 

 for the locked door, the suddenly vanishing figure, 

 the sickening yell, and the lack of footmarks ? 

 However, he kept his thoughts from his wife, and 

 made some excuse about a quarrel with the Kaffirs 

 as to wages, to explain their sudden departure. 

 She, although accepting the explanation, seemed 

 uneasy, and at last burst out, " Oh, Stephen, I 

 think there is something wrong about this kloof 



24 



