384 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



the farm, till they had cleared out, and I met you 

 about a month after you had been here ; and as you 

 were a determined looking Englishman, and the 

 half-dozen people who have tried the farm in the 

 last twenty years have been superstitious Dutch, I 

 thought perhaps you might succeed in beating the 

 ghost, where they failed. I haven't been in the 

 kloof for many years, and after this experience, 

 which bears out what my father and others who^ 

 knew the story well have always told me, I shan't 

 be in a hurry to come in here again. It is a strange 

 thing, and I don't think, somehow, the curse that 

 seems on the place will ever disappear." " Nor I," 

 said Goodrick, "I'm not in a hurry to try it. I 

 never believed in ghosts till the night before last ; 

 for I never thought they were partial to South 

 Africa, but after what I saw I can never again 

 doubt upon that subject. The shock to me was 

 terrible enough, and what my wife suffered must 

 have been far worse." 



With the willing aid of his neighbour and his 

 Kaffirs, as well as his own Hottentots, Goodrick got 

 clear of the kloof that day, and after a few days 

 spent at Mr. Hemmings', trekked away again for 

 Swellendam, to his father's home. Six months later 

 he finally settled in a fertile district not far from 

 Swellendam, where he and his wife and family still 

 remain. Cupido died in his service only a few years 

 since. After much trouble Goodrick sold his interest 

 in Prinsloo's Kloof and the farm around, for a sum 

 much less even than what he gave Van der 

 Meulen for it ; and it is only fair to say he warned the 

 purchaser of the evil reputation of the place before 

 this was done. It is a singular fact that on his way 



