274 Among Men and Horses. 



sary amount of bail, and we received our Kafir with a broad 

 grin and several cuts and bruises on his good-tempered face. 

 The constable, whom we met on the road, told us that an 

 Englishman and a Jew had given October in charge for 

 having assaulted them and for having been drunk. He said 

 that, in his opinion, the Basuto had not the slightest appear- 

 ance of being intoxicated, and that he had seen nothing of 

 the alleged assault. In fact, he was so sympathetic that I 

 remarked it was' a hot day, and gave him a couple of shillings 

 for the quenching of his thirst. Although I intended to ' re- 

 member ' him after the case had been settled, I did not think 

 it safe to give him more than a florin, lest he might ' round ' 

 on me and say that I had tried to ' square ' him. My wife 

 and I then investigated the matter and found that the English- 

 man and the Jew while riding past the backyard of the hotel, 

 had gone close to the spot where October and one of the 

 hotel servants were beating a carpet. In the usual hectoring 

 style, the ' damned niggers ' were ordered to clear out, and to 

 assist them in that movement, the Englishman struck October 

 with the hunting whip which he was carrying in his hand. 

 The fact of October, in order to parry the blow, putting up 

 the light cane with which he had been beating the carpet, 

 enraged the Englishman so, much, that he got off his horse, and 

 clubbing his heavy hunting whip, dealt the Kafir several savage 

 blows about the head and face with the butt end. October, 

 who was a real fighter, rushed at his man (a big, powerful 

 one), knocked him down and would have killed him. if some 

 white men who were near had not pulled him off; while the 

 Jew kept at a safe distance from the scrimmage, and con- 

 tented himself with using bad language. Having fetched a 

 policeman, and laid a false charge of assault and drunkenness 

 against October, the two gentlemen went away. Later on, I 

 met them at the hotel. The Englishman acknowledged that 

 he had struck October in the first instance, and expressed his 

 regret that he did not know that the * boy ' was my servant ; 

 for had he been aware of this, he would not have chastised 



