328 A HOTTENTOT PATRIOT. 



To my surprise, a voice from an unseen speaker 

 addressed me : " Put up your revolver and come 

 this way." 



I obeyed the latter order, but not the first. In a 

 moment after I was confronted by Cigar, who, with- 

 out question or preface, addressed me : 



" You have had a narrow escape ; in another 



hour you would have been in H 's kraal, where 



there are at least fifty of the freebooters and their 

 followers at this moment. How much would your 

 life be worth among them ? After you left me I 

 had a fear come over me that you would lose your 

 way where you did, so came across the kloof to put 

 you right. Queer that I should think that you 

 would lose your way, for you know the country as 

 well as I do ; still, something told me that you 

 would go astray. Come, let me take your bridle, 

 and I'll put you on a waggon-track in an hour." 



So correctly did my hero reckon time and dis- 

 tance that the space was covered in the allotted 

 time. 



Before we parted I said : "I fear that lad is 

 killed by the stone you threw. Why did you treat 

 him so roughly ? " 



" Roughly did you say ?" with great astonish- 

 ment, adding with vehemence, " Why, he knew that 

 he was deceiving you, and that you would lose your 

 life through him. Killed ! not him ; he is only 

 stunned, and that is what I intended to do, for if the 



