CHAPTER IX. 



OUR BOER ASSISTANTS AN UNEXPECTED MEETING. 



Pow-wow with the Boers A Bargain struck The Intimidation Game The 

 Cattle-dealer Checkmated At a Standstill In Karkloof Valley A Meet- 

 ing of Boers Propitiatory Beverage The sort of Men they were The 

 Boer More Outlay My After-Oxen, Ackerman and Brightman Morris 

 ill In my hands An Unexpected Pleasure Jack Bennett More Friends 

 Merry-making Holly to the fore again A Magnificent Midnight 

 Scene Bontebuck Camp struck and Friends part. 



UNDER the wall of the little church at Mooi Eiver 

 we outspanned for a couple of hours, and had a grand 

 pow-wow with the Boers. To further open their hearts 

 and win their favour to what I was about to propose, 

 a really good dinner, cooked by myself, was provided, 

 and we all sat down and discussed it together. 

 William, the one who had a smattering of English, 

 discovered that he had more words in his vocabulary 

 than he gave himself credit for in fact, quite sufficient 

 to render himself intelligible. Before the meal was 

 finished, he confessed himself to be the son of a British 

 deserter, his mother being Dutch. 



Well, we had a long confab, and our treatment had 

 the effect of convincing them that we wished to deal 

 with them fairly thus soon an opportunity occurred for 

 me to broach the subject so necessary to our success ; in 

 fact, I felt convinced that the failure or the reverse of 

 our expedition depended on my diplomacy and powers 

 of eloquence on the present occasion. 



