112 THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 



" But does the Queen send her soldier officers to 

 shoot olephunts ? " 



11 No ; not that I'm aware of. I'm not in the army 



now." 



Here there was a long consultation between the 

 two, and I quietly stole off to where the mob of cattle 

 were having their reims put on. After a few minutes 

 they again joined us, and the former spokesman resumed 

 the conversation. 



" My friend thinks, and so do I, that so many of 

 you Englishmans come to see the Transvaal, that you 

 want to get the country/' 



" Very likely," responded I, which being interpreted 

 resulted in both getting extremely angry. " "Well, you 

 will see," continued the speaker, " that we can fight, 

 that we are good men, and that we can defend our 

 country. Why you send your soldiers to trouble us ? 

 you have plenty country of your own. We'll fight, and 

 show you how many we can kill of the red- coats." 



This conversation is simply mentioned to show 

 the animus of a certain portion of the inhabitants of 

 the late Republic to British rule. There is no doubt 

 that Carl Kreuger and John Fayune are intensely 

 Eepublican, and would resist to death the annexation of 

 the Transvaal, but fortunately their faction composes a 

 small portion of the population, and their residence is 

 chiefly on the northern frontier. 



The road by which we cross the Drackenberg to the 

 country beyond is called Yan Eenan's Pass, a person of 

 that name being supposed to have been the first who 

 came from the east through this gap to the country 

 beyond. He must have been a bold man, and a sure- 

 footed mountaineer, for as far as one can judge, looking 



