108 Recollections of Adventures 



candles to be lit, when I saw who it was and said 

 " boys it is our Commandant, our prisoner is safe." 

 I helped him up, apologising for the rough time I 

 had given him in the cause, and knowing his weak- 

 ness for a sopje," plied him with gin until he was 

 merry . He then requested us to play " Home Sweet 

 Home " and after an encore we sent him back to his 

 house with an escort. Next morning when he pro- 

 duced the prisoner in court, old Hans Steyn wanted 

 to know what was wrong with him, as the target 

 shooting had given him a " snuff and butter look " 

 but as no satisfactory explanation was forthcoming, 

 he was ordered to the water furrow to wash, before 

 judgment could be passed upon him with proper 

 dignity. The judge, who like necessity, knew no law, 

 and besides spoke through his nose, dilated on the 

 gravity of his offence, and confiscated his entire estate. 

 He would no doubt have given the proceeds to the 

 State had time permitted. These were days when it 

 was wise to "agree with your adversary quickly while 

 you were in the way with him," as self-made sport- 

 ing judges were, at best, somewhat risky. A case in 

 point is as follows : Scheepers of Sterkfontein was on 

 a trading trip to the Free State and his second wife 

 quarrelled with his son-in-law, living on Grobbelar's 

 Farm " Honing Kloof/' On the return of Scheepers, 

 who was a violent man and powerful, she told such 

 a tale about her son-in-law, that Scheepers rode over 

 early in the morning, and thrashed the poor son-in- 

 law unmercifully with a bullock sjambok, while he 

 was in bed. Wife No. 2 (who was still not satisfied) 

 worked Scheepers into a rage again, so he let his 

 son-in-law know that he might expect him early 

 next morning to repeat the dose. He burst open the 

 bedroom door, and the son-in-law, a small weak 

 man, unable to cope with the enraged Scheepers, 

 jumped on to some bags with an old pistol, and in 



