enemy of all Shangaans, aching for an excuse to 

 take a hand in the row himself was not, I fear, a 

 very impartial judge. 



There was a day outside Barberton which I remem- 

 ber well. We were to start that evening, and knowing 

 that if Jim got into the town he might not be back 

 and fit to work for days, I made him stay with the 

 waggons. He lay there flat out under hi> waggon 

 with his chin resting on his arms, staring steadily at 

 the glistening corrugated iron roofs of the town, 

 as morose and unapproachable as a surly old watch- 

 dog. From the tent of my waggon I saw him raise 

 his head, and following his glance, picked out a row of 

 bundles against the sky-line. Presently a long string 

 of about fifty time-expired mine-boys came in sight. 

 Jim on his hands and knees scrambled over to where 

 Jock lay asleep, and shook him ; for this incident 

 occurred after Jock had become deaf. 



" Shangaans, Jock ; Shangaans ! Kill them ; kill, 

 kill, kill ! " said Jim in gusty ferocious whispers. It 

 must have seemed as if Fate had kindly provided an 

 outlet for the rebellious rage and the craving for a 

 fight that were consuming him. 



As Jock trotted out to head them off Jim reached 

 up to the buck-rails and pulled down his bundle of 

 sticks and lay down like a tiger on the spring. I had 

 had a lot of trouble with Jim that day, and this annoyed 

 me ; but my angry call to stop was unavailing. Jim, 

 pretending not to understand, made no attempt to 

 stop Jock, but contented himself with calling to him 

 to come back ; and Jock, stone deaf, trotted evenly 

 215 



