and the then occupant of the office seemed well enough 

 pleased with the arrangement, whatever the public may 

 have thought of it. 



He was neither popular nor trusted : many tales of 

 great harshness and injustice to the natives, and 

 of corruption and favouritism in dealing with the 

 whites, added to habitual drunkenness and uncertain 

 temper, made a formidable tally in the account against 

 him ; he was also a bully and a coward, and all knew 

 it ; but unfortunately he was the law as it stood for 

 us! 



Seedling, although an official of the Boer Govern- 

 ment, was an Englishman ; there were several of them 

 on the goldfields in those days, and for the most part, 

 they were good fellows and good officials this one 

 was an exception. We all knew him personally : he 

 was effusively friendly ; and we suffered him and 

 paid for the drinks. That was in his public capacity: 

 in his private capacity he was the owner of the fighting 

 baboon of evil and cruel repute. 



If ever fate's instruments moved unconscious of 

 their mission and the part they were to play, it is certain 

 that Jock and Jim Makokel' did so that day the day 

 that was the beginning of Seedling's fall and end. 



It is not very clear how the trouble began. We had 

 been sitting on the little store-counter and talking for 

 over an hour, a group of half a dozen, swap- 

 ping off the news of the goldfields and 

 the big world against that from 

 Delagoa and the Bushveld ; 

 Seedling had joined us early 



392 



