THE LEGEND OF JAN PRINSLOO'S KLOOF. 377 



made things look brighter ; and then taking the 

 ■couch, and setting it upon the stoep (verandah), 

 just outside the windows of their room, and placing 

 a chair for himself, Goodrick went out to the back 

 .and called Cupido in with him to the " stoep," 

 where he made the little ancient yellow man squat 

 down. " Cupido," said he, " I am going to inspan 

 this morning, load up one of the waggons, and send 

 my wife and servant under your charge out of this 

 cursed place to Hemming's farm — the next one, 

 twenty-five miles away, out on the karroo. To- 

 morrow, with the help of some Kaffirs I shall borrow 

 from Mr. Hemming, I shall get down the horses 

 from the mountain, load up both the waggons with 

 the rest of the furniture and farm tackle (as soon as 

 you return, which you will do very early), and trek 

 ■ out of the kloof, never again to set foot in it. But 

 first of all, you will tell me at once, without lying, 

 why you have never said a word to me of this 

 horrible secret, and what it all means. Now speak, 

 .and be careful." 



" Well, baas," said Cupido, speaking in Boer 

 Dutch, the habitual language of the Hottentots, 

 "you have been a kind baas to me, and de vrouw" 

 (nodding to his mistress) "has been good to me 

 too ; and I will tell you all I know about the story. 

 I would have warned you long ago, but Mynheer 

 Van der Meulen, when he left, made me promise 

 under pain of bei'ng shot, and I believe he was 

 Boer enough to have kept his word, for he often 

 gave me the sjambok,* and I dare not. I was born 

 here in the kloof many years ago, many years even 



* The sjambok is a short tapering -whip made of hippopotamus hide, and 

 . is a most cruel and punishing -weapon in bad hands. 



