38 THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 



HOW I SERVED MY MASTER 



My mother was shot by a farmer-man one day when 

 she was gathering the fruit of the prickly pear or cactus 

 plant, of which our folk are so fond. This prickly pear 

 isn't a native plant of South Africa. Its native home is in 

 Mexico. It was brought out here by the white humanfolk 

 to make fences with. It now grows wild all over the 

 country. I was a child then, and I remember the farmer 

 man taking me to his home and keeping me there for a long 

 time. One day he went to Grahamstown and took me with 

 him. He sold me in the market. My new owner kept 

 me chained up to a pole for about a year. Wicked hard- 

 hearted boys used to gather around and tease me. One day 

 they pelted me with pebbles, and I lost my temper and 

 pounced on one of them and bit his leg. My owner soon 

 afterwards gave me away. 



My new master was a good and kind man, and treated 

 me gently. I grew very fond of him, and was always 

 happiest when he was near me. He got ill and died, and 

 I grieved for a long while. His home was sold to strangers, 

 and once again I changed hands. My new owner was a 

 man who was called a Pointsman on the railway. His 

 work was to pull certain big steel levers which worked 

 signals for the engine-drivers of approaching trains. The 

 station my owner had charge of is called Uitenhage. It 

 is in the eastern province of the Cape of Good Hope. My 

 new master had been run over by a train some years before, 

 and both his legs were cut off. When I came into his 

 possession, he hobbled about on two wooden legs with the 

 aid of a stick. He evolved a brilliant idea in his brain. 

 He determined to train me to do his work for him. I 

 was very intelligent and soon learned to puU the levers. 

 He had a name for each, and I soon knew the one he wanted 



