30 
THE NEW AFRICA 
not an acre in extent, while the country extended free to all 
comers for hundreds of miles in all directions. We wisely re¬ 
frained from trying to reconcile these erring people, knowing 
that any intimacy would only give rise to fresh occasions for 
quarrel, the ill-temper being sure to burst out again like a fester¬ 
ing sore, with possibilities, in the ungoverned wilds, of which we 
did not care to take the responsibility. We simply made friends 
with both parties, and avoided as much as possible listening to 
any explanations from either side. Poor souls ! they are all dead 
now, victims to the climate, and have at last one thing in 
common—a grave. The intermittent fever that killed them 
rose from the very soil they quarrelled about. 
As soon as our cart had arrived, and we had pitched camp and 
made ourselves comfortable by an interchange of ideas on our 
prospects in the future, we were surprised, late in the evening, 
by a visit from Westbeech, who came into the tent with an ex¬ 
pectant, mysterious expression on his kind face that completely 
mystified us. After several futile attempts at conversation, the 
feeling that prompted the visit was blurted out by Westbeech in 
the words, ‘ Great Scot! haven’t you any liquor ? ’ Nothing had 
been further from our thoughts, for both of us, abstemious men, 
had not even opened the case containing the stuff on the journey 
up, whisky being regarded as strictly identified with medical 
comforts. But now we soon produced a bottle and proffered it 
to Westbeech, who helped himself to a liberal ‘ nip ’ and passed 
it on to us. As we took none, a humorous expression spread 
like sunshine over good old George’s weather-beaten face, and 
he said, ‘ Well, then, this bottle is no good to you, so I will take 
it home with me,’ and, suiting the action to the word, he went off 
rather sheepishly, accompanied by our shouts of laughter at his 
peculiar logic. 
In justice to Westbeech, I must relate the fact that in the 
interior, amongst ‘ good fellows and true,’ liquor and tobacco are 
always regarded as common property; besides, Westbeech, 
prompted by the instincts of a gentleman, anticipated our 
wants and helped us in every way in his power, as only a 
