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THE NEW AFRICA 
panied him. On their return, while in the Namakwa country, a 
chief, if I remember rightly, called Kok, came with his several 
followers to the wagons, and, asking Strembooin if he wished to 
trade, begged an inspection of the goods. Nothing suited the 
fancy of himself or his people, until most of the goods had been 
hauled out and spread on the ground, when this chief asked 
Stremboom if he could write. Stremboom admitted of course 
that he was master of that accomplishment, when the chief 
mockingly said, ‘ Then write down that I have taken your things,’ 
and quietly ordered his men to walk off the lot. Stremboom 
rushed for his gun, and would inevitably have fired at the 
thieves, of course with disastrous results to himself, for his 
party numbered but two fighting people, Witboy and himself, 
against fifty well-armed men, when Witboy caught hold of his 
master and took the gun away; then, seizing two sticks, he 
remarked that he would show these fellows something he had 
learnt in the colony from the niggers, and waltzed in among 
them to such good effect, that he drove most of the men away 
from the goods. They were only half-hearted about robbing a 
man in cold blood, and would rather have seen Stremboom 
attack them, when they might, under the plea that he had 
killed or wounded some one of their tribe, have looted the 
whole turn-out, of course killing the ‘ aggressor ’ as they would 
then term him, and his people, as a preliminary to their pro¬ 
ceedings. There really was no law in the country; but a high¬ 
handed act on their part, without an excuse for it, might 
have brought retribution from some of the civilised powers 
inhabiting their borders to the west and east, and have given 
a party of Trek or Boers, for instance, a reason for invading 
the country. 
Of course Witboy got badly handled in this encounter with 
the Namakwas, and to this day carries a damaged jaw from 
one of the blows he received, but he saved the position by 
his well-considered act. Stremboom offered what assistance he 
could to Witboy in the fight, but was soon held by some 
Namakwas from doing much injury, being not over powerful, 
