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THE NEW AFRICA 
to accompany them, acting under their instructions, they en¬ 
deavoured to seize him, whereupon he, in self-defence, drew 
his revolver, the one I had given him, and fired on his 
assailants, who beat him unmercifully with sticks about the 
ribs, and also fired at him, breaking his leg near the knee. 
Appalled at what they had done, for probably their orders did 
not warrant such violence, they decamped, and left Grobelar 
for dead on the ground. His men carried him to the wagon, 
where he recovered consciousness, and sent for his wife, as 
he felt himself dying. When she came a day later he was 
in a high state of fever and spitting blood, for his lungs 
were injured by the terrible blows the Mongwatos had dealt 
him on the chest, and probably a broken rib had pierced into 
the lung as well. He expired shortly afterwards in the arms 
of his wife, who, when she told the story, said she was of 
opinion that had a doctor been there, he might, perhaps, have 
cut off the mortifying leg, but could not have saved him from 
the constant spitting of blood that caused his end. 
The Transvaal Court held an inquiry into this matter, with 
the result that Khama pays Mrs. Grobelar £200 a year, and the 
Transvaal another £200 a year, as indemnity for this outrage. 
Grobelar’s death had. more significance for the Boer party 
than is generally known or understood. 
