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Jess saw a flush, bred of the furious passion which was his weak point, spread itself over the Boer's face. "I do not know, Captain Niel. Be so good as to explain." "Very well, I will," said John calmly. "You tried to assassinate me." "What do you mean?" thundered Muller. "What I say. You shot at me twice under pretence of firing at a buck.
Rain had been falling heavily all the night, and had destroyed any chance of the lost animals being tracked, even by Spoor'em. Within a large enclosure, contiguous to the boer's dwelling, more than five hundred cattle had been penned up during the eight. These had been turned out to graze that morning, and, in consequence, the ground was everywhere covered with the hoof-marks of horses and cattle.
If I could get the management of one of those campaigns, I would know what to do, for I have studied the Boer. He values the Bible above every other thing. The most delicious edible in South Africa is "biltong." You will have seen it mentioned in Olive Schreiner's books. It is what our plainsmen call "jerked beef." It is the Boer's main standby. He has a passion for it, and he is right.
The invitation was gladly accepted, and the travellers, grouped around the wide hearth of the boer's kitchen fire, were enjoying that sense of happiness we all feel to a greater or less extent when perfectly secure from a storm heard raging without. The horses and cattle had been driven under large sheds. The young giraffes were secured in a place by themselves.
Then I felt the drag upon the Boer's saddle-bow, just as the man was getting a light; and at that moment my leg came in contact with his so suddenly that it jerked him, and the match he had struck went out. "Thunder and lightning!" he growled, kicking out to drive Sandho farther away, but missing him, for I had just thrust my toe back into the stirrup-iron and was pressing my horse away.
The officers attempted to take Donnelly back to camp with them, but he refused to go, and, taking one of the Boer's rifles, ordered them to return without him a command which they obeyed with alacrity in view of the fact that all of them were unarmed, while the Boers had carbines.
It will be nurtured and well looked after, and the one regret will be that it does not bring in an annual income in proportion to the original amount. The Boer's politics are summed up in the single word 'Defence. He is not aggressive, but he is strong on Defence. Possession with him is ten points of the law it is everything.
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