“Every inch of it. Two thousand morgen, rather over. What did you say Van Rooyen asks for it?”
“Three thousand. Probably he’d take less.”
“Far too much. It isn’t particularly good veldt; sheep don’t do well there, and the place is nearly all bush. And then there’s that stony hill right over the river, about one-fifth of the whole area. What sort of house is it?”
“A classic tenement meriting the veneration of the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings.”
“Humph! You’d better have nothing to do with the concern.”
The above dialogue took place about three weeks after the events recorded in the former chapter, the speakers being Claverton and his host, who were returning from a ride.
“You have made up your mind to settle here, then?” went on the latter.
“Yes, I’ve taken rather a fancy to this part of the country.”
“H’m! Well now, I’ll tell you what I think. Don’t you be in too great a hurry to buy; there’s nothing like keeping your eyes open a bit first, and biding your time. Plenty of these fellows would be very glad to clear out. The Dutchmen round here are mostly a bankrupt lot, living from hand to mouth, and you’ll soon be able to make your own terms and get a much better place than Springkaan’s Hoek, which old Van Roozen, by the way, has done his best to spoil.”
“But do you know of another place about here that would be likely to suit me?”