‘Not quite a month. I arrived here to-day, and I came straight here.’
‘But surely, on your way from the coast, you must have met many a Boer?’
‘No, I did not; but I suppose it is because I came straight on to Pretoria after leaving the steamer.’
‘Well, sir, you have a few things to learn yet, for I am afraid you will have to journey far to meet your ideal of a Boer. He does not exist.’
‘Well, I shall see. I suppose I will come across one or more during my stay.’
Steve could not suppress another hearty laugh; but as he saw that the kind-looking old man seemed hurt at his mirth, he hastened to say,—
‘Excuse me, sir; it amused me to hear you say that you would recognise a Boer when you saw one, and immediately after express a hope that you would see one or more during your stay. Why, don’t you know that half the guests round this table are what you call Boers, or, rather, what we call them as a nation—Afrikanders?’
‘Well, I am—blessed! Do you mean they are born Boers, or are they naturalised Uitlanders?’
‘No, sir; born and bred in the Transvaal or Cape Colony. That one there was born in the Cape Colony; this one to the left was born and grew up on a farm in Waterberg; this gentleman just opposite us made his living by farming, until he became a Government official; that one to his right is an attorney, whose father was a true old Boer of the old school.’
‘Well, who would have thought it! One never gets too old to learn. It is lucky for me that they did not overhear me.’