CONTENTS

[BOOK I]
CHAP.PAGE
I.[A Death-Bed Scene]1
II.[Boyhood]3
III.[A Controversy]4
IV.[Independence gained once more—Youthful Patriotism]5
V.[Youthful Pranks]11
VI.[A Character Sketch of Our Hero]15
VII.[Thoughts and Flowers]17
VIII.[Step-Children]18
IX.[Favourite Heroes]21
X.[Out of School]22
XI.[Hopes]23
XII.[The Transvaal in Prospective]24
XIII.[The Nestling preparing for Flight]26
XIV.[Cousins]28
XV.[The Rising Generation]29
XVI.[The Apron Strings cut]30
XVII.[First View of Johannesburg]32
XVIII.[Pretoria and Its Life]38
XIX.[A Debate]42
XX.[A Hunting We go]46
XXI.[A Boer and His Family]48
XXII.[A Talk on Bees]51
XXIII.[Good Shots]54
XXIV.[Another Try]58
XXV.[A Terrible Thunder Storm]61
XXVI.[’Tis the Will of God]65
XXVII.[A Dangerous Ford]66
XXVIII.[A Change of Route]73
XXIX.[The Bush Veld]76
XXX.[Anecdotes]78
XXXI.[Lion Stories]84
XXXII.[Dangers of the Chase]86
XXXIII.[Schrikrighied]93
XXXIV.[Stuck in the Mud]98
——
[BOOK II]
I.[Political Suicide—Heresy]106
II.[A Greenhorn]112
III.[Gold beyond the Dream of Avarice—Despised]115
IV.[The Jew]119
V.[The Jew again—Discouraged]122
VI.[History a la Rhodes]128
VII.[The Reptile Press of South Africa]133
VIII.[The Transvaal’s President and Flag insulted by the Uitlanders]135
IX.[The National Union Manifesto]140
X.[A Fishing Party on the Vaal River]144
XI.[News of an Unexpected Invasion and Break up of the Fishing Party]149
XII.[Off to the War—A Night’s Ride—Terrible News]155
XIII.[The Battle of Doornkop]164
XIV.[Probable Dangers averted by Doornkop’s Fight]173
XV.[The Fighting previous to Doornkop’s Battle]178
XVI.[Johannesburg during the Crisis]185
XVII.[The Folly of C. Leonard and His Clique]191
XVIII.[Pretoria during the Crisis]194
XIX.[Possibilities and Probabilities]199
XX.[Johannesburg surrenders unconditionally—Home Rule for the Rand]210
XXI.[The Chartered Press again—Jonah!]213
XXII.[Out of Evil came Great Good to the Transvaal]218
XXIII.[Mijnheer Meyer claims His Horse, only to give It up again—The Song of the Boer]226
XXIV.[In the Midst of Life We are in Death]230
XXV.[There is Mercy, even at the Eleventh Hour, if Ye repent]236
XXVI.[Steve meets a Sympathetic Britisher—A Retrospect]242
XXVII.[A Look into the Future]250
XXVIII.[Love at Last]269

LIFE IN AFRIKANDERLAND
BOOK I

CHAPTER I
A DEATH-BED SCENE

A death-bed is always a sad scene, but doubly so when it is that of a parent surrounded by his or her children, and trebly so when those children are young and helpless.

Let me introduce the reader to such a scene for a moment, for ’tis good now and again to be drawn near to death, if only for a moment, for it brings us face to face with the fleeting and uncertain nature of life, and admonishes us to be prepared.

Behold, then, a pale weak figure, in a white draped, old-fashioned, four-post bed; that figure is the figure of a dying man, that man the father of three children, a boy and two girls, who are standing around the bed clinging to their mother.

‘But if father is going away, where is he going to, mother?’ said the boy, the eldest of the three. Alas! he did not realise what was taking place. He had been told that his father was going away; but he could not realise that he would see him no more on earth, and that he would be left alone to fight the battle of life, with only a poor, poverty-stricken mother to stand between him and starvation.