“It is a question of crime, and not of colour.”
“Beware what you do or say,” said Piet threateningly; “if you flog a Boer you will be a dead man before the sun has risen again.”
“Come—have you anything to say?”
“What have I done?”
Hume picked up a rheim, made a running noose, and stepped up to the young Boer.
“I will kill you first!” hissed Piet, doubling his great fist.
“Be quiet,” said Webster; “or I will shoot.”
“Oh, yes; you are two to one, and I am unarmed. Cowards!”
“And you were two to one when you took away the young lady,” said Hume, and he slipped the noose over the broad shoulders and tightened it.
“My God! you will not flog me?”