"I think she is wrong, uncle. I don't say that we may be able to reconquer the whole of South Africa, but I feel sure that, whatever it costs, England will hold the Cape and Durban and the other seaports, for they are of immense importance to her."
"Let us say no more about it, lad. It is causing me a deal of trouble; so I hold my tongue, for I can't afford to be on bad terms with all the neighbours, and in constant hot water at home. There is any amount of ammunition in the house, so you can practise as much as you like, and there are plenty of spots among the hills where you can do it quietly, and so far away from the house that there would be no chance of being heard. Of course you could occasionally fire near, for it would seem only natural to my wife that you should like to learn to shoot when everyone else does. This will be the last day that I shall ride with you; but always take Hans. He may look like a fool, but I don't think he is one. He is slim, as the Dutch say, that is, he is crafty. If he could turn his hand to anything, he would have to do a good deal more work than at present. He is like the monkeys, you know. They say they could talk well enough if they liked, but they know that if they did they would be compelled to work."
Hans' face brightened up greatly when he was told that he was freed from all other duties, and was to consider himself entirely at Yorke's disposal—a young Kaffir being at once engaged to perform the work he had previously done—and henceforth no complaint could be made of his laziness. Whatever the hour at which Yorke wanted to start, the horses were ready for him, and the boys were often out on the veldt before anyone else in the house was moving. Yorke threw himself into his work with ardour, for it suited him admirably. There were the cattle to look after, and sometimes long rides to be undertaken in search of animals that had strayed. The horses gave little trouble. A few bundles of freshly-cut grass were carried to them every morning, and with the stream handy to them they had the sense to know that they could do no better elsewhere. Several Kaffir labourers cut the corn-cobs and carried them up to a large shed near the house, while the stalks and leaves were piled into a stack for mixing with the hay in the winter.
On many farms all this was burnt as fuel, but the colonist had, soon after he became master of the farm, planted fifty acres of fir-trees on the slopes of one of the valleys, and the clearings of these furnished an abundant stock of firewood, and indeed added materially to the returns of the farm by the sale of the surplus to neighbours.
Every day Yorke practised for an hour with the rifle, firing, not at a target, which, with its white square, resembles nothing that a soldier would have to aim at in a battle, but at some mark on a stone on the hillside, or a block of wood of the size of a man's head, half hidden in a tussock of coarse grass on the veldt. This block Hans always carried with him when they were going shooting. Yorke practised judging distance on level and broken ground, both from the saddle and on foot, guessing it as nearly as he could, and then stepping it. At the end of four months he could judge very closely the distance of any object he saw up to seven or eight hundred yards, and was tolerably sure of hitting it. He had practised, too, shooting from the saddle.
After he had been there a short time Mr. Allnutt, seeing that he could sit any horse on the farm, had given him one of his own, which was as yet unbroken. Yorke took great pains in training it, teaching it to halt when at full gallop, to remain immovable while he fired from the saddle, or, standing by it, used it as a rest for his barrel. It would lie down when he told it, and come at his whistle. Its sire was an English hunter which Mr. Allnutt had bought to improve the strain of his horses, so that it was a faster, as well as a more powerful, animal than the native-bred horses, while possessing an equal amount of hardiness and endurance.
"I think it is the best I ever bred," he said to Yorke three months after the latter had arrived at the farm. "And I chose it for you especially, because I saw at once that you would do it credit, and that some day it might be of the utmost importance to you to be well mounted. As to myself, it does not make any difference whether I ride a mile slower or a mile faster an hour; and on the whole, I prefer going a mile slower. Besides, you see, as a relation of mine I wish you to do me credit, and I like to take the conceit out of some of these Dutch lads, who think so much of themselves. I don't know when I was more pleased than when you beat Dirck Jansen yesterday by twenty lengths. He was always boasting that he had the best horse in this part of the colony. Of course you had the advantage of being at least two stone the lighter; but they don't take any account of weight out here. Besides, I could see that if you wanted to, you could have beaten him by twice as much. Between ourselves, I don't think your aunt was quite as well pleased as I. He is a great favourite of hers, and moreover is her cousin. However, we needn't mind that, except that I fancy you have made an enemy, and may have trouble with him by and by. These Dutch don't often forgive an injury; if they cannot avenge it at once, it rankles in their minds till they see an opportunity for wiping it out."
A QUARREL