"Thank you very much!"
Parkinson moved away towards a party of officers talking together, waited till they broke up, and then went up to one of them. They talked for two or three minutes, then he turned and motioned to Yorke to come up.
"So you are a school-fellow of Parkinson's?" the officer said.
"Yes, sir; we were at Rugby together, but he was very much my senior."
"So you want to do scouting business, to carry despatches, and generally make yourself useful. He says that you are a good rider and an excellent shot, and that you talk Dutch well."
"Fairly well, sir; well enough, I think, to pass as a Boer in any short conversation."
"And you have a Dutch lad with you upon whom you can rely?"
"Yes, sir, I can rely upon him absolutely."
"There is no doubt that you would be very useful. You know a good deal about the sentiments of the Dutch?"
"Yes, sir, at least of the Dutch for twenty miles round Richmond and Brakpoort; they are almost to a man hostile, and I fancy from what I heard it is the same in most districts."