"Good-by, Lieutenant Wortley! Good-by, George dear!" stammered Petrus—his eyes sparkling and his sun-burnt cheeks aglow with pride, as, waving a last farewell to the English friends he had grown to love, he dashed from the room amid a great clapping of hands and more congratulations.
He was glad to make his escape up to his own little room—to think. He had so much to think about. Oh, everything was possible now! Mutla's poor sick brother should be saved from death in the Kimberley diamond mines at once. And, as for his own great trip over the new "Cape to Cairo" road? Why, yes! He could now take Aunt Johanna and the whole family with him. Then there was London! His college course at Oxford, England, and, best of all, he would again see George! Wonderful dreams for the future thronged the mind of our little Boer cousin as he gazed from his window towards the star-lit heavens in the midst of which burned the Southern Cross.
THE END
FOOTNOTES:
[1] A flat-topped little hill.
[2] The open grassy plains.
[3] Unhitch.
[4] "Step-by-Step."
[5] "I don't know."
[6] General Petrus Joubert went with Paul Kruger to England in 1878 to protest against the annexation of the Transvaal, and in 1880 joined with Kruger and Pretorius in proclaiming its independence. In the war that followed he commanded the army and won the famous victories of Laing's Neck and Majuba Hill. He was elected Vice-President in 1883, contested the presidency in 1888 and in 1899 took command of the army in Natal, defeating the British in several engagements and holding General White besieged for months at Ladysmith, despite General Buller's efforts at relief. He died at Pretoria, March, 1900.