"When midday came she made some food ready to eat, and then came a bang at the door.
"'What is it you want?' she cried, without opening.
"'Liquor!' cried one of the Kafirs. 'You have some brandy in the house. Give it to us, or we will come and take it and kill you at the same time.'
"'I have no brandy,' she cried, 'and when my husband comes back I will tell him to shoot you all.'
"The Kafirs laughed, and one of the house-girls called out,
'There is brandy; we have seen it.'
"Then the Kafirs all began to shout together, and banged the door with their knobkerries. 'Give us the brandy!' they shouted, and she heard a stone smash through a window against the shutters.
"The Vrouw Coetzee was a brave woman, and she hated Kafirs; but, looking at the baby, she thought it best to give them the brandy.
"'Stand away from the window,' she cried, 'and I will put the brandy outside; but if one of you comes near me I will shoot.'
"So she placed the brandy on the sill outside the window. The Kafirs were standing about in groups, looking very fierce, but they saw the elephant-gun and did nothing. But as she barred the shutter again, she heard them rush up and snatch the bottles.
"Watching through the keyhole of the door, she saw them troop off to the huts, shouting and capering and waving the bottles in the air. They came to the door no more that day, but she heard them howling in the kraal as the brandy began to inflame them.