"When it got dark she sat down with her face to the door, her child in her arms. The howling of the Kafirs was wilder than ever, and shrieks of women mingled with the uproar. The Vrouw Coetzee trembled there in the dark as she remembered stories of the Kafir wars, and how the Kafirs had treated the white women and children they caught on the farms.
"Late in the night the Kafirs came back and commenced to hammer on the door again.
"'Give us more brandy,' they shouted.
"'I have no more,' she said. 'I have given you all.'
"'You lie!' they screamed. 'If you do not give us more we will come and kill you and tear your baby to pieces.'
"Then the Vrouw Coetzee began to tremble, and, putting down the child, took the big gun in her hands.
"'That is you, Kleinbooi,' she cried out, recognizing the voice of one of the Kafirs. 'Why do you behave like this? What will the baas say when he comes back?'
"'We do not care for the baas,' they replied. 'If you do not give us the brandy we will break in your door.'
"'I have no more,' she said again, and straightway the
Kafirs commenced to hammer at the door.
"The Vrouw Coetzee raised the gun to her shoulder and pointed it at the door. Her arms were trembling so that she could not keep it steady; so, going close up to the door, she rested the muzzle on the iron bar. Then she pulled the trigger.