"'Have you found any means?' began Klein Andries.
"'Listen,' said the old man. 'It is plain to me, that I shall gain no cure on earth, and I have decided to die. So I shall die at the end of a week about two hours after sunrise.'
"Andries was of course very much taken aback. 'I do not understand,' he said. 'You cannot mean to kill yourself?'
"'Of course not,' answered the old man. 'That will be your part.'
"'How do you mean?' cried Andries.
"'I shall lie here in my bed, with clean pillows and fresh sheets, and the best coverlet. Our people will all be here,—you will see to that,—and when I have spoken to them and shaken their hands, you shall bring in your rifle—'
"'That will do,' said Klein Andries. 'You need tell me no more. I will not do it.'
"'But you are my first-born,' said the father.
"'It is all the same; I will not do it.'
"'Then you can get out of my house, with your wife and your children, and go look for a stone on which to lay your heads.'