"Then I would, if I were you," suggested the Colonel. "His reply may be interesting. However, I've invited Mr. Van der Wyck here, and we must do our duty as hosts and make him comfortable. You say he's a decent sort?"
"Absolutely," declared Colin.
"Right-o; carry on," added the Colonel. "I've had some good times on Boer farms, and it's up to us to show that we can be hospitable, too. We'll give him as good a holiday as we know how."
CHAPTER XXII
PALAVER
The Englishmen at Kilembonga acted up to their resolution. They gave Farmer Van der Wyck a rattling good time, and although the old man was a bit reticent at first, he soon emerged from his shell.
He would talk for hours, relating incidents and anecdotes of life in the Transvaal long before Johannesburg was in existence. He told of his experiences fighting against the British, first at Laing's Nek and Majuba, and then, almost twenty years later, at Magersfontein and Paardeberg.
Then, with the utmost simplicity, he explained how he, like thousands of his fellow-Boers, changed his allegiance, because the English knew how to keep their word.
"By-the-bye," remarked Colonel Narfield, when the old farmer was relating anecdotes concerning his neighbours, "did you ever happen to come across a man called Jan Groute?"