“No.”
“Why?”
“Because it makes me sick, and I don’t like it.”
Hans looked surprised. This was a new idea to him, and he sat for some time pondering it; indeed, we may say with truth that he “smoked it” In a few minutes he looked earnestly at the youth, and asked why he came to the Cape.
“To make my fortune,” answered Considine.
“Fortunes are not easily made at the Cape,” was the grave reply. “My father has been making his fortune for the last quarter of a century, and it’s not made yet.—Why did you choose the Cape?”
“I didn’t choose it.”
“No?” said the Dutchman, with a look of surprise.
“No,” responded the Englishman; “my coming here was not a matter of choice: it was necessity. Come, I will make a confidant of you and relate my history. Don’t be alarmed, I won’t keep you up all night with prosy details. My life, as you may see, has not yet been a long one, and until this year it has been comparatively uneventful.”
He paused a few moments as if to recall the past, while his companion, picking his pipe with a mimosa thorn, settled himself to listen.