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Indeed,all night they had kept up a most distressing racket, wailing andbeating
little drums. Most likely hes apriest of sorts, and if youre not civil to him
well have to quitthis country.
And he believed thatit might still be stopped,
that it was still in the eastern bush. I sat a long time thinking, while the
sun went down over theMagaliesberg.
So with an easy conscience I arranged for
the retrievingof my outfit and returned to the Rand. Wronghas been done, and on
the wrong-doer must fall the penalty. We did not carry clinical thermometers
inthose days, but he certainly had fever on him.
Hehad struck some kind of
native magic, which had frightened him tothe bone for all his scepticism.
But
when we raised the waterquestion we struck a snag. But it was clear that Smit
had been killed by Andrewssporting .
Unless he had gone stark mad Iwas positive
that he could never have taken human life.
But this letter was full of small
grouses.
Well, westruck a big kraal that afternoon, but not a word would they
say tous.
I felt that somehow I hadstrayed beyond the reasonable world. I had
only one white companion, a boy of twenty-two called AndrewDu Preez.
But the
tradition is more likely to be negative. I fancy a lot of my blackguard
ancestors got scuppered atmoonlight fords. By and by Andrew lost his temper,
andforced his way in. I did my best for the boy, and before we reached the
coast theworst had passed. The landslip must havereleased the underground
water, for a stream now flowed down thehollow. He was to see Andrew andwire me
details about his state of mind.
I had only one white companion, a boy of
twenty-two called AndrewDu Preez. The atmosphere was too solemn to put a
practicalquestion like that.
Iwas informed that the Father sent the water as a
gift to thestrangers without payment.
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