I must tell you that, just as we were going to sleep the
night before, a stranger had come and asked for a shakedown, which was
given to him in the same room. We had risen before daybreak, and my
companion was expatiating to me, in clear and forcible language, on the
hypocrisy and scoundrelism of this Boer, when suddenly a sleepy voice
out of the darkness murmured thickly, "I say, stranger, guess you
shouldn't lose your temper; guess that 'ere Boer is acting after the
manner of human natur'." And then the owner of the voice turned over and
went to sleep again.
We had over sixty miles to ride that day, and it must have been about
eight o'clock at night, on the sixteenth day of our journey, when
we reached Pretoria and rode straight up to our camp, where we were
heartily greeted. I am sure that some of our friends must have felt a
little disappointed at seeing us arrive healthy and fat, without a sign
of fever, after all their melancholy predictions. It would not have been
"human natur'" if they had not.
Pages:
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534