happen to be of my own race, when in Bushman or Hottentot I would condemn
it? Shall men belonging to one of the mightiest races of earth, creep
softly on their bellies, to attack an unwarned neighbour; when even the
Kaffir has again and again given notice of war, saying, 'Be ready, on such
and such a day I come to fight you?' Is England's power so broken, and our
race so enfeebled, that we dare no longer to proclaim war; but must creep
silently upon our bellies in the dark to stab, like a subject people to
whom no other course is open? These men are English; but not English-MEN.
When the men of our race fight, they go to war with a blazoned flag and the
loud trumpet before them. It is because I am an Englishman that these
things crush me. Better that ten thousand of us should lie dead and
defeated on one battlefield, fighting for some great cause, and my own sons
among them, than that those twelve poor boys should have fallen at
Doornkop, fighting to fill up the pockets of those already oe'r-heavy with
gold.'

"And she said, 'YOU, what does it matter what you feel or think; YOU will
never be able to do anything!'

"And he said, 'Oh my wife, stand by me; do not crush me. For me in this
matter there is no path but one on which light shines.'

"And she said, 'You are very unkind; you don't care what the people say
about us!' and she wept bitterly, and went out of the room. But as soon as
the door was shut, she dried her tears; and she said to herself, 'Now he
will never dare to preach such a sermon again. He dares never oppose me
when once I have set down my foot.'

"And the man spoke to no one, and went out alone in the veld. All the
afternoon he walked up and down among the sand and low bushes; and I walked