so fully realized. His kindness as a host, however, suffered no
diminution, and I remember how warmly he pressed us to stay with him
when we returned from the north, though he did add, "My plans are a
little unsettled." This suggested visit, however, was never paid; Mr.
Rhodes a few weeks afterwards was starting for England, to, as he termed
it, "face the music." I shall have occasion to describe him in his home,
and the life at Groot Schuurr, more fully later on, when I passed many
happy and never-to-be-forgotten weeks beneath his hospitable roof. As
years went on, his kindness to both friends and political foes grew
almost proverbial, but even in 1895 Groot Schuurr, barely finished, was
already known to be one of the pleasantest places near Cape Town--a
meeting-place for all the men of the colony either on their way to and
from England, or on the occasion of their flying visits to the capital.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Red neck, or Englishman.

[2] Now Sir A. Wools Sampson, K.C.B.




CHAPTER II

KIMBERLEY AND THE JAMESON RAID

"Ex Africa semper aliquid novi."

In the last week of the old year we started on our journey to Kimberley,