was lying in the vicinity and which he evidently calculated on finding
useful. The clerk observed this movement without betraying the fact,
and when the order was completed his eye fell upon the coffee bag
casually.

'Oh! wait a moment,' he remarked. 'I fancy I have forgotten to weigh
that coffee.'

He weighed it over again and carefully noted down the figures in his
little book, no doubt much to the chagrin of the silent Boer, who
probably had not reckoned on paying for his lead in the same
proportion as the cost of his coffee per pound.

On another occasion, a Boer, the extent of whose wealth was probably
unknown to himself, found it necessary to dispute certain items in his
account with his storekeeper. This sort of thing, by the way, is the
rule and by no means the exception. It seems natural also when it is
noted that the majority of Boers run twelve-monthly accounts, and by
the time they come to square up, they find a difficulty in recognising
some of the articles purchased eleven or twelve months previously.
This particular gentleman's argument had reference to a pair of spurs,
which he deposed had been given to him as a present by the manager,
and his hitherto good opinion of the clerk who had charged the spurs
in his account was permanently damaged. He said he wasn't a man of
that sort. If he wanted to buy spurs, he could pay cash down for about
fifteen thousand pairs and, in short, he could buy up all the spurs in
the country! He would pay for those spurs now: he wouldn't take a pair
of anything, gratis or otherwise, from that merchant as long as he
lived. He would go home and put eight horses into his wagonette and
drive round the country and tell all his friends about that pair of