"No," thundered Retief, "I will not tell a lie to please you or anyone."

Then, seeing that the commandant was utterly uncompromising, Marais went
up to his nephew and whispered to him for a while. What he said I do
not know. The result of it was, however, that after favouring both
Retief and myself with an angry scowl, Pereira turned and walked to
where his horse stood, mounted it, and rode off, followed by two
Hottentot after-riders.

That was the last I saw of Hernan Pereira for a long while to come, and
heartily do I wish that it had been the last I ever saw of him. But
this was not to be.



CHAPTER VI




THE PARTING





The Boers, who ostensibly had come to the kloof to see the shooting
match, although, in fact, for a very different purpose, now began to
disperse. Some of them rode straight away, while some went to wagons