money was gone, it was true; also my over-confidence in others had led
me to make a fool of myself by accepting as fact, on what I believed
to be the evidence of my eyes, that which I had not sufficient expert
knowledge to verify. But my honour was saved, and as I have again and
again seen in the course of life, money is nothing when compared with
honour, a remark which Shakespeare made long ago, though like many other
truths this is one of which a full appreciation can only be gained by
personal experience.

Not very far from the place where our meeting had been held I passed a
side street then in embryo, for it had only one or two houses situated
in their gardens and a rather large and muddy sluit of water running
down one side at the edge of the footpath. Save for two people this
street was empty, but that pair attracted my attention. They were
a white man, in whom I recognized the stout and half-intoxicated
individual who had accused me of cheating the company and then departed,
and a withered old Hottentot who at that distance, nearly a hundred
yards away, much reminded me of a certain Hans.

This Hans, I must explain, was originally a servant of my father, who
was a missionary in the Cape Colony, and had been my companion in
many adventures. Thus in my youth he and I alone escaped when Dingaan
murdered Retief and his party of Boers,[*] and he had been one of my
party in our quest for the wonderful orchid, the record of which I have
written down in "The Holy Flower."

[*] See the book called "Marie."--Editor.

Hans had his weak points, among which must be counted his love of
liquor, but he was a gallant and resourceful old fellow as indeed he had