beach, and with them others. Then one of the men looked at a compass and
they began to walk southwards, hoping doubtless to reach country where
white people lived. All that befell afterwards I cannot tell, for the
poor child was too frightened and bewildered to remember, but it seems
that the men were killed in a fight with natives, who, however, did not
touch the women and children. After that the women and the little ones
died one by one of hunger and weariness, or were taken by wild beasts,
till at last none were left save Ralph and his mother. When they were
alone they met a Kaffir woman, who gave them as much food as they could
carry, and by the help of this food they struggled on southward for
another five or six days, till at length one morning, after their food
was gone, Ralph woke to find his mother cold and dead beside him.

When he was sure that she was dead he was much frightened, and ran away
as fast as he could. All that day he staggered forward, till in the
evening he came to the kloof, and being quite exhausted, knelt upon the
flat stone to pray, as he had been taught to do, and there Suzanne found
him. Such was the story, and so piteous it seemed to us that we wept as
we listened, yes, even Jan wept, and the tutor snivelled and wiped his
weak eyes.

That it was true in the main we learned afterwards from the Kaffirs, a
bit here and a bit there. Indeed, one of our own people, while searching
for Suzanne, found the body of Ralph's mother and buried it. He said
that she was a tall and noble-looking lady, not much more than thirty
years of age. We did not dig her up again to look at her, as perhaps we
should have done, for the Kaffir declared that she had nothing on
her except some rags and two rings, a plain gold one and another of
emeralds, with a device carved upon it, and in the pocket of her gown a
little book bound in red, that proved to be a Testament, on the fly leaf