friends again. But all the same, I do not think that she ever thought
quite so well of me afterwards, and if I thought the more of her, still
I made up my mind that the sooner she was married and had a husband of
her own to preach to, the better it would be for all of us.

Thus ended the story of the coming of the Englishmen, and of how Ralph
lost his wealth and rank. We never heard or saw more of them, seeing
that in those days before the great Trek we did not write letters,
and if we had we should not have known where to send them, nor did the
post-cart pass the door twice a week as it does in this overcrowded land
of Natal.



Now I must go on to tell of the doings of that devil upon earth, Swart
Piet, and of how the little Kaffir witch-doctoress, Sihamba Ngenyanga,
which means She-who-walks-by-the-moonlight, became the slave and saviour
of Suzanne.

At this time the Heer van Vooren, Swart Piet's father, had been dead for
two years, and there were strange stories as to the manner of his death
which I do not think it necessary to set out here. Whether or no Swart
Piet did or did not murder his father I cannot say, nor does it matter,
for at the least he worked other crimes as bad. After the death of the
Heer van Vooren, however he may have chanced to die, this is certain,
that Swart Piet inherited great riches as we used to reckon riches in
those days; that is, he had vast herds of cattle and goats and sleep,
some of which were kept for him by native chiefs far away, as much land
as he wanted, and, it was said, a good sum in English gold. But he was
a strange man, not like to other men, for he married no wife and courted