he slipped his strong arm round him and dragged him backwards to the
ground over the crupper of the horse. As Piet fell he stretched out
his hands to grip the saddle and save himself, so that the gun which he
carried resting on his knees dropped upon the grass. Ralph seized it
and fired it into the air; then he turned to face his enemy, who by this
time had found his feet.

"Now we are more equally matched, myn Heer van Vooren," he said, "and
can talk further about that ewe lamb, the only one of the flock. Nay,
you need not look for the Kaffir to help you, for he has run after your
horse, and at the best he will hardly dare to thrust himself between two
angry white men. Come, let us talk, myn Heer."

Black Piet made no answer, so for a while the two stood facing each
other, and they were a strange pair, as different as the light from the
darkness. Ralph fair-haired, grey-eyed, stern-faced, with thin
nostrils, that quivered like those of a well-bred horse, narrow-flanked,
broad-chested, though somewhat slight of limb and body, for he was but
young, and had scarcely come to a man's weight, but lithe and wiry as a
tiger. Piet taller and more massive, for he had the age of him by five
years, with round Kaffir eyes, black and cruel, coarse black hair that
grew low upon his brow, full red lips, the lower drooping so that the
large white teeth and a line of gums could be seen within. Great-limbed
he was also, firm-footed and bull-strengthed, showing his face the
cruelty and the cunning of a black race, mingled with the mind and
mastery of the white; an evil and a terrible man, knowing no lord
save his own passions, and no religion but black witchcraft and vile
superstition; a foe to be feared indeed, but one who loved better to
stab in the dark than to strike in the open day.