Jan
lighted a fire, made coffee for us, and broiled some meat and green
mealie cobs.
We felt better after our meal, though we had not been hungry for it.
Then, to my surprise, Jan settled down to enjoy his share, as close to
the fire as he could. I do not know if the burning scrub made a little
motion in the air, or if Jan, by roasting one half of his body, felt the
other cooler by contrast.
Presently I saw, coming slowly across the veldt, a white-haired Kafir,
carrying a weakly lamb in his arms. He made straight for Jan and sat
down beside him.
Constance, who was looking out too, roused herself and gave a little
laugh. "Caught," she said, and I knew what she meant.
At first the palaver seemed amiable enough, and we saw Jan even go the
length of making a present of grilled mutton--chiefly bone, but not all.
"An attempt at bribery," murmured Constance.
In about half an hour we heard the inevitable demand. One might have
thought Jan had never heard of outspan money, instead of its being a
familiar and heating subject with him. When at last the claim was made
clear to him, he asked the name of the Baas, and expressed the greatest
surprise that any man could be so mean as to ask for money, just because
poor souls had to wait by the road till it got cool, when it was too hot
even for the oxen to eat anything.
The explanation that the place was such a convenient distance from town,
that if nothing was charged the Baas would have nothing left for his own
flocks and herds, was badly received, as was also the reminder that if
it was too hot for the oxen to eat much, they would drink all the same.
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