I said nothing to any of you, not even to the Baas, lest he
should answer me, 'No, Hans, there may be an old woman sick in one of
those huts and therefore you must not fire them.' In such matters who
does not know that white people are fools, even the best of them, and
in fact there were several old women, for I saw them running for the
gateway. Well, I crept up by the green fence which I knew would not
burn and I came to the north gate. There was an Arab sentry left there
to watch.
"He fired at me, look! Well for Hans his mother bore him short"; and
he pointed to a hole in the filthy hat. "Then before that Arab could
load again, poor coward Hans got his knife into him from behind.
Look!" and he produced a big blade, which was such as butchers use,
from his belt and showed it to us. "After that it was easy, since fire
is a wonderful thing. You make it small and it grows big of itself,
like a child, and never gets tired, and is always hungry, and runs
fast as a horse. I lit six of them where they would burn quickest.
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