Part 6 (1/2)

Peter pricked up his ears 'Ja, Baas, you cut off the chief Baviaan's head and sent it in pickle about the country I have seen it'

The big otten,' he said to his friend, and then to us: 'So I treat my enemies, and so will Germany treat hers You, too, if you fail ain

There was so him from below his eyelids, as I have seen hi himself on a chair, put his elbows on the table, and thrust his face forward

'You have come from a damned muddled show If I had Maritz in on's end Fools and pig-dogs, they had the ga it away We could have raised a fire that would have burned the English into the sea, and for lack of fuel they let it die down Then they try to fan it when the ashes are cold'

He rolled a paper pellet and flicked it into the air 'That is what I think of your idiot general,' he said, 'and of all you Dutch As slow as a fat vrouw and as greedy as an aasvogel'

We looked very glus,' he cried 'A thousand Brandenburgers would have won in a fortnight Seitz hadn't much to boast of, mostly clerks and farmers and half-castes, and no soldier worth the naenerals to hunt hiust of wind

'Maritz did all the fighting there was,' said Peter sulkily 'At any rate he wasn't afraid of the sight of the khaki like your lot'

'Maybe he wasn't,' said the giant in a cooing voice; 'maybe he had his reasons for that You Dutchmen have always a feather-bed to fall on You can always turn traitor Maritz now calls himself Robinson, and has a pension from his friend Botha'

'That,' said Peter, 'is a very damned lie'

'I asked for information,' said Stumm with a sudden politeness 'But that is all past and done with Maritz ers The show is over, and you are looking for safety For a new ? What can you offer? You and your Dutch are lying in the dust with the yoke on your necks The Pretoria lawyers have talked you round You see thatone on the wall 'South Africa is coloured green Not red for the English, or yellow for the Germans Soreen-the colour of neutrals, of nothings, of boys and young ladies and chicken-hearts'

I kept wondering what he was playing at

Then he fixed his eyes on Peter 'What do you coame's up in your own country What can you offer us Gerave you tenStir up a village row, perhaps, and shoot a policeman South Africa is counted out in this war Botha is a cleverish man and has beaten you calves'-heads of rebels Can you deny it?'

Peter couldn't He was terribly honest in sos, and these were for certain his opinions

'No,' he said, 'that is true, Baas'

'Then what in God's name can you do?' shouted Stuola for Ger up his arhed

It was high ti to see the kind of fellow this Stuot overlaid by ht be useful

'Let hts better than he talks He is no politician You speak truth South Africa is a closed door for the present, and the key to it is elsewhere Here in Europe, and in the east, and in other parts of Africa We have co 'Go on,to hear a taakhaar on world-politics'

'You are fighting,' I said, 'in East Africa; and soon you ypt All the east coast north of the Zalish run about the world with little expeditions I do not knohere the places are, though I read of them in the papers But I know my Africa You want to beat theenerals, you try to divide thelobe while you stick at home That is your plan?'

'A second Falkenhayn,' said Stuo She fears for Egypt and she fears, too, for India If you press her there she will send armies and more armies till she is so weak in Europe that a child can crush her That is England's way She cares more for her Empire than for what may happen to her allies So I say press and still press there, destroy the railway to the Lakes, burn her capital, pen up every Englishman in Mombasa island At this moment it is worth for you a thousand Damaralands'

The man was really interested and the Under-Secretary, too, pricked up his ears

'We can keep our territory,' said the for, how the devil are we to press? The accursed English hold the sea We cannot shi+p ians You cannot move a mass without a lever'