Indeed, when he smiled more vigorously than usual, his eyebrows came down and his whiskers advanced, and his moustache went up till there was scarcely any face left, and he looked more like a great bearded monkey than a human being.

This man was a Boer of the wildest type from the far borders of Zoutpansberg, and did not understand a word of English.
Jess nicknamed him the Vilderbeeste, from his likeness to that ferocious-looking and hairy animal.

His companion, on the other hand, understood English perfectly, for he had passed many years of his life in Natal, having left that colony on account of some little indiscretion about thrashing Kafirs which had brought him into collision with the penal laws.

Jess named him the Unicorn, on account of his one gleaming tusk.
The Unicorn was an unusually pious person, and on arriving at the table, to John's astonishment, gently but firmly he grasped the knife with which he was about to cut the meat.
"What's the matter ?" said John.
The Boer shook his head sadly.

"No wonder, you English are an accursed race, and have been given over into our hands as the great king Agag was given into the hands of the Israelites, so that we have hewed you to pieces.