The thing had never left off haunting me, and I was pretty clear now that it did not belong to my South African memories.

I am not a superstitious man, but the way that little _kranz_ clung to my mind made me think it was a warning sent by Providence.

I was pretty certain that when I clapped eyes on it I would be in for bad trouble.
All morning we travelled up that broad vale, and just before noon it spread out wider, the road dipped to the water's edge, and I saw before me the white roofs of a town.

The snow was deep now, and lay down to the riverside, but the sky had cleared, and against a space of blue heaven some peaks to the south rose glittering like jewels.

The arches of a bridge, spanning two forks of the stream, showed in front, and as I slowed down at the bend a sentry's challenge rang out from a block-house.