But, as I said before, the faces of his then antagonists--albeit quondam friends--hardly disguised their thoughts sufficiently.

They were forced to consider the country of the man they feared--the country to which he had given his name--as a factor in their colony; they had to admit it to their financial calculations, and all the time they would fain have crushed the great pioneer under their feet.

They had, indeed, hoped to see him humbled and abashed after his one fatal mistake, instead of which he had gone calmly on his way--a Colossus indeed--with the set purpose, as a guiding star ever before his eyes, to retrieve the error which they had fondly imagined would have delivered him into their hands.

Truly an impressive and curious study was that House of Assembly in the session of 1899.
The number of people, more or less interesting, whom we met at Groot Schuurr, seemed to pass as actors on a stage, sometimes almost too rapidly to distinguish or individualize.

But one or two stand out specially in my recollection.