Then in a few words I told them all.
"And when did you learn all this ?" asked Leblanc in French.
"At the Mission Station a little more than half an hour ago," I answered, looking at my watch.
"At the station a little more than half an hour ago! Peste! it is not possible.

You dream or are drunken," he cried excitedly.
"All right, monsieur, we will argue afterwards," I answered.

"Meanwhile the Kaffirs are here, for I rode through them; and if you want to save your life, stop talking and act.

Marie, how many guns are there ?" "Four," she answered, "of my father's; two 'roers' and two smaller ones." "And how many of these men"-- and I pointed to the Kaffirs--"can shoot ?" "Three well and one badly, Allan." "Good," I said.

"Let them load the guns with 'loopers'"-- that is, slugs, not bullets--"and let the rest stand in the passage with their assegais, in case the Quabies should try to force the back door." Now, in this house there were in all but six windows, one to each sitting-room, one to each of the larger bedrooms, these four opening on to the veranda, and one at either end of the house, to give light and air to the two small bedrooms, which were approached through the larger bedrooms.