Then he would have beaten the girl with the thin end until she promised to take the other man, and all would have been settled nicely.

But you Whites, you talk and talk, and nothing is settled.

You still mean to marry the daughter, and the daughter still means not to marry the man of many cows.

Moreover, the father has really gained nothing except a sick heart and much bad luck to come." "Why much bad luck to come, Hans ?" I asked idly, for his naive summing up of the case interested me in a vague way.
"Oh! Baas Allan, for two reasons.

First, your reverend father, who made me true Christian, told him so, and a predicant so good as he, is one down whom the curse of God runs from Heaven like lightning runs down a tree.