Van Bleit's arms were so cramped when eventually they were released that for some time he could only work them gently, moving his wrists and fingers and relaxing his stiffened muscles. The inconvenience and the pain in them did not improve his temper. And when it became clear to him there was no room in the cart for him, that he must walk many miles before he could get a conveyance or break his fast, his rage was beyond control. "You devil!" he shouted. "You dirty low cad of a Kaffir! Look out for your skin, that's all. I keep my word regardless of consequences, and I say that for this you shall pay--and pay dearly, you hired spy who does another man's dirty work." "Drive on," said Lawless indifferently; and the Kaffir promptly whipped up his horses and drove off at a furious rate. The little schoolmaster was seated at breakfast when the Cape cart clattered noisily up the sunny street, and Lawless, descending from it, entered the hotel. He went to his room, stripped, bathed, and changed his clothes; then he repaired in all haste to the dining-room, and nodding to Mr Burton, sat down at the end of the table. "I'm famished," he said. "But if you'll give me a little time in which to take the brunt off an appetite that seems as though it would never be satisfied, I'll be ready to accompany you as we arranged." The mild eyes behind the glasses blinked their surprise and their pleasure in equal degrees. "Oh! plenty of time! plenty of time?" he asserted, and quietly pushed the butter and rolls and fruit nearer the new-comer's hand. "It's early... I am glad to see you. I was afraid you might not be returning." Lawless fell to on his breakfast when it made its appearance with a zest that astonished his companion. "What a good thing it is to have a healthy appetite," he observed. "Early rising and a drive before breakfast suit you, my friend." Lawless laughed grimly. "For the first time I experience a sneaking sympathy with the cannibal... I could almost eat you." Even a much neglected appetite reaches its limit in time. The quantity of food that Lawless managed to dispose of was a revelation to the schoolmaster; he had never in all his life been equal to making such a meal. "You have a good digestion," he remarked. "It is a fine thing." "No doubt," Lawless answered. "But it becomes assertive when a man neglects to give it work. And now, Mr Burton, I won't keep you waiting any longer. Your patience has stood a test this morning that mine would not bear so well." "Indeed, I have been well entertained," the other assured him. "In watching the exhibition of a man's eating prowess! You are more easily amused than I am." "I imagine that to be so. I belong to a generation that enjoyed simpler pleasures than you men of the present day. But I fancy we who took pleasure in simple things got more joy out of life... I may be wrong."