He sat there, without speaking, for nearly three-quarters of an hour; then he looked up and said-- "Let us give thanks to God. The boy's life will be spared. He is beginning to sweat profusely. We have now only to keep him warmly covered up, and the effects of the poison will pass off." CHAPTER FOURTEEN. THE STRANGER'S STORY--GEORGE SCHMIDT--IMPORTANT NEWS--THE COMMANDO SYSTEM--THE ROOT OF THE MATTER--A BAND OF MARAUDERS. "Have you practised your profession in this country for very long?" asked Nick of their visitor, as they sat over their supper an hour or two later in the evening. The latter smiled. "Yes," he answered, "for nearly fifteen years. But are you sure you know what my profession is?" "Are you not a doctor?" rejoined his questioner. "Well, I suppose I may call myself a doctor," was the reply, "but a physician of the soul, not of the body--though, as you have seen, I have picked up a little knowledge of body-curing too, in the course of my travels." "A missionary!" exclaimed Warley. "I am so glad. I have been so hoping that we might fall in with one. But we were told that there had never been more than a very few in Southern Africa, and even they had now left it." "I am sorry to say you heard no more than the truth," said the stranger. "But I trust there is a better prospect now." "I am glad to hear it," observed Lavie. "I guessed what your employment was, and was afraid you might be in trouble, if not in danger. When I left Cape Town two years ago--" "Ah, you have resided in Cape Town. Then you will know something of what our trials and discouragements have been. But no one but the missionaries themselves can really enter into them." "I wish you would give us your experiences," said Lavie. "As you say, in the colony there is a very confused and imperfect knowledge of your proceedings: and there is, besides, so large an amount of prejudice on the subject, that even those most favourably inclined towards you, have heard, I doubt not, a most unfair version of it." Warley eagerly seconded this proposal, and the stranger, who seemed willing enough to comply with their wishes, began his recital. "I should tell you first," he said, "what perhaps you have guessed--that I am, by descent, half English and half Dutch. Our family name was Blandford, and we were owners of large property in one of the southern counties; but it was forfeited in consequence of our determined adherence to the house of Stuart. After the unfortunate issue of the attempt in 1745, we were obliged to leave England, and took up our residence in Holland; where my father married the daughter of a Dutch merchant, named De Walden, whose name he thenceforth adopted.