Not content with reaping the fruits thereof, the Englishmen living on the goldfields wished to have full possession of the whole country. Agitation and conspiracy was rife. The result has been seen in the events of the first few days of January of this year. Although these events have been distorted shamefully, yet you must know enough to glean the true facts of the case from what you have heard.’ ‘Although you have put it in a very few words, yet you have put it so plainly that you have enlightened me on many points which were dark to me before. Past events, as stated by you, make the crime against your country even blacker than it appeared to be before. But what about the complaints of ill treatment and oppression laid by the Uitlanders against your Government?’ ‘Oh, that is easily disproved. But I see signs of the company dispersing. I am afraid we have paid our host and his guests a poor compliment by keeping our conversation all to ourselves. But if you will do me the honour to come to my quarters to-morrow evening and have a cup of tea or something stronger, if you prefer, with me, then I shall show you a very capable article from some English paper, which was taken over from the paper in question by _The Press_. This article, by facts and figures, disproves the Uitlander grievances much more capably than I could do offhand. What do you say?’ ‘With pleasure. I should like nothing better than to continue our conversation when we have more leisure. You may expect me. At what hour shall we say? Will seven o’clock do?’ ‘Finely; that is settled then.’ After this the conversation on politics was dropped, and Steve and his new acquaintance joined in the general conversation. CHAPTER XXVII A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE The following evening found Steve’s new acquaintance, true to his promise, seated at a table with our hero, partaking of a cup of tea and biscuits. After tea, Steve brought forth a box of his favourite Dutch cigars. The genial old Scotchman did not wait long to press Steve to continue their conversation of the night before, which seemed greatly to interest him. So, both being comfortably seated in a couple of easy-chairs, Steve proceeded to read the cutting of which he had spoken the night before, and we shall make no apology for reproducing it, as it will prove of interest to those readers who have heard of the _Uitlander_ grievances (?) but have never heard the other side of the matter. As you will see, it is a letter written to the editor of the _London Daily Chronicle_ and taken over by the _Pretoria Press_. This is it:-- * * * * *