Keith was moved by the kindness and godliness of the family he had just left. ‘These Boers are not such a bad and uncivilised people as they are made out to be by their enemies; in fact, I wish Englishmen were more like them. What surprises me in them is their quiet, simple, unboastful manner, and their extreme kindness to strangers such as I am.’ ‘You will find exceptions to every rule,’ Steve replied. ‘You will find boasters and bad people amongst them as amongst all other peoples. But, as a people, they are true Christians, leading a life as near as they can to what their Bible teaches them their lives should be. Their Bible is their law, and by that standard they act and judge all things. It is true they have some prejudices, likes and dislikes, which is to be deplored; but even in that they injure no man. They have the making of a great people in them, and I am proud to be of their race.’ During the Monday, our friends moved on quietly, their conversation was hushed, they spoke of serious matters; and the usual lively and sportive conversation prevailing amongst a party of young men out by themselves, was entirely absent. The road they were travelling ran through a vast plain, black as night. The fire, prevalent at this season, had burnt up every blade of grass. The farmers usually burn the grass down just before the first summer rains come on, so as to have the grass come out young and tender for their flocks. And as soon as rain has fallen, and the grass is growing, they move out of their winter quarters in the bush veld, and come back to their houses on the high veld, which, during the winter, are left under the care of, perhaps, one member of the family, or a native servant whom they can trust, or is left to take care of itself. The party travelled on all day, and came only at midday to a house, where they could obtain a little soaked mealies for their horses. All the other houses they had come to were deserted, as the families were still in the bush veld, and they had been unable to procure a mouthful of forage for their horses. They themselves were all right, for they had a good stock of provisions, but the poor brutes were starving. After the feed of mealies, the horses put a little spurt on again during the afternoon, but soon the want of food again made itself felt. The young men began to feel anxious. If the horses got no food, they could not pull the cart; and to remain stuck in such a black and uninhabited plain, with no shelter from the hot sun, would be decidedly unpleasant.