I must confess I do not think that praise ever sounded sweeter in my ears than did these words of the Commandant Retief, uttered as they were just when I felt crushed to the dirt. Moreover, as I saw by Marie's and, I may add, by my father's face, there were other ears to which they were not ungrateful. The Boers also, brave and honest men enough, evidently appreciated them, for they said:
"Ja! ja! das ist recht" (That is right).
Only Pereira turned his broad back and busied himself with relighting his pipe, which had gone out.
Then Retief began again.
"What is it you were calling us to listen to, Mynheer Pereira? That this Heer Allan Quatermain had offered to shoot you a match? Well, why not? If he can hit Kaffirs running at him with spears, as he has done, he may be able to hit other things also. You say that you won't rob him of his money--no, it was his beautiful horse--because you have taken so many prizes shooting at targets. But did _you_ ever hit a Kaffir running at _you_ with an assegai, mynheer, you who live down there where everything is safe? If so, I never heard of it."
Pereira answered that he did not understand me to propose a shooting match at Kaffirs charging with assegais, but at something else--he knew not what.
"Quite so," said Retief. "Well, Mynheer Allan, what is it that you do propose?"
"That we should stand in the great kloof between the two _vleis_ yonder--the Heer Marais knows the place--when the wild geese flight over an hour before sunset, and that he who brings down six of them in the fewest shots shall win the match."
"If our guns are loaded with loopers that will not be difficult," said Pereira.
"With loopers you would seldom kill a bird, mynheer," I replied, "for they come over from seventy to a hundred yards up. No, I mean with rifles."
"Allemachte!" broke in a Boer; "you will want plenty of ammunition to hit a goose at that height with a bullet."
"That is my offer," I said, "to which I add this, that when twenty shots have been fired by each man, he who has killed the most birds wins, even if he has not brought down the full six. Does the Heer Pereira accept?
If so, I will venture to match myself against him, although he has won so many prizes."
The Heer Pereira seemed extremely doubtful; so doubtful, indeed, that the Boers began to laugh at him. In the end he grew rather angry, and said that he was willing to shoot me at bucks or swallows, or fireflies, or anything else I liked.
"Then let it be at geese," I answered, "since it is likely to be sometime before I am strong enough to ride after buck or other wild things."'
So the terms of the match were formally written down by Marie, as my father, although he took a keen sporting interest in the result, would have nothing to do with what he called a "wager for money," and, except myself, there was no one else present with sufficient scholarship to pen a long document. Then we both signed them, Hernan Pereira not very willingly, I thought; and if my recovery was sufficiently rapid, the date was fixed for that day week. In case of any disagreement, the Heer Retief, who was staying at Maraisfontein, or in its neighbourhood, for a while, was appointed referee and stakeholder. It was also arranged that neither of us should visit the appointed place, or shoot at the geese before the match. Still we were at liberty to practise as much as we liked at anything else in the interval and to make use of any kind of rifle that suited us best.
By the time that these arrangements were finished, feeling quite tired with all the emotions of the morning, I was carried back to my room.
Here my midday meal, cooked by Marie, was brought to me. As I finished eating it, for the fresh air had given me an appetite, my father came in, accompanied by the Heer Marais, and began to talk to me. Presently the latter asked me kindly enough if I thought I should be sufficiently strong to trek back to the station that afternoon in an ox-cart with springs to it and lying at full length upon a hide-strung "cartel" or mattress.
I answered, "Certainly," as I should have done had I been at the point of death, for I saw that he wished to be rid of me.
