Also, I am your master here--I have cattle and guns and servants.

Well, I will take Marie, and if any should try to stop me, I know how to protect myself and her." This bold speech did not seem to surprise him in the least or to make him think the worse of me.

He looked at me for a while, pulling his long beard in a meditative fashion, then answered: "I dare say that at your age I should have played the same game, and it is true that you have things in your fist.

But, much as she may love you, Marie would not go away with you and leave her father to starve." "Then you can come with us as my father-in-law, Mynheer Marais.

At any rate, it is certain that I will not go away and leave her here to starve." Now I think that something which he saw in my eye showed him that I was in earnest.