Here I may remark that _he_ never did, poor man.

Then he began to rave at Leblanc, who had brought all this dreadful disaster upon his house, saying that it was a judgment on himself for having sheltered an atheist and a drunkard for so many years, just because he was French and a man of intellect.

Someone, my father as a matter of fact, who with all his prejudices possessed a great sense of justice, reminded him that the poor Frenchman had expiated, or perchance was now expiating any crimes that he might have committed.
This turned the stream of his invective on to the Quabie Kaffirs, who had burned part of his house and stolen nearly all his stock, making him from a rich man into a poor one in a single hour.

He shouted for vengeance on the "black devils," and called on all there to help him to recover his beasts and kill the thieves.

Most of those present--they were about thirty in all, not counting the Kaffir and Hottentot after-riders--answered that they were willing to attack the Quabies.
Being residents in the district, they felt, and, indeed, said, that his case to-day might and probably would be their case to-morrow.