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.
"The fact is, Allan," he said awkwardly, "I am not inhospitable as you may think, especially towards one to whom I owe so much.

But you and my nephew, Hernan, do not seem to get on very well together, and, as you may guess, having just been almost beggared, I desire no unpleasantness with the only rich member of my family." I replied I was sure I did not wish to be the cause of any.

It seemed to me, however, that the Heer Pereira wished to make a mock of me and to bring it home to me what a poor creature I was compared to himself--I a mere sick boy who was worth nothing.
"I know," said Marais uneasily, "my nephew has been too fortunate in life, and is somewhat overbearing in his manner.