The Man who Won by Baillie Reynolds

"What god, then, bade those two stand forth and strive? " / -- C. S. CALVERLEY.

All the world of Slabbert's Poort was enclosed within the walls of "Lutwyche's. " The funeral feast waxed noisier and noisier; there were the elements of discord trembling in the cup. Boer _v._ Briton was soon to be the order of the day, and the present company was largely composed of disappointed men -- those who had come to clutch diamonds, and had found none. Their sense that the times were out of joint had been growing by degrees, in proportion as their prospects waned; and the war rumours were fanning it into flame. Visions of plunder danced before their eyes. They would have torn treasure from the bowels of the earth; if this was denied them, there was many a rich homestead for the sacking, much plunder scattered here and there over the wide land. This was what war meant to most of them. A few were English, but the great majority were Africanders. Amurrica was the only man of ability among them. He meant to throw in his lot with the winning side, "anyway"; but he had for days past been making highly inflammatory speeches, from the Boer point of view, in the saloon of the Vierkleur.