appointed Master of the High Court there, the first in the Transvaal, and probably the youngest ever known. As such he was guardian of all the orphans.
Sir Theophilus Shepstone and his staff (1876-77) about to hoist the Union Jack at the annexation of the Transvaal. Mr. Rider Haggard in the foreground.
From a Photograph.
"The Boers were very litigious over the question of land, and would spend four times the value of a plot over a lawsuit. They were much in the hands of the lawyers. The scale of legal charges was simply wicked. A solicitor would open a bill of costs with a retaining fee of fifty guineas. When I was appointed Master of the Court I made a dead stand against this. The first bill presented to me was for £600. I knocked off a discount of £400. There was a tremendous agitation against me, but my superiors upheld me, and in the long run I triumphed. I used to go on circuit over hundreds of miles in an ox waggon.
"Yes, we often had murder trials. One of the most singular that I remember, because of the strange behaviour of the prisoner, was this: One night I was standing on the verandah of Government House. I heard a shot. Inquiries were made, and it transpired that a private in a regiment quartered at Pretoria had opened the canvas of his sergeant-major's tent—who was just then writing home to —and shot him. The man then went away with the intention of killing his adjutant and colonel. He was arrested, brought up for trial, and a plea of insanity was put in. The trial ran into the night, and the large and crowded court was lit with six candles only, which gave it a peculiarly solemn appearance. The jury adjudged the prisoner 'Guilty.' I rose up and asked the man, in the formal words, and with my most dignified manner, if he had anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon him. His reply, uttered in a most jaunty voice, was, "Nothing at all, thank you, sir.' There was a question about his sanity. At any rate, whilst his dead comrade was being given a soldier's funeral, and the band was playing 'The Dead March in Saul' past the jail, the fellow was whistling merry English songs! In the end, his sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life, he escaped, and, so far as I know, was never recaptured.
"The Zulus are amongst the most courageous people in the world—they have no fear of death. There was a chief living in Transvaal territory. He was a magnificent fellow in strength and stature. A magistrate of his district went to collect certain taxes. The chief refused to pay, called on his tribesmen, who killed the magistrate and
