Kafir Stories Seven Short Stories

where, for five long years, he had been expiating a particularly cruel assault with violence upon a woman. 'Ntsoba, the fat Fingo barman, leant lazily over the counter, but as t

r space. These tots (and an occasional bottle) were Jim's reward for not exercising too severe a supervision over the canteen, and for always happening to be round the corner when a row took place. Moreover, the till, besides being as yet nearly empty, was well out of reach; the counter was high and broad, and the shelving, sparsely filled with filthy looking black bottles, was fixed well back, so as to

about his companion; of the decadence of the times, in which it was so difficult for a poor man to live without working; of the strictness with which the location

the office and report losses of sheep; we are sent to hunt for the thieves, but instead of catching them, we find that the sh

Kalaza, "how ver

are not doing our duty, and m

or make the magistrate think they

w tone. "There is one man whom I know to be a thief, but tho

is

whose brother Tambiso gave evidence again

kind of snap, and he leant forward wi

bout Maliw

of Gert Botha, whose farm is near the

for a few second

kes you thin

aal is far from the homestead. Gert Botha never gives his servants enough to eat, and Maliwe must often be hu

ever go to

fter he was circumcised, three years ago. He gets a cow every year as wages, and each cow as he receives it is given to old Dalisile, who lives on another part

d, his beady eyes tw

ploy detectives

and then. But he that is hired must prove t

w s

y the magistrate. When he has done this, the detective gets f

ar back into his throat, and then brought it forward again. Kalaza came and stood before him, and opened his mouth wide. Into this, Jim deliberately, and with an a

f the canteen

of my father,

Jim, and walked away slowl

nd went off quickly in the di