Of the wish of the English that they should be subjugated,
the conduct of a government which these tribes always thought
the paragon of justice and friendship was rendered totally incomprehensible
to them; they could neither defend themselves against their enemies,
nor shoot the animals in the produce of which we wished them to trade.
At last I found three servants willing to risk a journey to the north;
and a man of color named George Fleming, who had generously been assisted
by Mr. H. E. Rutherford, a mercantile gentleman of Cape Town,
to endeavor to establish a trade with the Makololo, had also managed
to get a similar number; we accordingly left Kuruman on the 20th of November,
and proceeded on our journey. Our servants were the worst possible specimens
of those who imbibe the vices without the virtues of Europeans,
but we had no choice, and were glad to get away on any terms.
When we reached Motito, forty miles off, we met Sechele on his way,
as he said, "to the Queen of England." Two of his own children,
and their mother, a former wife, were among the captives seized by the Boers;
and being strongly imbued with the then very prevalent notion of England's
justice and generosity, he thought that in consequence of the violated treaty
he had a fair case to lay before her majesty.
