“Well, but, sir—­take a thought.”

“Not a word more, I implore you.  I am the most miserable man that ever breathed.”  As he spoke, two bitter tears forced their way.

Phoebe cast a look of pity on him, and said no more; but she shook her head.  Her plain common sense revolted.

However, it did not follow he would be in the same mind next week:  so she was in excellent spirits at her protege’s recovery, and very proud of her cure, and celebrated the event with a roaring supper, including an English ham, and a bottle of port wine; and, ten to one, that was English too.

Dick Dale looked a little incredulous, but he did not spare the ham any the more for that.

After supper, in a pause of conversation, Staines turned to Dick, and said, rather abruptly, “Suppose that dam of yours were to burst and empty its contents, would it not be a great misfortune to you?”

“Misfortune, sir!  Don’t talk of it.  Why, it would ruin us, beast and body.”

“Well, it will burst, if it is not looked to.”

“Dale’s Kloof dam burst! the biggest and strongest for a hundred miles round.”

“You deceive yourself.  It is not scientifically built, to begin, and there is a cause at work that will infallibly burst it, if not looked to in time.”

“And what is that, sir?”

“The dam is full of crabs.”

“So ’tis; but what of them?”

“I detected two of them that had perforated the dyke from the wet side to the dry, and water was trickling through the channel they had made.  Now, for me to catch two that had come right through, there must be a great many at work honeycombing your dyke; those channels, once made, will be enlarged by the permeating water, and a mere cupful of water forced into a dyke by the great pressure of a heavy column has an expansive power quite out of proportion to the quantity forced in.  Colossal dykes have been burst in this way with disastrous effects.  Indeed, it is only a question of time, and I would not guarantee your dyke twelve hours.  It is full, too, with the heavy rains.”

“Here’s a go!” said Dick, turning pale.  “Well, if it is to burst, it must.”

“Why so?  You can make it safe in a few hours.  You have got a clumsy contrivance for letting off the excess of water:  let us go and relieve the dam at once of two feet of water.  That will make it safe for a day or two, and to-morrow we will puddle it afresh, and demolish those busy excavators.”

He spoke with such authority and earnestness, that they all got up from table; a horn was blown that soon brought the Hottentots, and they all proceeded to the dam.  With infinite difficulty they opened the waste sluice, lowered the water two feet, and so drenched the arid soil that in forty-eight hours flowers unknown sprang up.

Next morning, under the doctor’s orders, all the black men and boys were diving with lumps of stiff clay and puddling the endangered wall with a thick wall of it.  This took all the people the whole day.