"Those cattle-dealers are good men to let alone," continued Mr. Morgan. "They want money, and they are not very particular where or how they get it, so long as they get it. They make it a business to do all they can to prevent every traveller from getting beyond the limits of the colony. They will sell you a span of broken-down oxen and a rickety old wagon, charging exorbitant prices for the same, and provide you with servants who are too lazy to earn the salt they eat on their meat. These men are in the pay of the cattle-dealers, and are expected to do everything in their power to discourage you. If they find that you are resolved to go on, they will pound your cattle until they get rusty and refuse to draw the wagon. They will drive you into an ant-bear's hole, and break an axle or smash a wheel by running over a rock they might easily have avoided. The town hill, on the other side of Maritzburg, has proved to be an insurmountable barrier to many a would-be sportsman. Just about the time he reached the steepest ascent smash would go the trek-tow, and an examination would reveal the fact that one of the links had been cut half in two. As you are an American, they will be particularly hard on you; and I warn you that eternal vigilance is the price you must pay for your success."

"Captain Sterling told me that," said Oscar. "He also informed me that the object of these swindlers is to disgust the traveller, so that he will sell off his supplies and outfit at a sacrifice."

"That's just it," replied the editor. "Even the men of whom you purchase your oxen, wagon, and goods will set to work to defeat you in order that they may buy the things back for less than they sold them for. My advice to you is to buy your oxen and supplies in Maritzburg. They are much cheaper there than they are here, and by doing that you will save hauling over a road which just now is in a pretty bad condition, owing to the recent heavy rains. I will give you letters to my friends Donahue and McElroy, who, at my request, will aid you in every way they can and see that you are not imposed upon."

Oscar thanked the editor, and remarked that friends in England had given him letters to these same gentlemen.

"That's all right; but a little additional note from me will not hurt anything," said Mr. Morgan. "You had better buy a wagon here. I know where you can get an excellent one for a hundred and ten pounds, and that includes dissel-boom, trek-tow, yokes, water-butts, fore- and after-chests, and canvas tent."

"That is about seventy-five dollars less than Barlow wants for his wagon," observed Oscar.

"And it is a better one, too," said Mr. Morgan, after he had made a mental calculation to find out how many pounds there were in seventy-five dollars. "I have seen that wagon of his, and I will wager fifty pounds against a shilling that you would never get over Maritzburg Hill with it, to say nothing of the Drackenburg, which is as much worse than any hill you ever saw as you can imagine."

"What are oxen worth in Maritzburg?"

"About ten pounds."

"Then Barlow wants to cheat me out of about $375 and intends to furnish me with a poor outfit into the bargain," said Oscar. "That money might as well stay in my pocket as to go into his."

"Better—much better!" the editor hastened to reply. "Now, if you will excuse me for a while, I will get through with my morning's work, and then we will go and see that wagon. Come in again in an hour, and you will find me quite at your service."

Oscar left the editorial sanctum and went out on the street. He easily found his way back to the hotel, and there he saw Colonel Dunhaven and his servant, surrounded by the same cattle-dealers he had seen in their company the day before.

The swindlers were determined that their prey should not escape them. As he ascended the steps the Englishman and his servant went into the parlor.

"Hello, there!" cried a voice. "Are you ready to keep your promise now?"

Oscar looked up and saw Barlow approaching.

"I have been looking for you all the morning," he said. "Where have you been?"

Oscar was not aware that that was any of Barlow's business, so he made no reply.

"Are you ready to keep your promise now?" repeated the cattle-dealer.

"What promise?"

"Why, to come over and buy that outfit I am going to sell you. It's all here, but the supplies we'll have to get up at Maritzburg."

"I didn't promise to buy any outfit of you," said Oscar.

"You didn't?" cried the cattle-dealer. "Did I not say to you, the last thing before I left you yesterday, 'Remember that that is a promise between gentlemen, and that I am to have the first chance'?"

"You did. And what did I say?"

"You said you would take it."

"You are mistaken. You asked me to think it over, and I told you I would do so."

"What conclusion have you come to?"

"That I don't want any of your things. I can do better."

"Hello! Here's a go. Come, now, that won't go down. It might with some folks, but not with me," said Barlow in a threatening tone. "I have bought six salted horses for you—they cost me a hundred and ten pounds apiece, but I told you that you could have them for a hundred, and I am a man of my word—and hired nine servants for you. I have also engaged that friend of mine of whom I told you, and he is all ready to inspan, and go down to Port Natal after your guns and other truck, just as soon as you give me the stumpy down. Cash in hand was the agreement, you know. Here's the bill, itemized and receipted—all regular," added the cattle-dealer as he drew a folded paper from his pocket, and made an effort to put it into the boy's hand.

"I don't want to see it," said Oscar, who was fairly staggered by the man's effrontery. "You must think I have taken leave of my senses. Do you suppose that I would purchase an expensive outfit without seeing it?"

"I told you it was the best in the colony, and you took my word for it and agreed to buy it."

"I did nothing of the kind! I tell you now that I will not take it!"

"Here is a go, sure enough!" exclaimed Barlow. "What shall I do with these six salted horses?"

"I don't care what you do with them."

"And what shall I say to my friend and to the servants I engaged for you?"

"That is a matter in which I am not interested. If you engaged them at all you did so without any authority from me."

"Come, now," said the cattle-dealer, slapping the folded paper into his open palm, "take the outfit, and I'll knock off half the hundred pounds I have charged you for my services and call it fifty. Can anything be fairer than that? Come, now."

"A hundred pounds!" cried Oscar. "Do you pretend to say that you've done nearly five hundred dollars' worth of work since yesterday afternoon?"

"I don't know anything about your dollars; but I told you I would fit you out, fair and square, without any trouble to yourself, and I have kept my word, as I always do. Of course I expect to be paid for doing it, and a hundred pounds is the regular price."

"You'll not get it out of me."

"Well, then, I'll have you up before the justice for breach of contract!" exclaimed Barlow fiercely.

"Do so, and we will see how much you will make out of it. Be good enough to let me pass."

He brushed by the cattle-dealer as he spoke, and once more started toward Mr. Morgan's office, but before he had made many steps Barlow overtook him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Look here, my fine Yankee lad," said he between his clenched teeth, "you had best make a friend of me. I have known more than one traveller to break down before he got over the town hill."

"I know what you mean by that," replied Oscar; "but you had better be careful how you try any tricks on me. If you think you can bluff me into buying a wagon that is ready to fall to pieces, and a team of worthless oxen, you have reckoned without your host. You picked me up for a greenhorn, but I know more than you think I do. Now from this time forward I want you to keep away from me. I shall have nothing more to do with you."

So saying, Oscar walked on again, leaving the baffled swindler alone with his disappointment.

The latter followed him with his eye and looked down at the bill he held in his hand.

"You won't have anything more to do with me, won't you?" said he between his clenched teeth. "Well, then, I shall have something to do with you. You haven't got out of the colony yet, and never will."

If Oscar could have seen the expression Barlow's face wore as he thrust the bill into his pocket and hurried down the street he would have needed no other evidence to satisfy him that Mr. Morgan knew what he was talking about when he said that eternal vigilance was the price the young hunter must pay to make his expedition successful.