about four in the morning
On the road , however , as the peach brandy evaporated from his brain , doubts entered it , with the result that he determined to say nothing of his adventure to Henri Marais , who he knew was particularly anxious to avoid any cause of quarrel with the Kaffirs . So he kept his own counsel and went to bed . Before he was up next morning the Heer Marais , suspecting neither trouble nor danger , had ridden off to a farm thirty miles or more away to pay its owner for some cattle which he had recently bought , leaving his home and his daughter quite unprotected , except by Leblanc and the few native servants , who were really slaves , that lived about the place . Now on the Monday night I went to bed as usual , and slept , as I have always done through life , like a top , till about four in the morning , when I was awakened by someone tapping at the glass of my window . Slipping from the bed , I felt for my pistol , as it was quite dark , crept to the window , opened it , and keeping my head below the level of the sill , fearing lest its appearance should be greeted with an assegai , asked who was there . `` Me , baas , '' said the voice of Hans , our Hottentot servant , who , it will be remembered , had accompanied me as after-rider when first I went to Maraisfontein . `` I have bad news .