In pursuit of the nightwatchman across the centuries and vagaries of colonial and imperial policies, one constant remains – no matter the race and ethnicity of the nightwatchman, the battles over the ‘soldier of fortune’ remained largely pecuniary. As stated in earlier arguments, the assumption in much of the literature on colonial conflict and warfare is that colonial and imperial governments invested and expended large amounts of money and resources in defence of the colonial empire or territory. As the lives of David Stuurman, Andries Botha, Johnny Fingo and now ‘Cash’ demonstrate, the opposite is true. Colonial and imperial governments were loath to spend money on warfare, especially when the prize was a scattered and incoherent conglomeration of colonies and republics. The defence of the colony, it has been demonstrated, rested on the shoulders of black and brown men who were often paid meagre wages and were awarded measly booty to engage in the dangerous and capricious business of war work. Even when there was what could be called a formal declaration of war – the Anglo-Boer War, World War I and World War II – the participation of black and brown men was largely still contingent, informal, and ultimately auxiliary.