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diff --git a/20194-8.txt b/20194-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2994b00 --- /dev/null +++ b/20194-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12708 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Petticoat Commando, by Johanna Brandt + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Petticoat Commando + Boer Women in Secret Service + + +Author: Johanna Brandt + + + +Release Date: December 26, 2006 [eBook #20194] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PETTICOAT COMMANDO*** + + +E-text prepared by Jeannie Howse, Jonathan Ingram, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/c/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 20194-h.htm or 20194-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/9/20194/20194-h/20194-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/9/20194/20194-h.zip) + + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this | + | text. For a complete list, please see the end of this | + | document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +THE PETTICOAT COMMANDO + +Or + +Boer Women in Secret Service + +by + +JOHANNA BRANDT + +With Ten Illustrations + + + + + + + +[Illustration: THE WRITER] + + + + +Mills & Boon, Limited +49 Rupert Street +London, W. +Colonial Edition +Published 1913 + + + + + To + HANSIE'S MOTHER + AS A PEACE-OFFERING + FOR HAVING BROUGHT HER INTO PUBLICITY + IN DIRECT OPPOSITION + TO HER WISHES + + + + +FOREWORD + + +In introducing the English version of this book I venture to bespeak a +welcome for it, not only for the light which it throws on some +little-known incidents of the South African war, but also because of +the keen personal interest of the events recorded. It is more than a +history. It is a dramatic picture of the hopes and fears, the devotion +and bitterness with which some patriotic women in Pretoria watched +and, as far as they could, took part in the war which was slowly +drawing to its conclusion on the veld outside. + +I do not associate myself with the opinions expressed by the writer as +to the causes of the war or the methods adopted to bring it to an end, +or as to the policy which led to the Concentration Camps, and the +causes of the terrible mortality which prevailed during the first +months of their existence. On these matters many readers will hold +different opinions from the writer, or will prefer to let judgment be +in suspense and to look to the historian of the future for a final +verdict. We are still too near the events to be impartial. But this +book does not challenge or invite controversy. Fortunately for South +Africa, most of us on both sides can now discuss the events of the war +without bitterness and understand and respect the feelings of those +who were most sharply divided by these events from ourselves. + +The greater part of the narrative comes from a diary kept during the +war with unusual fullness and vividness. The difficulty experienced by +the writer of the diary in communicating to friends outside Pretoria +information about what was passing inside, and in unburdening herself +of the feelings roused in her by the events of the war, made the diary +more than usually intimate. To understand fully many of the narratives +which have been transferred from it to this book, it must be +remembered that one is reading, not something written from memory +years after the event, but rather the record of a conversation at the +time, in which the diarist is describing the events as if to a friend +who shares to the full all her own feelings and to whom she can speak +without reserve. + +Much has happened in the ten years which have passed since the end of +the war. The country which was distracted by the conflicting ideals +and interests of its different Governments and peoples has become the +Union of South Africa. It is now one State. It remains that it should +call forth a spirit of patriotism and nationality which will unite and +not divide its people. + + PATRICK DUNCAN. + +JOHANNESBURG, 1912. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +If, by inspiring feelings of patriotism in the hearts of some of my +readers, especially those members of the rising generation to whom +this story of adventure may appeal, I succeed in raising the standard +of national life, this book will have achieved the purpose for which +it was written, and I shall feel more than compensated for having set +aside the reluctance with which I faced the thought of the publicity +when first I began the work. + +I have tried to give the public some idea of what was done by Boer +women, during the great Anglo-Boer war, to keep their men in the field +and to support them in what proved to be a hopeless struggle for +independence and liberty. + +As far as I was able I have also described the perils and hardships +connected with the Secret Service of the Boers and the heroism and +resource displayed by the men. + +Although it is with the knowledge and consent of the Boer leaders that +I give publicity to what is known to me of the methods employed in the +Secret Service of the Boers, I do not wish to convey the impression +that these events of the war at any time bore an official character. + +It is a purely personal narrative and has only been written at the +repeated request, during the last ten years, of the many friends +associated with the experiences of the diarist and of the principal +characters appearing in this book. + +In order to preserve the historical value of the book no fictitious +names have been employed. + +There are, as far as we know, very few records of this nature in +existence, owing to the dangers connected with keeping a diary under +martial law, and it seemed a pity, therefore, to withhold from the +public materials which may be of use to those who are interested in +studying or writing the history of those critical years. + +I cannot vouch for the truth of every war rumour related here, nor for +the accuracy of the information which I have obtained from other +people, but the experiences of the diarist, as they were recorded from +day to day, are correct in every detail. + +My Dutch edition of this book, _Die Kappie Kommando_, is now appearing +in the Dutch South African bi-monthly journal, _Die Brandwag_, and +will, when completed, be published in book form in Holland. + +In conclusion, I should like to take this opportunity of expressing my +thanks to the Honourable Sir Richard Solomon, G.C.M.G., etc., for the +help and assistance which he has so kindly given me in connection with +the publication of my book. + + THE WRITER. + +JOHANNESBURG, 1912. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE +FOREWORD BY PATRICK DUNCAN, C.M.G., M.L.A. vii + +INTRODUCTION ix + +CHAPTER + I. THE SCENE OF ACTION 1 + + II. HOW THE MINES WERE SAVED 15 + + III. THE SURRENDER OF THE GOLDEN CITY 24 + + IV. MARTIAL LAW UNDER THE ENEMY 32 + + V. ONLY A BIT OF RIBBON GAY! 42 + + VI. PASSES AND PERMITS 46 + + VII. POSTAGE BY STRATEGY 56 + + VIII. OUTWITTING THE CENSOR 64 + + IX. JAN CELLIERS, POET AND PATRIOT 72 + + X. A LITTLE ADVENTURE WITH THE BRITISH SOLDIER 82 + + XI. PRISONER OF WAR 92 + + XII. THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS 106 + + XIII. A CONSULAR VISIT TO IRENE CAMP 124 + + XIV. NEW DEVELOPMENTS 135 + + XV. THE FORMATION OF THE NATIONAL SCOUTS CORPS 146 + + XVI. A CONSIGNMENT OF EXPLOSIVES 153 + + XVII. THE FIRST INTERVIEW WITH SPIES, INTRODUCING TWO + HEROES 157 + + XVIII. THE CASE OF SPOELSTRA 166 + + XIX. DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND! 179 + + XX. THANKSGIVING AND HUMILIATION 187 + + XXI. FLIPPIE AND CO. 194 + + XXII. THE SECRET RAILWAY TIME-TABLE 204 + + XXIII. THE SYSTEM EMPLOYED BY THE SECRET COMMITTEE 213 + + XXIV. THE DEATH OF ADOLPH KRAUSE 222 + + XXV. THE SHOEMAKER AT WORK 229 + + XXVI. BITTEN BY OUR OWN DOGS 234 + + XXVII. THE BETRAYAL OF THE SECRET COMMITTEE. + A MEMORABLE DAY OF TROUBLE 240 + + XXVIII. HANSIE EARNING THE VOTE 252 + + XXIX. A WAR-BABY AND A CURIOUS CHRISTENING 262 + + XXX. FORMING A NEW COMMITTEE 272 + + XXXI. "TEA FOR TWO" 279 + + XXXII. KIDNAPPING MAUSER THE KITTEN 283 + + XXXIII. THE FIRST SPIES AT HARMONY 291 + + XXXIV. THE CAPTAIN'S VISIT 301 + + XXXV. MEMORIES BITTER-SWEET 312 + + XXXVI. A SILENT DEPARTURE. "FARE THEE WELL" 316 + + XXXVII. BETRAYED 324 + +XXXVIII. THE RAID ON HARMONY 333 + + XXXIX. THE WATCHWORD. OILING THE HINGES 343 + + XL. PEACE, PEACE--AND THERE IS NO PEACE 356 + +CONCLUSION 375 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +THE WRITER _Frontispiece_ + FACING PAGE +MRS. VAN WARMELO 4 + +THE SURRENDER OF THE GOLDEN CITY 30 + +LETTER FROM HEAD OF SECRET SERVICE TO PRESIDENT 70 + +THE SIX WILLOWS, HARMONY 83 + +CAPTAIN NAUDÉ 136 + +W.J. BOTHA 158 + +GENTLEMAN JIM'S ROOM 178 + +ADOLPH KRAUSE 225 + +THE APIARY, HARMONY 289 + + + + +THE PETTICOAT COMMANDO + + +CHAPTER I + +THE SCENE OF ACTION + + +When, on October 11th, 1899, shortly before 5 o'clock in the +afternoon, martial law was proclaimed throughout the Transvaal and +Orange Free State, South Africa, and after the great exodus of British +subjects had taken place, there remained in Pretoria, where the +principal events recorded here took place, a harmonious community of +Boers and sympathisers, who for eight months enjoyed the novel +advantage of Boer freedom under Boer martial law. + +The remaining English residents were few in number, and kept, to all +appearance, "strictly neutral," until the morning of June 5th, 1900, +when the British troops poured into the capital. + +The two people chiefly concerned in this story, mother and daughter, +lived in Sunnyside, a south-eastern suburb of Pretoria, on a large and +beautiful old property, appropriately called Harmony, one of the +oldest estates in the capital. + +This historical place consisted of a simple, comfortable farm-house, +with a rambling garden--a romantic spot, and an ideal setting for the +adventures and enterprises here recorded. + +At the time our story opens, the owner, Mrs. van Warmelo, was living +alone on it with her daughter, Hansie, a girl of twenty-two, the +diarist referred to in the Introduction. + +The other members of the family, though they took no part in those +events of the war which took place within the capital, were so closely +connected with the principal figures in this book that their +introduction will be necessary here. + +The family consisted of five, two daughters and three sons. The elder +daughter was married and was living at Wynberg near Cape Town, the +younger, as we have seen, was with her mother in Pretoria during the +war, while of the sons, two, the eldest and the youngest, Dietlof and +Fritz, were on commando, having left the capital with the first +contingent of volunteers on September 28th. + +The third brother, Willem, who had been studying in Holland when the +war broke out, had, with his mother's knowledge and permission, given +up his nearly completed studies and had come to South Africa, to take +part in the deadly struggle in which his fellow-countrymen were +engaged. + +In order to achieve his purpose, he had taken the only route open to +him, the eastern route through Delagoa Bay, and had joined his +brothers in the field, after a brief sojourn with his mother and +sister at Harmony. + +Considering the circumstances under which he had joined the Boer +forces and the sacrifice he had made for love of fatherland, it was +particularly sad that he should have been made a prisoner at the last +great fight at the Tugela, the battle of Pieter's Height in Natal, on +February 27th, after a very short experience of commando life. + +He was lodged in the Maritzburg jail at this time, where things would +have gone hard with him, but for the loving-kindness of his cousin, +Miss Berning, now Lady Bale, who frequently visited him with her +sister, and provided him with baskets of fruit and other delicacies, +which helped greatly to brighten the long months of his imprisonment. + +Later on, through the influence of his brother-in-law, Mr. Henry +Cloete, of "Alphen," Wynberg, he was released on parole, and allowed +to return to Holland to complete his studies. His name therefore will +no more appear in these pages. + +He was "out of action" once and for all, and could not be made use of, +even when, later on, through the development of the events with which +this book deals, his services were most required by his mother and +sister. + +The other two brothers, as we have said, had left Pretoria with the +first volunteers. + +It is strange that the first blood shed in that terrible war should +have been that of a young Boer accidentally shot by a comrade. + +As a train, laden with its burden of brave and hopeful burghers, +steamed slowly through the cutting on the south-eastern side of +Pretoria, volleys of farewell shots were fired. + +It is customary to extract the bullets from the cartridges on such +occasions, but one of the burghers must have omitted to do this, with +the result that the bullet, rebounding from the rocks, penetrated a +carriage window, and seriously wounded one of the occupants. + +Was this event prophetic of a later development of the war, when, as +we shall see, Boer shed the blood of brother Boer in the formation of +the National Scouts Corps? + +Mrs. van Warmelo was a "voor-trekker," a pioneer, in every sense of +the word. As a girl of fourteen she had left Natal with her parents +and had "trekked," with other families, through the wild waste of +country, into the unknown and barbaric regions in which she was +destined to spend her youth. + +She had watched the growth of a new country, the building up of a new +race. She had known all the hardships and dangers of life in an +unsettled and uncivilised land, had been through a number of Kaffir +wars and could speak, through personal experience, of many adventures +with savage foes and wild beasts. Her children knew her stories by +heart, and it is not to be wondered at that they grew up with the love +of adventure strong in them. And above all things, they grew up with a +strong love for the strange, rich, wild country for which their +forefathers had fought and suffered. + +Mrs. van Warmelo was the eldest daughter of a family of sixteen. Her +father, Dietlof Siegfried Maré, for many years Landdrost of +Zoutpansberg, that northern territory of the Transvaal, was a direct +descendant of the Huguenot fugitives, and was a typical Frenchman, +short of stature, dark, vivacious, and exceedingly humorous, a man +remembered by all who knew him for his great hospitality and for +the shrewd, quaint humour of his sayings. + + [Illustration: MRS. VAN WARMELO.] + +Some years after their arrival in Zoutpansberg, Mrs. van Warmelo had +married a Hollander, a young minister of the Dutch Reformed Church. Of +him it is not necessary to speak in this book. + +He had taken his part in the first Anglo-Boer war and had passed away +in Heidelberg, Transvaal, leaving to the people of his adopted +fatherland and to his children a rich inheritance in the memory of a +life spent in doing noble deeds--a life of rare self-sacrifice. + +His family had left Heidelberg a few years after his death, and had +taken up their abode in the capital in order to be near Mrs. van +Warmelo's married daughter, Mrs. Cloete, who then lived close to +Harmony, in Sunnyside. + +It was a wild, romantic suburb in those days, being still almost +entirely in its natural state. Grass-covered hills, clumps of mimosa, +and other wild trees, with here and there an old homestead +picturesquely situated in isolated spots, were all there was to be +seen. + +Of all the private properties in this suburb, Harmony was the most +overgrown and neglected when Mrs. van Warmelo first took possession of +it. + +It was bounded at the lower, the western end, by the Aapies River, a +harmless rivulet in its normal state--almost dry, in fact, during the +winter season--but in flood a most dangerous and destructive element, +overflowing its banks and sweeping away every obstruction in its wild +course. + +The property was overgrown with rank vegetation and reminded one of +the impenetrable forest abode of the "Sleeping Beauty" of fairy-tale +fame. + +Friends wondered that Mrs. van Warmelo had the courage to live alone +with her daughter Hansie in such a wild and desolate spot, and they +wondered still more when they heard of the alarming experience the two +ladies had the very first night they spent in their new home. + +On their arrival, there were still workmen busy repairing the house, +and Mrs. van Warmelo pointed out to one of them that the skylight +above the bathroom door had not yet been put in. The man nailed a +piece of canvas over it, with the remark that that would do for the +night, and that he would put in the skylight on his return the next +day. Mrs. van Warmelo was only half satisfied, but left the matter +there. + +During the night one of her own servants, a sullen, +treacherous-looking native, recently in her employment, entered the +bathroom by putting a ladder against the door and tearing away the +canvas from the skylight. + +He must then have unlocked the door on the inside, striking about a +dozen matches while he was in the room, and carried various +portmanteaux out into the garden, where he slashed them open at the +sides and overhauled their contents for money and valuables. + +Early the next morning Mrs. van Warmelo was roused by old Anne +Merriman, the only woman servant on the place, who came in from the +garden with articles of wearing apparel which she had picked up under +the trees, and which she held up to the astonished gaze of her +mistress. On investigating further, they found the garden littered +with articles of clothing, valuable documents, and title-deeds, which +the thief had thrown aside as worthless, in his search for money. + +The only things of value which he had taken with him were a set of +pearl ear-rings and brooch, and a beautiful lined "kaross," or rug, +made of the skins of wild South African animals. Nothing was seen of +him again, but Mrs. van Warmelo immediately got a revolver and kept +watch for him, hoping, yet fearing, that he would return for more +plunder. + +This was a sad beginning, and old Anne added to their fears by +predicting every imaginable calamity to the inhabitants of Harmony. +She was gifted with second-sight, so she said, and often saw a man in +grey about the place; his presence "boded no good," and old Anne soon +after left the place, with many warnings to her mistress to follow her +example, before she could be overtaken by disaster. + +All this had taken place long before the war broke out. Harmony had in +the meantime been vastly improved, the dense undergrowth having been +cut away, and the row of enormous willow trees, with which the house +was overshadowed, having been removed, while large flower and +vegetable gardens had been laid out, where once a jungle-like growth +of shrubs and rank grass had abounded. + +Much of the natural beauty still remained, however, and Harmony was a +favourite resort for many people in Pretoria. Young and old visited +the place, especially during the summer months when the garden was +laden with its wealth of fruit and flowers; and of these friends of +the family many figure in these pages, while some do not appear at +all, having had no part in the stirring events with which this book +deals. + +Amongst the most frequent visitors at Harmony were the Consul-General +for the Netherlands, Mr. Domela-Nieuwenhuis and his wife, and other +members of the Diplomatic Corps with their families. + +These friendships had been formed before the war, and it was only +natural that they should have been strengthened and deepened by the +trying circumstances of the years during which the country was +convulsed by such unspeakable tragedies. + +Although the position held by these men debarred them from taking any +part whatsoever in the events of the war, their sympathies were +undoubtedly with the people of South Africa. They suffered with and +for their friends, and they must frequently have been weighed down by +a sense of their powerlessness to alleviate the distress around them, +which they were forced to witness; but they were, without exception, +men of high integrity, and observed with strict honour the obligations +laid upon them by their position of trust. + +Needless to say, they were not aware of the conspiracies which were +carried on at Harmony; to this day they are ignorant of the dangers to +which the van Warmelos were exposed and the hazardous nature of many +of the enterprises in which mother and daughter were engaged, and I +look forward with delight to the privilege of presenting each of these +gentlemen with a copy of this book, in which they will find so many +revelations of an unexpected and startling nature. + +It is not my intention to go into the details of the first encounters +with the enemy, nor to describe the siege-comedy of Mafeking, where +Baden-Powell, as principal actor, maintained a humorous correspondence +with the Boers; nor of Kimberley, where Cecil Rhodes said he felt as +safe as in Piccadilly; nor of Dundee, where the Boers were said to +have found a large number of brand-new side-saddles, originally +destined to be used by British officers on arrival at the capital, +where they hoped to take the ladies of Pretoria riding, but ultimately +consigned to the flames by the indignant brothers and lovers of those +very ladies; nor of the fine linen, silver, cut-glass, and fingerbowls +found and destroyed by the Boers in the luxurious British camp at +Dundee. I shall not dwell upon the glorious victories of the first +months, the capture of armoured trains, the blowing up of bridges, the +besieging of towns, the arrival in Pretoria of the first British +prisoners and the long sojourn of British officers in captivity in the +Model School--from where, incidentally, Winston Churchill escaped in +an ingenious way--and the crushing news of the first Boer reverses at +Dundee and Elandslaagte. + +Are these historical events not fully recorded in other books, by +other writers more competent than myself? + +A three-volume book would hardly contain the experiences Hansie had, +first in the Volks Hospital in Pretoria and later in the State Girls' +School, as volunteer nurse, but I shall pass over the events of the +first eight months of war under Boer martial law and introduce my +reader to that period in May 1900 shortly before the British took +possession of the capital. + +The two remaining brothers van Warmelo were at this time retreating +with the now completely demoralised Boer forces, before the terrific +onslaughts made upon them by the enemy. + +Blow after blow was delivered by the English in quiet succession on +their forced march from Bloemfontein to Pretoria, and it was on May +25th that the roar of Boer cannon reached the capital for the first +time. + +Looking south-east from Harmony, Mrs. and Miss van Warmelo were able +to watch the Boer commandos pouring into the town--_straggling_ would +be a better word, for there was no one in command, and the weary men +on their jaded horses passed in groups of twos and threes, and in +small contingents of from fifty to a hundred. + +Mrs. van Warmelo fully expected to see her sons among the number and +made preparations to welcome them, for under the roar of cannon the +fatted turkey had been killed and roasted and a large plum-pudding +made. + +Suddenly two men on horseback turned out of the wayside and rode +straight up to the gate. + +"Perhaps these men are bringing us news of our boys," Mrs. van Warmelo +said to her daughter, who was watching them with anxiety at her heart. + +The men dismounted at the gate and walked up to the two women, leading +their horses slowly over the grass. + +No one spoke until the men were a few yards off, when Hansie +exclaimed, with unbounded joy and relief, "Why, they _are_ our boys!" + +With unkempt hair and long beards, covered with dust, tattered and +weary, no wonder mother and sister failed to recognise them at first! + +When the first greetings were over, the young men gave what news they +could--stupefying news of the advance of the enemy in overwhelming +numbers, and of the flight and confusion of what remained of the Boer +forces. + +"What are you going to do?" their mother asked. + +"Rest and feed our horses first of all, mother," Dietlof, the elder, +replied. "They are worn out and unfit for use. And when we have +equipped ourselves for whatever may be in store for us, we must join +some small commando and escape from the town. Little or no resistance +is being offered by our men, and it is evident that Pretoria will not +be defended. All we can do is to escape before the English take +possession." + +Mrs. van Warmelo then told her sons of the retreat of the President +from the capital, with the entire Government, by the eastern railway +route. + +The greatest consternation had been caused by this flight at first, +but subsequent events went to prove that this was the wisest course +which could have been pursued. + +In this decision the President had been urged by his wife, and Mrs. +van Warmelo went on to tell how the brave old lady had said to her in +an expressive way, on the occasion of her last visit at the +President's house: + +"My dear friend, do not fear. No Englishman will ever lay his hand on +the coat-tails of the President." + +It is quite impossible to describe the confusion that ensued during +the next few days. + +No one knew what to do; there were no organised Boer forces to join, +there was no one in command, and, after long deliberation, the two +young men, urged by mother and sister, came to the conclusion that, +whatever other men might be doing, _their_ duty was to get out of +Pretoria and join whatever band of fighting burghers there might still +be in the field. + +The same spirit of determination not to fall into the hands of the +enemy while the Boer Government was free, and could continue +organising the war, prevailed amongst most of the men in Pretoria, and +daily small parties could be seen leaving the town, in carts, on +horseback, on bicycles, and even on foot. Where they were going and +when they would return no one knew. + +On the morning of June 4th, the necessary preparations for the +departure of the young men having been made, as they were sitting at +what proved to be their last meal together for such long and terrible +years, they were suddenly startled by the sound of cannon-firing and +the whistling of a shell through the air. + +They listened, speechless, as the shell burst on Schanskop Fort, on +the Sunnyside hill, just beyond Harmony, with an explosion that shook +the house. + +It was followed by another and yet another. + +So little were the inhabitants of Pretoria prepared for this that +everyone at first thought that the shells were being fired, for some +unaccountable reason, by the Boers, from the Pretoria Forts, until a +few of them burst so close to the houses that the fragments of rock +and shell fell like hail on the iron roofs. The other members of the +family followed Mrs. van Warmelo into the garden: and when it became +evident that the enemy was bombarding the Pretoria Forts, the two +young men immediately saddled their horses and rode out in the +direction in which they thought it most likely that some resistance +would be offered, after having advised their mother and sister to flee +to some place of refuge in the centre of the town. + +There was no doubt that Harmony was directly in the line of fire, and +as the great shells went shrieking and hurtling through the air, the +very earth seemed to shake with the force of each explosion. + +Mrs. van Warmelo hastily packed a few valuables into a hand-bag, and +fled into town with her daughter, leaving their dinner standing almost +untouched on the table. On their way to town, they found many +terrified women and children huddled under bridges for safety. + +The bombardment continued all the afternoon, and ceased only when +darkness fell. + +That night, when the van Warmelos returned to their deserted home, +they found the house still standing and no trace of the bombardment +except pieces of shell lying in the garden. + +They were much surprised a few hours later, by the return of their two +warriors, weary and desperate after a hopeless attempt to keep back +the English with a handful of burghers, and the news they brought was +to the effect that Pretoria was to be surrendered to the enemy the +next morning. Once more they expressed their determination to escape +to the Boer lines, wherever they might be. + +Only a few hours' rest for them that night and then they rode away at +dawn, in the Middelburg direction, on that dark and dreadful June 5th. + +It was Fritz's twenty-second birthday on that cruel mid-winter's morn, +and when Hansie saw him again he was a man of twenty-six, with the +experiences and suffering of a lifetime resting on his shoulders. + +The fate of the two young men remained a mystery to their dear ones +for many months of agonising suspense, and they pass out of these +pages for a time while we turn our attention to the relation of events +within the capital. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +HOW THE MINES WERE SAVED + + +Before we begin relating the events with which this book is actually +concerned, and which took place, as we have said in the previous +chapter, exclusively in and around the capital, I must ask my reader +to turn his attention for a few moments to that great mining centre, +Johannesburg, "The Golden City" of South Africa. + +If it was hated by the Boers before the war as the cause of all the +unrest in their beloved country, the unwelcome revolution in the calm +simplicity of their hitherto peaceful life, it is not to be wondered +at that their hatred and resentment had been intensified by the way in +which the war was brought about. + +This feeling had risen to its height of concentrated fury when it +became known to the burghers that the sweeping advance of the British +forces in overwhelming numbers would soon make it possible for the +English to take full possession of those coveted mines. + +At the time of the Republican successes there had been no suggestion +that it would be politic to destroy the mines, but as reverses became +more frequent, and it became evident beyond a doubt that the British +troops were about to cross the Vaal, a strong section of the +Government, supported by popular feeling, openly advocated the +destruction of the mines as well as the town of Johannesburg. The +precedent quoted for such a course was the burning of Moscow by the +Russians, in order to retard the victorious advance of Napoleon. + +Very soon it became apparent that the members of the Government who +were advocating this policy were gaining the upper hand, as +instructions were actually given to certain officials of the Mines +Department to make the necessary arrangements for blowing up the +mines. Another section of the Government, among whom were General +Louis Botha and Dr. F.E.T. Krause, strenuously opposed the carrying +out of this policy. + +This section eventually gained the upper hand at the time when +Commandant Schutte was compelled to relinquish the position of Special +Commandant for the Rand, and Dr. Krause was appointed in his stead, +although the circumstances leading to this change had at first in some +measure strengthened those who advocated destroying the mines. The +change was brought about in consequence of the terrible explosion at +Begbie's Engineering Works, which had been converted into a bomb +factory by the Government, and where several persons were killed and +many injured. + +The cause of this explosion after investigation was alleged to have +been the work of British spies, and it was only natural that those +persons advocating the destruction of the mines should avail +themselves of this circumstance to further their scheme, but the bold +and determined opposition of Dr. Krause, supported as he was by the +mines police, a special body of men organised for the purpose of +protecting the mines, had the effect of inducing the "Destroyers" to +mature their scheme in secret. + +The probable fate of the mines was openly and freely discussed in the +capital, and I have a faint recollection of a debating society having +taken for its subject, at this time, the question, "Would the result +of blowing up the mines be beneficial or detrimental to the Boer +cause?" Many were the pros and cons, and what conclusion was arrived +at I do not know. + +At Harmony, mother and daughter followed the subject with the keenest +interest and anxiety, realising the important effect which the +destruction of the mines would have on the later development of the +war. + +There were several weighty considerations which the "Destroyers," in +their thirst for revenge, seemed to have overlooked entirely. + +In the first place, the blowing up of the mines would have failed in +its object of punishing the mining magnates against whom the +resentment of the Republicans was specially directed, and the chief +sufferers would be innocent shareholders in every part of the world, +members of the middle-classes who had invested their little all in the +fabulously rich gold mines of the Rand. Another very important +consideration which was discussed by the more thoughtful section of +the community was the probable destruction of the farms by the British +forces by way of retaliation for the fate of the mines. Could the +burghers have foreseen that the entire country would be laid waste in +any case as the war proceeded, nothing could have saved the mines. But +the devastation of Boer homesteads was not to begin until a much later +period, and to this fact the "Destroyers" no doubt owed the +frustration of their schemes. + +I have to thank friends who were principally concerned in the matter +for the following account of how the mines were saved and for the +interesting description of the surrender of the Golden City, appearing +in Chapter III. + + * * * * * + +At this time the British troops were advancing rapidly. The Boers were +panic-stricken, and had it not been for the determined efforts of the +administration in Johannesburg, chaos would have resulted. + +About ten days before the surrender of the town, the scheme of the +"Destroyers" was unwittingly disclosed through the foolishness of the +man who had been apparently chosen to carry it out. Judge Kock, who +was a friend of Dr. Krause's, came over to Johannesburg for the +purpose of making a last and determined effort to destroy the mines. +Being a great friend of the Krauses, he was invited to stay at their +house. In a burst of confidence he produced a letter signed by a very +high-placed official of the Executive Council, whereby he was +empowered, in indefinite terms, to call for the co-operation of any +military official whom he pleased. He showed Dr. Krause this letter +and requested him to instruct the mine police and certain other mine +officials to assist him. He was met with a blank refusal, and a threat +that if he persisted in this undertaking he would be arrested. Judge +Kock, or, as he then styled himself, "General" Kock, had gathered +together a cosmopolitan force of about 100 men. + +About this time events were rapidly changing. The determined advance +of the British forces and the panic-stricken retreat of the Boers had +the effect of encouraging "General" Kock and his men. Dr. Krause's +hands were full in attending to the military necessities of the +situation. Urgent messages from Botha and the President were hourly +passing over the wires. General French, who was advancing on +Johannesburg from the east, had pressed forward to such an extent that +the Boers retreating from Vereeniging were practically hemmed in by +the British columns. + +Commandant Krause on the Sunday afternoon hastily gathered as many +fighting men as he could muster, and with them occupied the hills +surrounding Van Wyk's Rust, in order to check the advance of French +and give the Boers an opportunity of retreating safely. On the Monday, +while fighting was going on, he was obliged to leave his men--who by +that time had been reinforced by the retreating Boers--for +Johannesburg, on receiving an urgent message that chaos was reigning +in town, and that the goods sheds at the station, where Government +provisions and food-stuffs were stored, were being looted. On his +return order was speedily restored. + +Tuesday, May 29th, was the eventful day in the history of the saving +of the mines, as on this date Dr. Krause personally arrested "General" +Kock and dispersed his band of followers. It happened in this way. + +During the progress of the war the Government had been working some of +the mines, and, at the time of the rapid advance of the British from +Bloemfontein, instructions were given that all the gold should be +conveyed to Pretoria. The week before the surrender of Johannesburg, +Dr. Krause had given the necessary instructions for doing this, and +had received a report that all gold had been transported. Now, it +appears that Kock had taken advantage of the Commandant's absence from +Johannesburg to further his scheme of destruction, and the first mine +he went to with that purpose in view was the Robinson. On arriving +there he accidentally discovered that about 120,000 ounces of gold, +valued at about £400,000, were still stored on the mine. He was +evidently so perturbed about this that he momentarily forgot his +purpose, and galloped post-haste with the greater number of his men to +the Commandant's office. His men were drawn up outside; he dismounted +and found Dr. Krause in consultation with Commandant L.E. van +Diggelen, the energetic officer in command of the Mines Police. Kock +adopted a threatening and bullying attitude, and demanded the reason +why so much gold had been left on the mine, and where the treachery +lay. During the course of his angry outburst he disclosed the fact +that he had proceeded to the mine for the purpose of destroying it, +and had discovered the presence of the gold. It may be mentioned here +that Dr. Krause, in the course of the morning, had been in telegraphic +communication with General Botha, who was then in the vicinity of +Eagles' Nest, and had informed him that it would probably be necessary +to take violent measures against Kock, which might lead to bloodshed. +General Botha's reply was: "I hold you responsible for the safety of +the mines and the town of Johannesburg, and I leave everything in your +hands." + +When, therefore, "General" Kock disclosed his purpose, Dr. Krause +jumped up, closed the door, confronted him, and, before he could +realise his position, had him under arrest, calling upon van Diggelen +to disarm him. Kock made an attempt to escape, but he was powerless in +the hands of two determined men. Some time elapsed before he realised +the hopelessness of the situation, as his last attempt to induce +Commandant van Diggelen to deliver a note to his men outside was met +with a blank refusal. The next thing to be done was to get rid of +these men, who evidently had been instructed by their "General" not to +leave without him, he probably fearing that something unforeseen might +happen to him. How now to get rid of these men? The following ruse was +adopted: Dr. Krause took up some telegrams, and, waving these in the +air, rushed out to where they were stationed, demanding to know who +the officer in charge was. He was met by a confusion of voices calling +out, "Where is our General?" "Oh!" was the reply, "your General is +still in my office, consulting on military matters, and I have just +received information that the British are advancing on the town from +the direction of the Gueldenhuis. Your General commands you to proceed +in that direction to reinforce the Boers, who are trying to stop the +advance. We will follow immediately with the rest of the men. Now! who +is in command?" "I am, sir--Captain McCullum." "Now, Captain," the +Doctor said, "ride for your life and do your duty." + +The ruse was successful, and in a few minutes not a single man of the +band was in sight. The next question was, what was to be done with +Kock. The following plan was adopted: The arrest took place shortly +before the luncheon hour, and as the offices were generally closed +from one till two, Kock was detained in the Commandant's office until +one. All officials were then ordered to leave. Van Diggelen ordered +his dog-cart to be brought round, Kock was told to step in, and was +quietly driven to the fort, where he was detained by the officer in +charge. + +During the afternoon General Botha and his staff passed through +Johannesburg, and came to see Dr. Krause, who reported what had +happened. General Botha approved of and confirmed his action in every +respect. The conference between the two officers did not last long, +and resulted in Dr. Krause being definitely instructed to remain in +Johannesburg in order to protect the town and its inhabitants, and to +see that all fighting burghers immediately left for their respective +commandos. The same evening Kock was sent to Pretoria, escorted by +several police, and handed over to the authorities there. + +The great danger which had threatened the safety of the mines was in +this way averted. + +Before closing this chapter, mention should be made of the excellent +work done by the Mines Police in the protection of the mines, and in +this connection especially to name Commandant L.E. van Diggelen and +Lt. W. Vogts, the energetic Secretary of the Force. + +The gold found on the Robinson Mine was on the same Tuesday sent by +Dr. Krause to Pretoria in charge of Captain Arendt Burkhardt and +several members of the Field Police, and was duly delivered by them to +the authorities there. + + * * * * * + +_Note._--The subsequent career of Kock was an eventful one. He lost +his father, J.H. Kock, at the battle of Elandslaagte. This and other +matters so preyed upon his mind that eventually he became subject to +delusions, and is at present confined in the lunatic asylum at +Pretoria. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE SURRENDER OF THE GOLDEN CITY + + +In attempting to chronicle the events which surround the surrender of +Johannesburg, the mind involuntarily pauses, and a picture, which +reminds one of the fairy-tales of one's childhood, is called up in +imagination. + +In 1886 Johannesburg could only boast of a few tin shanties--the +beginnings of a mining camp; fourteen years later the British troops +marched through the streets of a modern city. And what has been the +history of these fourteen years? + +In the history of the older European nations development and progress +are slow, and social and economic cause and effect can be traced with +almost scientific accuracy. In Johannesburg, however, ordinary human +agencies do not seem to have been at work. The man who has the leisure +at his disposal to ascertain the true facts of that period before the +war, would present to the world a history so interesting and +fascinating that he would be accused of having indulged in fiction in +his narrative of events. It would be out of place in this book, +however, to enter into these historical events, and we must confine +ourselves to the details of the period with which this story deals. + +Ever since the beginning of the war it was the intention of the +Republican Government to defend both Pretoria and Johannesburg, and +had the outbreak of the war not been precipitated, and the necessary +cannon ordered from France arrived in time, this would have been done. +Even after the fall of Bloemfontein the idea was not entirely +abandoned, and Commandant Krause was instructed to provision the +Johannesburg Fort and make other necessary preparations. A promise was +made that several cannon would be left at Johannesburg by the Boers +during their retreat. It was hoped that such defence would retard the +British advance and enable the Boers to recover from the panic which +had seized them ever since the surrender of Cronjé at Paardeberg. + +When, however, General Botha on Tuesday, May 29th, 1900, passed +through Johannesburg, Commandant Krause was ordered to abandon the +defence of the town, to distribute all provisions collected amongst +the families of the men on commando, and to get rid of all men capable +of fighting. These orders were promptly carried out. + +On the following day, Wednesday, May 30th, between ten and eleven in +the morning, Major Francis Davis appeared with a flag of truce and +requested to see Dr. Krause. + +At the time the Commandant was at the fort attending to General +Grobelaar and about 500 men who were retreating in the direction of +Pretoria. During the day bodies of armed burghers were continually +passing through the town. + +On arrival at his office Dr. Krause found Major Davis in the company +of two old Johannesburg residents. The latter were dressed in mufti. +Both these men had taken an active part in the agitation which +preceded the war. + +Major Davis in soldierly manner addressed Dr. Krause by saying that he +was commanded by Lord Roberts to demand the immediate and +unconditional surrender of the town, in the name of Her Majesty Queen +Victoria. + +Dr. Krause's reply was very short: "No, sir, not immediately and not +unconditionally." + +Major Davis thereupon said that Lord Roberts had also expressed a +desire that the Commandant should grant him an interview, at which the +matter could be discussed. Dr. Krause assented to this proposition. + +What the Boers wanted was delay--and if Commandant Krause could delay +the forward advance of the British troops a great advantage would be +gained. + +Lord Roberts was encamped just above the Victoria Lake, close to +Germiston. On arrival at the camp Dr. Krause was met by Lord Roberts +on the verandah of the house occupied by him and his staff. + +A private interview then took place between the two officers, at which +the terms of surrender of Johannesburg were agreed upon, and which +will be found in the letter set out hereunder. + +The chief reason for an armistice advanced by the Boer Commandant was +that if the British were at once to enter the town, street-fighting +would undoubtedly take place, as the many armed burghers passing +through the town would only obey the orders of their own respective +Commandants and Field-cornets. Such street-fighting would be a serious +menace to the women and children and to the other peaceful citizens of +the town. Lord Roberts agreed to this, adding that he had once, in +Afghanistan, experienced street-fighting and would not like to see it +again. + +Another incident of this interview is worth recording, viz. the +protest made by Dr. Krause at the presence of the two civilians who +accompanied Major Davis. Lord Roberts asked for the reason of this +protest, and was informed that, according to the view of the people in +Johannesburg, these men, through the part they played in the +mendacious political agitation which was carried on prior to the war, +were partly responsible for the war, and further that he (Dr. Krause) +had in his possession a warrant for the arrest of one of these men for +high treason, issued prior to the commencement of hostilities, and +consequently their presence in the town was looked upon with a great +deal of disfavour and resentment. + +Lord Roberts expressed his regret, and said that these men had +accompanied his officer only because he was told that they would be +excellent guides, knowing the locality and the officials. + +The terms of surrender were agreed to, including an armistice of +twenty-four hours. This delay undoubtedly helped to save the +Republican forces from utter destruction and certainly enabled General +Botha and the other Boer officers to retreat with their men beyond +Pretoria and to collect their scattered forces. + +Dr. Krause returned to Johannesburg after this interview and +immediately set about making the necessary arrangements to carry out +his part of the bargain. A Proclamation was issued, calling upon all +armed burghers and other capable men to leave the town; all officials +were ordered to be in readiness the next day at the respective +offices, for the purpose of handing over their administration to their +successors. + +Early the next morning Mr. William Shawe, the Deputy Sheriff, was +dispatched to Lord Roberts, with a formal letter, confirming the terms +of surrender agreed to at the above interview. This historical +document is, I believe, here printed for the first time and reads as +follows: + + + "JOHANNESBURG, + "_May 30th, 1900._ + "Lord Roberts, + "Commander-in-Chief of Her + "Majesty's troops in South Africa. + + "YOUR LORDSHIP, + + "Referring to the verbal interview I had with Your Lordship this + morning, with reference to the surrender of the town, + Johannesburg, I now wish to confirm the following in writing: + + "(a) That all officials and other Government employees will be + treated with the necessary respect and consideration. On their + behalf I can give Your Lordship the assurance, that until the + surrender is complete, everything will be done by them to + facilitate Your Lordship's work, in so far as their honour + allows. + + "(b) With reference to the protection of women and children + (including the women and children of Burghers on + Commando),--that these persons will not be molested by the + troops,--Your Lordship having already given the necessary + instructions in this connection. + + "(c) That property will be protected, also forage, except in so + far as military requirements necessitate it. + + "(d) That as regards the 13,000 Kaffirs still on the mines, the + necessary precautions will be taken by Your Lordship:--in this + respect the Special Mine Police corps, till now under my + command, will render Your Lordship all assistance. + + "(e) Enclosed I send Your Lordship a copy of a notice + distributed by me, which speaks for itself, and from which Your + Lordship will learn that all fighting and armed burghers have + been ordered to leave the town at once. + + "(f) It grieves me to have to inform Your Lordship, that + notwithstanding our arrangement, that no armed men would enter + the town till to-morrow at 10 o'clock, several armed persons + entered the town (evidently without Your Lordship's knowledge, + and contrary to instructions), and several of whom are under + arrest; one who attempted to disarm a burgher was wounded, and + is at present in the hospital here. + + "Finally, I must request Your Lordship not to enter the town + with too great a force (for reasons already communicated to Your + Lordship). I shall send some one who will conduct Your Lordship + personally (or the officer in command) to the Government offices + to there carry out and complete the necessary formalities of + handing over the town. All chief and other officials have been + notified by me of this arrangement, and they have been ordered + to hold themselves in readiness to hand over their offices to + the persons appointed thereto. + + "I have the honour to be, + "Respectfully yours, + "(Signed) F.E.T. KRAUSE. + "Acting Special Commandant." + + + + + +On the morning of May 31st, 1900, the sun rose in his bright winter +splendour--the sky was blue, and not a cloud appeared upon the +horizon. Mother Nature seemed to emphasise the darkness and bitterness +in the hearts of the staunch and free Republicans by her dazzling +brightness. The new era had dawned, heralding the victory of the +invading forces and giving practical proof of the old adage, "Might is +right." + +At about 10 o'clock Commandant Krause received a message from Lord +Roberts announcing his presence on the outskirts of the town (at +Denver) and expressing a desire that the Commandant should personally +come and meet and conduct him to the Government offices, there to hand +over the "keys" of the city. This request was complied with. The +British were then seen entering the town, headed by Lord Roberts, Lord +Kitchener, and Commandant Krause. On arrival at the Government offices +the different officials were presented to Lord Roberts, who requested +them to remain in office until they were relieved of their duties by +an English officer. + +The surrender of the Golden City was an accomplished fact! + + [Illustration: THE SURRENDER OF THE GOLDEN CITY] + +In conclusion, and as a contrast to this terrible period for the +Republicans, I may here be permitted to publish a letter written by +Lord Roberts to Dr. Krause, which will show in what manner the Golden +City was previously administrated and afterwards handed over to the +British troops on May 31st, 1900. + + + "ARMY HEAD-QUARTERS, + "JOHANNESBURG, + "_June 2nd, 1900._ + + "DEAR DR. KRAUSE, + + "I desire to express to you how fully I appreciate the valuable + assistance you have afforded me in connection with the entry + into this town of the force under my command. + + "I recognise that you have had DIFFICULTIES OF NO ORDINARY + NATURE TO CONTEND WITH OF LATE, and any weakness in the + administration of the town and suburbs at such a juncture would + doubtless have been taken full advantage of by the disorderly + element which necessarily exists in an important mining + community. THANKS TO YOUR ENERGY AND VIGILANCE, ORDER AND + TRANQUILLITY HAVE BEEN PRESERVED, and I congratulate you + heartily on the result of your labours. + + "Permit me also to tender to you my personal thanks for the + great courtesy you have shown me since I first had the pleasure + of meeting you. + + "Believe me to be, + "Yours truly, + "ROBERTS, F.M." + + + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +MARTIAL LAW UNDER THE ENEMY + + +After her brothers' departure, described in Chapter I, Hansie fastened +her "Vierkleur," a broad band of the Transvaal colours, round her hat, +and announced her intention of going into town to see the British +troops come in. + +Her mother thought it a most unseemly proceeding, and declined to +accompany her wilful daughter, but the latter did not wish to miss +what she knew would become an historical event of great importance, +and rode away on her bicycle, accompanied by her faithful retriever, +Carlo. + +The thought of the conspicuous band of ribbon round her hat, in green, +red, white, and blue, gave her a certain feeling of comfort and +satisfaction. + +At least none of the friends she might chance to meet that day could +suspect her of being in town to _welcome_ the enemy. + +The air was charged with the electricity of an excitement so tense, so +suppressed, that it struck her like some living force as she rode +through the thronged, though silent streets. + +In the heart of the town, as she neared Government Square, a change +was noticeable--a change that she could not define until it was borne +in upon her that it originated in the attitude of the black and +coloured part of the community. + +They had come out in their thousands--the streets literally seethed +with them, the remarkable part of this being that they were all on the +pavements, while their "white brothers" walked in the middle of the +road. + +For the sake of the uninitiated I must explain that under the Boer +regime no black or coloured person was allowed on the pavements, nor +to be out at night, nor to walk about without a registered pass. There +was no "black peril" then. + +This noisy, unlawful demonstration was an expression of joy on their +part at the prospect of that day being set free from Boer +restrictions, a short-lived joy, however, for they became so lawless +and overbearing that it was found necessary, within a very few days, +to re-enforce the Boer laws and regulations. + + * * * * * + +In perfect order, but weary unto death, the British troops marched in. +Thousands and thousands of soldiers in khaki, travel-stained, +footsore, and famished, sank to the ground, at a given command, in the +open square facing Government Buildings. + +Some of them tried to eat of the rations they had with them, others, +too exhausted to eat, fell into a deep sleep almost at once, and one +old warrior, looking up into the face of the girl standing above him, +said, in a broken voice, "Thank God, the war is over." + +Hansie bent towards him and answered, in a voice vibrating with +passionate feeling, "Tommy Atkins, _the war has just begun_." + +He looked at her in puzzled surprise, and sighing heavily, closed his +eyes. + +Ah, unknown soldier, did you in after years, I wonder, remember the +prophetic words spoken by the lips of a girl that day? + +At three o'clock that afternoon the Union Jack was hoisted on +Government Buildings! + +Those of my readers whose love of home, kindred, traditions, +ideals--patriotism--belong to other countries can draw a mental +picture of what a similar experience would mean to them. One day to be +full of hope that a beloved country and independence would be restored +to its people, the next with those hopes laid low in the dust, +shattered, destroyed for ever, by the sight of a small, unfamiliar +flag standing out against the blue sky. + +In time of great shock or crisis, merciful Providence numbs our +keenest sensibilities and the brain acts and thinks mechanically. The +inevitable comes, however, and we wonder at finding ourselves still +breathing, after passing through that fire of mental agony. + +Our young patriot's heart was torn and bleeding, but her sufferings +then were as nothing compared to those she endured in later months and +years, when the incidents of that winter's day would pass in review +across her brain, haunting her sleeping and waking thoughts like some +hideous nightmare. + +It is not for me to describe the scene: the cheering of the multitude, +the parade of haggard troops--the soul-sickening display of imperial +patriotism. + +As if ashamed of having witnessed it, the sun, suddenly grown old and +grey, hid himself behind a passing cloud, and in the shadows which +enveloped her the girl seemed to feel the hand of Nature, groping for +hers, to convey its silent message of sympathy. + +The crowds dispersed and the troops withdrew to the outskirts of the +town to pitch their tents for the night. + +When Hansie arrived at Harmony she found all the open space around it +occupied by troops, and camps erected at the very gates, while, all +along the roads and railway lines, fires were burning and soldiers +were engaged in tending their horses and preparing their rations. + +The air was so heavy with smoke and dust that it seemed as if a dense +fog were resting on the town, but an order and discipline prevailed +which could not be surpassed. + +Mrs. van Warmelo was standing at the gate with a loaded revolver in +her hands, keeping the entire British army at bay with a pair of +blazing eyes. + +She had already spoken to the officer in command, who, on hearing that +two unprotected ladies were living alone on the property, had +immediately issued orders that no man was to enter Harmony on any +pretext whatever. Somewhat reassured, mother and daughter retired into +their stronghold, barricading doors and windows and ordering Carlo, +the good watch-dog, to preserve an extra vigilance that night. + +Brave old Carlo! from that moment he seemed to understand that his +duty was to protect his beloved mistresses from their mortal foe, and +nothing could equal his dislike and distrust of anything connected +with the unwelcome visitors around his hitherto peaceful abode. For a +long time, he valiantly withstood temptation in the form of titbits +offered him by soldiers, not at any time responding to the many +advances made by them, and my reader will agree with me, as this story +unfolds itself, that no dog could have developed more useful +qualities. + +The first few weeks after the occupation of Pretoria were spent in +settling down and finding accommodation for the thousands of British +officers and men, and it soon became evident to the inhabitants of +Harmony that Sunnyside had been chosen as a suitable suburb for the +more important members of the military forces. + +To give the reader some idea of how Harmony was hemmed in by troops on +every side, I have drawn the annexed chart, and, though some +alterations were made as the months went by, this was practically the +position of our heroines during the greater part of the war. + +On the eastern side were encamped the Military Mounted Police; on the +west, on the banks of the Aapies River and adjoining the Berea Park, +lay Kitchener's bodyguard; on the south were established the +Montmorency Scouts; and on the north, commanding the principal +entrance to Harmony, the Provost-Marshal, Major Poore, had taken up +his abode in the comfortable residence of the ex-Mayor of Pretoria, +Sir Johannes van Boeschoten, who was knighted on the occasion of the +recent visit to South Africa of the Duke of Connaught. + +Opposite the Provost-Marshal, in a house belonging to Mr. B.T. Bourke, +the War Office, as we called it, was established; and still a little +farther north, in the British Agency, vacated by Sir Conyngham and +Lady Lily Greene when martial law was proclaimed, Lord Roberts and +his staff were installed, until better quarters could be found for +them. The Military Governor, General Sir John Maxwell, then took +possession of the British Agency and remained there, as far as I know, +until the end of the war. + + [Illustration: (map of Harmony and neighbourhood.)] + +During the first half-year after the British entry into Pretoria +Harmony's front gate was blocked by the tent of the military post +office, the ropes of which had been fastened to the posts of the gate. +Although the inhabitants of Harmony found it inconvenient to squeeze +through the small opening at the side of the gate, Mrs. van Warmelo +made no objection to the arrangement, because it safeguarded the +property to some extent from possible intruders. + +Other houses in the immediate neighbourhood of Harmony were occupied +at different times by Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, the Duke of +Westminster, and many other distinguished personages, with their +staffs. From this it will readily be understood that in the whole of +Pretoria no spot could have been more completely hemmed in by the +vigilant military than Harmony. + +How this vigilance was evaded by two Boer women, and how Harmony +became the centre of Boer espionage as time went on, will be the theme +of this story; but I wish my reader clearly to understand that from +beginning to end there was no treachery, no broken promises of peace +and good behaviour. + +It was simply taken for granted that the two women in question were +hopelessly cut off from all communication with their friends in the +field, and utterly helpless and incapable of assisting their +fellow-countrymen. + +There were no conditions attached to the privilege of remaining +undisturbed in their home, and, though it was well known that their +menfolk were among the fighting burghers and that they themselves +entertained the strongest feelings of antagonism towards the British, +they were quietly left in peace. + +Whether the fact that Mrs. van Warmelo's elder daughter was married to +Mr. Henry Cloete, of Alphen, Wynberg, had anything to do with this +unexpected and altogether undeserved leniency, I do not know. It +certainly could not be put down to the credit of our heroines that Mr. +Cloete had at one time been Acting British Agent at Pretoria, nor that +he had shown the British Government such services as earned for him +the distinction of having the Order of Companion of St. Michael and +St. George conferred upon him. + +All I can say is that if the van Warmelos owed their security to these +facts, we can only look upon that as one of the fortunate +circumstances of war over which we had no control. Other Boer +residents in Pretoria fared less fortunately. + +A great many "undesirable" families were put over the border at once; +and of the remaining burghers, some took the oath of allegiance for +purposes of their own, on which I am not in a position to pass +judgment, others, the greater majority, took the oath of neutrality, +and a few, in some mysterious way or other, avoided both these oaths, +and remained in the capital, without pass, without permit, until time +and occasion presented themselves for a sudden and unaccountable +disappearance. In another chapter I shall endeavour to describe the +dangers and difficulties under which one of these men escaped from +British martial law to the free life of the Boer commandos. + +Although houses were "commandeered" right and left, and officers +quartered on private families, as is the custom in every +well-conducted war, Harmony was left in peace, only one mild attempt +being made a few days after the occupation of Pretoria, by the officer +in command of the Montmorency Scouts, to obtain entrance for himself +and fellow officers at Harmony's inhospitable door. + +"Only three officers," he said--"no men; and we shall give no +trouble." + +It was Hansie's duty to refuse, and refuse she did, firmly, patiently, +without betraying her inmost fear that he could, and probably +would--like the American darkie preacher, who announced to his flock +that a certain meeting would take place "on Friday next, de Lord +willin', an' if not, den on Sat'dy, whedder or no"--take possession of +her home, "whedder or no" she gave her consent. + +It is still a source of surprise that he did not, that, instead, he +descended to argument, to beseechings. + +"Our tents are bitterly cold at night," he said at last. "Let us at +least sleep in the house." + +"My brothers in the field have no tents," Hansie answered, "they sleep +under the open sky. Do you think that we are going to allow British +officers to sleep in their beds? Allow me to tell you that we are +red-hot Republicans." + +He departed, and, though Mrs. van Warmelo and Hansie lived in some +trepidation for the next few days, no second attempt was made to +commandeer Harmony. + +The incident of the large number of side-saddles found in the British +camp at Dundee had given Hansie food for much thought, and had caused +her to plan her own future line of action long before the British +officers entered Pretoria. + +"They will want to enjoy themselves with our girls," she told her +mother. + +"They will be found at tennis-parties, at social evenings, and at +concerts. They will want us to go out riding and driving with them, +but, mother, I vow I shall never be seen with a khaki officer as long +as our men are in the field." And, as far as she was able, she kept +her word until the war was over. + +This was not always easy, for many temptations were brought in her +way, and she soon found it necessary to give up riding and tennis +altogether in order to keep to her resolution. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +ONLY A BIT OF RIBBON GAY! + + +The conspicuously bright hues of the "Vierkleur" round Hansie's hat +attracted the attention of the new-comers in Pretoria, and she was +often asked what they represented. In course of time other girls +donned their colours, flaunting them in the face of the enemy on every +possible occasion. + +Now perhaps this was indiscreet, but, after all, what harm could it +do? + +It was a certain comfort to them, and there could be no objection to +their taking a public stand for their own, under British martial law. +At least, _we_ thought so. Not so the enemy! + +About three weeks after the British entry into the capital, the van +Warmelos were told that orders had been issued that no Transvaal +burgher in Pretoria would in future be permitted to wear the +"Vierkleur." + +"Impossible! I do not believe it," Hansie exclaimed. + +"What are you going to do?" her mother inquired. + +"Go out as usual with my 'Vierkleur' on, and see what happens," she +said. + +She went out and nothing happened, so she went out again next day, and +the next. + +In the meantime she heard that dozens of women and girls had been +stopped in the streets and marched off to the various Charge Offices, +where their colours were forcibly removed and detained as contraband +articles of war. + +Her mother warned her not to run the risk of losing her precious +ribbon, and advised her to put it away, but Hansie was determined to +wear it until _compelled_ to submit. For a few days she rode about as +usual, accompanied by Carlo, without being molested in any way, and +she was just beginning to feel reassured, when, one day, a petty +officer rode up to her in the street and ordered her to take off her +Transvaal colours. She was on her way to Consul Cinatti's house, and +was walking, for the Portuguese Consulate was quite close to Harmony. + +With the horse prancing before her, she could not very well proceed on +her way. She stopped and looked up at the soldier. She did not like +his face at all, and changed her mind about what she meant to say to +him. + +"Why don't you do as I tell you? Take off that ribbon at once," he +commanded. + +"Why don't you go and conquer the Transvaal?" she asked. + +"I have my orders," he said, with a black look, "and if you don't +remove those colours from your hat immediately, I shall send some one +to take them off by force." + +"Take the Transvaal first," she said persuasively, "then you will be +quite welcome to my bit of ribbon." + +He wheeled round suddenly and tore off to the Sunnyside Charge Office, +lashing his poor horse savagely and looking round at her with a +watchful eye every few yards. + +Hansie walked faster, and had nearly reached the side gate of the +Consulate, when she saw him returning with two other mounted soldiers. + +She dived through the gate, and running through the garden, +unceremoniously entered the house at a side door. + +"Oh, Celeste!" she said to the astonished Miss Cinatti, "there are +three men after me!" + +"Three men after you! What do you mean?" + +"They want my precious 'Vierkleur.' What shall I do?" + +"Take it off!" + +"Never!" + +Here they were joined by Mr. Cinatti, who waved his arms and stamped +his feet when he heard the story, and got so excited and indignant +that he spluttered even more than usual in his broken English. + +"What meant it all? What impudent impertinence was dis? It was nothing +but one big mean trick, a prying trap," etc., etc. + +When the storm was over (and his storms were usually of brief +duration) he asked Hansie, with a gesture of comical despair: + +"What are we going to do now?" + +"I don't know." + +"Will you take off dat ribbon?" + +"I will not." + +Hugely delighted, he clasped his hands in well-assumed agony of mind. + +"Stay here and go home in de dark?" + +"No," Hansie laughed. + +"I'll tell you. Celeste will give you anudder ribbon to put over dat +one." + +"Thank you very much," Hansie said. "Yes, that is a good idea." + +Miss Cinatti fastened a broad white ribbon over the "Vierkleur," and +Hansie bade her an affectionate farewell. The Consul escorted her to +the gate, where they found one of the mounted soldiers guarding the +entrance, while the second had been stationed at the side gate into +which Hansie had been seen to disappear. The man who had addressed her +first was nowhere to be seen. Mr. Cinatti glared at the soldier, who +backed away from the entrance, and allowed the girl to pass. He did +not look triumphant--on the contrary he saluted respectfully; but the +other Tommy at the side gate laughed when he saw the white ribbon on +her hat, and I am afraid that Hansie felt very much inclined to say, +"I've got my 'Vierkleur' on still!" But she wisely refrained, walking +on stiffly without so much as a glance at the man. That night she +slowly and sadly took off her 'bit of ribbon gay,' replacing it by a +black band in token of mourning and bereavement. + +There was too much at stake, and she felt it would be better to keep +the ribbon in safety at home than to run the risk of being deprived of +it by force. + +A sympathetic friend afterwards painted two crossed flags, the flags +of the Transvaal and the Free State, on her band of black, and this +she wore unmolested until the end of the war. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +PASSES AND PERMITS + + +At this time the procuring of passes and permits became the order of +the day, and it is inconceivable the amount of red-tape that had to be +gone through in the process. + +For women living alone and having no menfolk to send to the offices, +this was especially annoying. + +Hours were spent in waiting, and applicants were frequently sent from +one official to another, and from one department to another, on +unimportant matters. + +This brought Hansie into touch with the very men whose society she had +resolved to avoid. + +It took her three or four hours to get a permit for her bicycle and as +many days to get permission to retain her Colt's pocket-pistol, for +the officers in charge of the rifle department refused to let her keep +it and she eventually decided to go straight to head-quarters, viz. +the Military Governor, General Maxwell. + +Orders had very rightly been issued that all firearms should be +delivered to the military authorities, but in this case Mrs. van +Warmelo thought an exception should be made, because two unprotected +women, living in an isolated homestead, could hardly be considered +safe in times of such great danger unless sufficiently armed and able +to defend themselves. + +Other matters, of minor importance, could be overlooked, but it was to +this question of retaining weapons that she and her daughter owed +their acquaintance with the charming and affable Military Governor. + +The two women were received with great courtesy, and when they had +explained that they had a Mauser rifle in their possession, a +revolver, and a pistol, begging to be allowed to keep them for +self-defence, General Maxwell instantly granted them permits for the +revolver and pistol, but asked them to give up their rifle. He gave +them a written promise, signed by himself, that the rifle would be +returned to them after the war--which promise, I may add, was +faithfully kept. General Maxwell asked many questions about their +fighting relatives, and, when they were departing, said he hoped they +would come straight to him if at any time they got into trouble. + +This kindness opened the way to many subsequent visits, and brought +about a friendly understanding between the officials in the Governor's +Department and Mrs. and Miss van Warmelo. + +The latter, upon whom naturally devolved the task of procuring the +necessary passes and permits, was always well received, and never kept +waiting, although she made no secret of her feelings towards the +British, and frankly gave vent to her opinions on every subject +connected with the war. This state of affairs was brought about all +the more easily by the fact that General Maxwell and his A.D.C., Major +Hoskins, invited her opinions on every possible occasion. + +Mutual respect, and a sincere desire to alleviate the suffering caused +by the war, formed the basis of the somewhat incongruous friendship +between the high British official and the Republican girl, especially +as time went on and the appalling problem of the concentration camps +presented itself. Then it was that General Maxwell, pacing up and down +in his office, his brow drawn with care, and every movement betraying +his distress, frankly discussed the situation with Hansie and invited +her confidence. As she had no secrets of importance at this time, +these interviews were marked by a spirit of mutual understanding, and +she learnt more and more to admire and respect the Governor for his +humanity and nobility of character; but the time was soon to come when +the demands of her land and people called her to more dangerous fields +of labour, and then it became difficult, well-nigh impossible, to meet +the searching eye of the Military Governor. + +Her visits became less frequent, of her own free will, and in time +ceased altogether. + +Soon after the rifle incident Hansie had to call on General Maxwell, +as Secretary of the Pretoria Ladies' Vocal Society, for a permit to +hold rehearsals. She found him alone and disengaged, for a wonder, and +so evidently pleased to see her again that she entered into +conversation with him unhesitatingly. + +After she had explained the object of her visit and apologised for +troubling him about such a trifle, she told him that she had been +informed in other Departments that as there was no institution for +granting permits to hold rehearsals, she would have to get a special +permit from the Military Governor. + +"Why," he exclaimed in surprise, "can you not rehearse without a +permit?" + +"No," Hansie answered laughingly. "Do you not know that two or three +may not gather together except in the name of the Governor under the +new regulations and since the execution of Cordua? Why, we may be +conspiring against your life instead of rehearsing our songs, and at +the present moment we can hardly put our noses out-of-doors without +being asked whether we have permits for them." + +"You are right," he answered; "I did not think of this. Well, you may +have your permit on condition that you promise to talk no politics and +to be in your own homes before 7 p.m." + +Hansie gave the promise on behalf of the vocal society, and yet +another war-permit was added to her curious collection! With all the +friendliness existing between the Governor and herself, I do not for a +moment think that they ever trusted one another completely. Were they +not both good patriots? Hansie knew by the questions he asked her that +he was trying to extract information from her, and the Governor only +told her as much as he thought she could use to his own advantage. + +On this particular occasion, when he parted from her, he asked in a +fatherly, I-take-such-an-interest-in-you way whether she ever heard +from her brothers. + +"No," she exclaimed in innocent surprise. "How can I?" (and at the +time she spoke truth). Whereupon he sympathetically murmured something +about "a very trying time for you." + +Permits everywhere and for everything! + +Men were stopped in the streets to show their residential passes, +private carriages were held up and the occupants requested to produce +their permits for vehicle and horses, and cyclists had to dismount a +dozen times a day at the sign of some khaki-clothed figure patrolling +the streets. + +The first British officers to cross Harmony's threshold as visitors +and equals were a colonel and a young captain, who both came from +Wynberg with letters of introduction from Mrs. van Warmelo's daughter, +Mrs. Henry Cloete. + +After the long months of irregular correspondence, always severely +censored, it was such a relief to get news direct that the bearers +were welcomed gratefully. + +They called again, and the dignified presence of the Colonel soon +became a familiar sight at Harmony. With him it was quite possible to +converse, for he avoided every painful topic with the utmost tact and +good-breeding, but the Captain was a veritable firebrand, and many +were the heated arguments carried on during his visits. + +As the weary, weary months dragged on, and the most sanguine could not +see the end of the terrible war, it seemed as if feeling grew stronger +and the power of endurance lessened. + +Even the occasional visits of the British officers became trying to +the van Warmelos, and one day her mother asked Hansie to request the +Captain not to come again, valiantly retreating to the garden when +next he called, and leaving her daughter to fight it out with him +alone. + +"I am very sorry," he said, "but what have _I_ done?" + +"Nothing," Hansie answered, "but you see it is against our principles, +and we would like you to wait until the war is over----" The hateful +task was over, and the Captain took his departure, not to return +again. + +Hansie refused obstinately to go over the same ground with the +Colonel. He came so seldom, and he was such a kind and courteous old +gentleman, that it seemed unnecessary to put an end to his visits, and +in time his own good feeling told him to discontinue them. + +It was in the summer of 1901, when the days at Harmony were spent in +the fruit-laden garden and great jars of apples, pears, peaches, and +figs were being canned and preserved for winter use, that thoughts +strayed most lovingly and persistently to the two hungry brothers in +the field. + +"Where are they, I wonder?" was a frequent exclamation. "Did they ever +reach the Boer commandos, and oh, when shall we hear from them?" + +Great were the rejoicings when Dr. Mulder, who was on his way to +Holland, and had got permission from the British to pass through +Pretoria from the Boer lines, arrived at Harmony with the news that he +had seen the two van Warmelos in the English camp at Nooitgedacht, +after its capture by the Boers under General Beyers. They were well +and in good spirits then, and the delight their mother and sister +experienced at seeing some one direct from the Boer lines can only be +appreciated by those who know what it means to a Boer to be a captive +under British martial law. + +At this time Pretoria was almost completely surrounded by the Boers, +and every precaution was being taken against a possible attack. Deep +trenches were dug all round the town, electric wires put up, while the +hills bristled with cannon and searchlights played from the forts +incessantly at night. + +The realities of war were forced upon one by the increased activity on +the Eastern Railway line to Delagoa Bay, plainly visible from the side +verandah at Harmony, and, daily, train loads passed of armed soldiers, +or Boer women and children being brought in from the devastated farms. + +Armoured trains and Red Cross carriages steamed in and out, horses, +cattle, provision loads--everything that could remind one of the +fierce strife raging throughout the land. + +At this time it became evident that a thief or thieves were helping +themselves at night to thoroughbred fowls and fruit at Harmony, and +Mrs. van Warmelo asked the sergeant-major of the Military Mounted +Police to consult with her about catching the miscreants. + +She suspected Kaffirs--certainly not the troops encamped about the +place, for a more orderly set of soldiers it would have been hard to +find. Their behaviour was always so exemplary that they were now and +then rewarded with baskets of fruit and vegetables from Harmony's +overflowing abundance. + +It was therefore perfectly natural that the sergeant-major should +hurry over to the house, indignant and sympathetic, to listen to Mrs. +van Warmelo's grievances and to lay plans for the capture of the +cunning thief. + +That he came at dawn seemed evident, for though the police watched +every night, they never caught sight of him, and yet there were fowls +missing every morning. Things were beginning to look rather suspicious +when, in spite of the vigilant watch kept by the police, there were +only nineteen fowls left of the sixty. Mrs. van Warmelo made up her +mind to watch for herself. + +Early next morning, when a fine white cock had disappeared, she set +out with one of the native servants, and, following the track made by +the white feathers the bird had lost in its struggles, she came upon +the thieves' den. An ideal spot in a little hollow by the riverside, +surrounded by trees and shrubs! A small fireplace, a few old sacks and +tins and a mass of feathers and bones told their own tale, and Mrs. +van Warmelo went home well satisfied. + +The sergeant-major, when he heard her story, said he thought it would +be better to catch the thief red-handed in the fowl-run than to +surprise him in his den, and the police were set to watch again that +night. + +In the morning two fine hens were missing! The remarks then made at +Harmony on the vigilance of British soldiers in general and Military +Mounted Police in particular were complimentary in the extreme. + +Then Mrs. van Warmelo sent the boy to reconnoitre, and he soon came +running back in great excitement, with the news that the thief, a +young Kaffir, was sitting beside a fire, eating fowls. + +Armed to the teeth, the police set forth to capture him, and soon +returned with the miscreant. Such a sight he was! Glistening with fat +and covered with feathers, and, as one of the soldiers remarked, +"with a corporation like the Lord Mayor." He was handcuffed and taken +to the police camp, while the men had their breakfast before escorting +him to the Charge Office. + +Suddenly there was a fearful commotion. + +The culprit had slipped off one of his handcuffs, crept through the +wire fence unobserved, and was flying like the wind through the garden +towards the river. + +After him, in wild confusion, jumping over shrubs and furrows, +followed half a dozen soldiers, a couple of natives, Carlo, and I +don't know how many other dogs. + +He was captured by the brave corporal as he was dashing up the bank on +the other side of the river, and brought back to the camp, with his +hands tied securely behind. + +One month's imprisonment only and a change of diet were prescribed for +him at the Charge Office that day. + +This incident, though exciting at the time, would not have been worth +recording here were it not for its connection with what happened +afterwards. + +Whatever suspicions the military may have had of intrigues at Harmony, +these must have been removed by the fact of their having been +requested by the inmates themselves to keep a watch over the property. + +So the way was being unconsciously prepared for subsequent events. + +As fruit was also being stolen from time to time, the soldiers +maintained their watch over the garden, well knowing that their +vigilance would be rewarded by a full share of the good things, while +they would be the losers if the pilfering were allowed to continue. + +When it became evident, a few months later, that another thief was +helping himself to her fowls, Mrs. van Warmelo made up her mind to +catch him red-handed, without the assistance of the Military Police. + +She decided that he would not come back at once, and gave him two days +to digest his spoil, and on the third day she got up very early in the +hopes of being on the scenes before him, ready to receive him when he +came. + +She had only been in the garden a few moments when she saw some one, +in a stooping posture, running swiftly towards the fowl-run. A moment +later and he had seen her. He turned and ran in the opposite +direction, Mrs. van Warmelo following closely on his heels, loading +her revolver as she ran and calling out, "Stand, or I fire." On being +warned a second time he stopped and turned round. Mrs. van Warmelo +demanded what he was doing on her property, and he answered in good +English that he had lost his way, upon which Mrs. van Warmelo offered +to show him the way, and ordered him to march on ahead. With the +loaded revolver between his shoulders, the culprit was forced to obey, +and Mrs. van Warmelo had the satisfaction of handing him over to the +sergeant-major "all by herself." + +To save himself, the wily thief turned Queen's evidence and offered to +conduct the police to a place where drink for natives was brewed and +sold, but the soldiers, not relishing the idea of his escaping +scot-free, first gave him a good thrashing before handing him over to +be further dealt with by the Provost-Marshal. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +POSTAGE BY STRATEGY + + +Life at Pretoria was at this time far from pleasant for the Boers who +remained loyal to their cause. + +Most people who had the means, or were not bound to the country by the +closest ties, let their houses and went to Europe until the war was +over. Many of those who did not leave of their own free will were sent +away to the coast, where they were considered safe from plotting +against the British, and the few remaining Boer families were +apparently on their best behaviour, above all dreading the fate of +their fellow-countrymen. + +The inmates of Harmony, perhaps more than any other Boers, feared +being sent away, because they knew that watching events from afar +would be a thousand times worse than enduring the restrictions of +English martial law, and that banishment would make it impossible for +them to render their fighting men any services. But they found the +time of inactivity terribly trying, so much so that they began to cast +about in their minds for work, for mischief--for anything, in fact, to +relieve the daily, deadening suspense and the dread, of what they knew +not, with which they were consumed. + +Very galling was the severe censorship of their letters. Mrs. van +Warmelo's high spirit rebelled against the continued surveillance of +her correspondence and she determined to outwit the censor. + +Then began an exciting period of smuggling and contriving, which led +to the most complete independence on their part of the services of Mr. +Censor, and ended in a well-organised and exceedingly clever system of +communication with friends in every part of the world. + +On one occasion a sympathiser, leaving the country for good, offered +to smuggle through to Mrs. Cloete any document Mrs. van Warmelo might +wish to send. + +There was nothing ready at the time, but Mrs. van Warmelo decided to +make use of this opportunity for some future occasion, and wrote to +her daughter on a tiny piece of tissue-paper, "Whatever you may +receive in future, marked with a small blue cross, examine closely." + +This was smuggled through in some way unknown to the sender and safely +delivered to Mrs. Cloete, for people were leaving Pretoria daily, and +it was not difficult to find suitable envoys. + +Hansie had--and has to this day in her possession as a priceless +memento of the war--a small morocco case with a maroon velvet lining, +which travelled backwards and forwards between Harmony and Alphen +until some better way of communication was contrived. With a sharp +instrument Mrs. van Warmelo had removed the entire tray-like bottom of +the case, packed two or three closely-written sheets of tissue paper +in the opening, and pressed the little tray firmly down in its place +again. A tiny blue cross carelessly pasted on the bottom of the case +carried its own message to the conspirator at Alphen. + +A few weeks later the case came back to Harmony with an antique gold +bracelet for Hansie and a long uncensored letter, in the snug +hiding-place, for Mrs. van Warmelo. + +The next adventure was with a charming lady, whom we shall call "the +English lady," she was so _very_ English. (If the truth were known, +she was not really English, but Cape Colonial, and, as is often the +case, more English than the English themselves, and more loyal than +the Queen.) + +She unwisely said to a friend of Hansie's, who naturally repeated her +words to Hansie, that she would take good care not to convey letters +or parcels for the van Warmelos when she left for England, as she +shortly intended doing, because she was quite sure they "smuggled," +or, if she did consent to take anything, she would examine it +thoroughly and destroy whatever it contained of a doubtful character. + +When this reached Hansie's ears she made up her mind that "the English +lady," and no other, would be her next messenger to Alphen. She +dismissed the morocco case from her mind as unsuitable for the +occasion, and deliberated long with her mother. At last she was sent +to town to buy three medium-sized dolls. + +It did not matter much what kind of dolls they were, but they had to +have hollow porcelain heads, and they were to be bought from one man +only, an indispensable fellow-conspirator in one of the principal +stores in Church Street. + +When she came home with the dolls her mother seemed pretty well +satisfied with the heads; they looked fairly roomy from the outside, +and so they were found to be when one of them had been carefully +steamed until the glue melted and the head dropped off. + +Hansie had been writing, without lifting her head, while her mother +prepared the doll. The sheets of paper, rolled up into pellets, were +then forced through the slender neck, and the dolls weighed to see if +the difference in weight were noticeable. It was not. The head was +glued on again, a blue cross was marked on the body, and the dolls +were neatly wrapped in a brown-paper parcel. + +"The English lady" soon after came to pay her farewell call. After the +usual formalities had been exchanged she remarked that she hoped to +visit Alphen soon after her arrival in Cape Town. + +Mrs. van Warmelo was charmed and delighted, and asked whether she +would be good enough to take a parcel of three dolls for Mrs. Cloete's +little daughters. + +There was just one moment's hesitation, then "the English lady rapidly +made up her mind." "Yes, with pleasure, but I must have the parcel +to-morrow, because my trunks have to be closed and sent on ahead." + +Mrs. van Warmelo turned to her daughter in grave consultation. "Let me +see, it is too late now, the shops will be closed, but you can perhaps +go to town on your bicycle early to-morrow morning to buy the dolls +and have them sent straight to Mrs. ----'s house." + +"Yes, mother, I'll do that with pleasure, but I won't have them sent. +I'll take them to her myself to be quite sure that she will have them +before twelve o'clock." + +The next morning Hansie took the dolls to her fellow-conspirator +behind the counter and had them made up into an unmistakably +_professional_-looking parcel, tied and sealed with the label of the +shop. + +Thus were the suspicions of "the English lady" lulled to rest. For her +comfort, should this ever reach her eye, I may say that there were no +dangerous communications in the doll's head, and should she feel +resentful at having been outwitted, she should have known better than +to _dare_ one of her country-women under martial law. + +On other occasions sympathetic friends were willingly made use of, and +the methods of smuggling were so carefully planned in every case that +none of the bearers ever got into trouble, with one exception. + +A foreign gentleman of high position, through his own carelessness, +found himself in a difficult and unpleasant situation. He was leaving +for Europe and expressed his willingness to take letters or documents, +provided they were packed so carefully that there would be no danger +of their being discovered. + +Mrs. van Warmelo asked him if he could let her have any little article +in daily use and which he was in the habit of carrying about in his +pockets. He said that he would think about it, and sent her, next day, +a silver cigarette-case with a watered-silk lining. It did not take +long to remove the lining and to pack the letters under it. When the +lining was replaced and the cigarettes lay in neat rows against it, +the most careful observer could not detect anything unusual. These +letters were destined for Mr. W.T. Stead and contained a full account +of the condition of the Irene Concentration Camp. + +In addition to this, Hansie gave her friend a photo of herself in a +sturdy frame, containing a hidden letter for Mrs. Cloete, whilst +instructing him to destroy the epistle if he could not hand it over to +Mrs. Cloete personally, moreover, not to remove the letter from the +cigarette-case until he arrived in London. + +At Cape Town he met at the hotel a man who professed to be a great +pro-Boer and with whom he soon became so friendly that he, finding it +impossible to go out to Alphen himself, indiscreetly entrusted Mrs. +Cloete's letter into the hands of this stranger, with the result that +it was taken direct to the military authorities. + +Our friend was arrested the next day as he was boarding the ocean +liner, and was kept under strict surveillance while his luggage was +being overhauled. + +We were told afterwards by friends who witnessed the scene that, +during the process, he sat on deck with the utmost unconcern, smoking +cigarettes and toying with a silver case! No further evidence having +been found against him, he was allowed to sail away in peace, and Mrs. +Cloete too escaped without so much as a warning, perhaps because the +contents of the letter were not considered sufficiently incriminating. + +Mr. Stead received the documents hidden in the cigarette-case in due +time and made full use of their contents in his monthly magazine, _The +Review of Reviews_. + +Although, surprising to relate, no steps were taken against the +conspirators at Harmony, they soon noticed an extraordinary increase +in the vigilance of the censor, so much so, that the most harmless +communications failed to reach their destination, and when by chance +anything was allowed to pass through it was mutilated beyond +recognition, whole sentences being smirched with printer's ink or +pages cut away by the ruthless hand of the censor. + +It may seem a small thing now, but this state of affairs, when letters +and papers were the only consolation one had, became a source of such +keen annoyance and distress that Hansie decided to approach the censor +and ask him the reason for such petty persecutions. + +The head censor being away at the time, she was shown into the +presence of a man whose very appearance excited her strongest +antipathy. In the first place he had a purely Dutch name, and she knew +that he could not occupy a position of so much trust under the British +without being a traitor to his own countrymen. + +Secondly, he seemed to derive much pleasure from her visit and, when +she told him who she was, had the audacity to say: + +"I always enjoy your letters very much, Miss van Warmelo; they quite +repay me for my trouble!" + +When taxed with confiscating and mutilating them, he was all concern +and innocence personified. + +No, indeed, he could never be guilty of such a breach of gallantry and +etiquette, the fault must lie elsewhere; he was her friend, and if she +would promise to bring all her letters to him personally, he would see +that they were passed. + +"Miserable Renegade!" she thought, with boiling blood. + +Instantly it flashed through her mind that it would be foolish indeed +to make an enemy of this man. Her whole manner changed. + +"How _very_ kind of you!" she said. "Yes, I shall come myself if you +are sure I shall not be giving you too much trouble." + +"A pleasure, I assure you," bowing with great gallantry, and Hansie +went home to tell her mother what had happened. + +After this interview with the censor, he allowed their letters to pass +with unfailing regularity. + +True to her promise, Hansie took her European mail to him herself +every week, and this brought her into contact with him frequently. He +was always affable (hatefully affable) and obliging, and the thought +of this man made it more and more difficult for her to write, +especially those letters destined for the north of Holland. + +One day she asked her mother to think of some plan by which she could +use the censor for her own purposes, without his knowledge, and this +set Mrs. van Warmelo's active mind and resourceful brain working, with +what result we shall see in our next chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +OUTWITTING THE CENSOR + + +If the method of writing between the lines in chemicals presented +itself to Mrs. van Warmelo's mind for a moment, it was dismissed as +too crude and well-known, and, in consequence, too dangerous. + +And yet she found her thoughts reverting persistently to chemicals as +the only solution to the problem before her. One day she took the +strained juice of a lemon and wrote a few words with it on a sheet of +white paper. When dry, there was no trace of the written words to be +seen until she had passed a hot iron over them. Imagine her joy and +satisfaction when they showed up clear and distinct, in a colour of +yellowish brown. Well satisfied with her experiment, she sought and +found a square white envelope of thick paper and good quality, which +she carefully opened out, by inserting and rolling the thin end of a +penholder along the part that was glued. Spreading the envelope before +her on the table, she wrote some sentences in lemon juice on the +_inside_, folding it into shape again and pasting it down with great +care and neatness. This envelope she placed in Hansie's hands, with an +expectant look, when the latter came home that afternoon. + +Hansie turned it over, examined it on all sides and shook her head, +puzzled. + +"Open it," her mother suggested, "and look inside." + +Hansie opened it and, peering into it, shook her head again, more +mystified than ever. + +"I give it up, mother," she said. "Come, don't be so mysterious--tell +me what it all means." + +Mrs. van Warmelo then took the envelope, opened it with the penholder +again, and, producing the hot iron which she had been keeping in +readiness for the psychological moment, she ironed out the flattened +sheet and revealed to the astonished gaze of her daughter the written +words within. + +At first Hansie was speechless with admiration; then she threw her +arms round her mother and hugged her vigorously. + +"Really, mother," she exclaimed, "I am proud of you. How we shall be +able to dupe 'Miserable Renegade' now!" + +The full importance of this discovery was not realised at the time, +for all their smuggling had hitherto been carried on merely for +pleasure and they had had no information of any importance to +communicate to their friends across the seas; but, in the light of +after-events, they realised that they had been led to make their +preparations and to have their methods in full working order before +the time came to use them in conveying dispatches from the Boer Secret +Service to President Kruger in Holland. + +They were now in the possession of a scheme which defied detection, +and the next thing to be done was to inform some distant conspirator +of this valuable discovery and instruct him in the use of it. + +That this could not be done through the post, my reader will +understand, and as reliable opportunities were becoming more rare, +Hansie had to wait some months and to possess her soul in patience +until at last some trusted friend, leaving the country, could be +persuaded to convey the important instructions. + +When and how they were eventually sent I cannot tell with positive +certainty. There is a difference of opinion on this point between Mrs. +van Warmelo and her daughter, and there is no way of settling the +dispute, because Hansie's diary contains no word about the White +Envelope, for reasons which it will hardly be necessary to explain. + +Mrs. van Warmelo says the instructions were dispatched in a false +double-bottom of an ordinary safety match-box. Hansie thinks they were +either hidden behind a photo-frame or in a tin of insect-powder, both +these methods having been employed on various occasions, but at +present we are only concerned with the fact that the instructions +reached their destination safely, and from that day until the end of +the war a gloriously free and uninterrupted communication was kept up +between Harmony and Alphen and one spot in the north of Holland, of +which we shall hear more as our story unfolds itself. + +Further experimenting showed that the lemon-juice became visible after +a few days when written on certain papers, while on others there was +nothing to be seen after many weeks, and this danger was immediately +communicated to Holland as a very serious one, for it stands to reason +that the danger connected with the sending of the White Envelope +_from_ South Africa was nothing compared to the danger of receiving +one and having it censored three weeks after it had been written. + +One had to keep in mind that letters leaving the country would be +censored immediately and would not be subjected to further scrutiny in +Europe, whereas letters for South Africa ran every risk of being +betrayed on examination, after a three-weeks' journey by land and sea. + +When the smuggled instructions were well on their way, the first White +Envelope was written to Holland, and carelessly thrust amongst a pile +of other letters by the quaking Hansie when next she handed her mail +to "Miserable Renegade." + +He glanced through them all without examining them, merely putting the +mark of the censor on them and assuring Hansie that they would be +forwarded that very day. + +No seven weeks could have been longer or more full of suspense than +those which followed, and the excitement at Harmony when in due time a +square white envelope in the well-known hand arrived from Holland can +better be imagined than described. + +With what anxiety it was opened and how eagerly examined before the +hot iron was applied! how keen the delight when nothing legible was +found, even on the closest inspection! What relief, at last, when the +written messages became not only legible, but clear and distinct! + +So this method was going to answer beyond their wildest expectations! + +To make assurance doubly sure, and because Hansie did not trust +"Miserable Renegade" one jot, she sometimes made use of friends, going +to Johannesburg, to post her White Envelope there, giving as her +reason for doing so the difficulties she had had with the Pretoria +censor. + +Of course the secret of the White Envelope was not confided even to +her most intimate friends. + +This correspondence having been fairly established, there was nothing +to prevent Hansie from using the European mail every week; but to +avoid needless risks and the possible exposure of the valuable secret, +it was agreed to use it only in cases of extreme necessity. + +The sign of the White Envelope became an understood thing between the +conspirators, and for all other correspondence grey and coloured +envelopes were used. + +The correspondent in the north of Holland was a young minister of the +Gospel who had taken for years an unusual interest in Hansie's career. + +At this point of our story the two young people, after some years of +estrangement, brought about by an unfortunate misunderstanding on his +part, pride and self-will on hers, had reached the delightfully +unsettling stage of exchanging photographs, the sequel of which took +place under the most romantic circumstances, not to be related in this +volume. + +"It is an ill wind that blows nobody any good," the young man must +often have thought, as he faithfully carried out every instruction +from the scene of action. + +All communications for the President and Dr. Leyds were sent to him +(through the White Envelope), because it was not considered safe to +correspond with them direct, even through the medium of the +lemon-juice discovery. + +As time went on, this method of communication was used for many +purposes and always with success, but some time after the war, when it +was Hansie's right and privilege to go through the war correspondence +of the young minister of religion, she came upon a letter from Dr. +Leyds to him, in which she read, with growing interest, the following +information: + +"I cannot conceal from you that I was startled when I opened the last +white envelope, for I was able to read the whole report, though the +writing was faint, without applying the heating process to it. Perhaps +this letter lay in a warm place near the engine-rooms on the voyage. +Will you not send a timely warning? You could, for instance, say that +the measles have come out and are plainly visible, even without the +application of hot compresses. Those people are quite clever enough to +understand what you wish to convey to them." + +This warning did not reach Harmony at the time. Perhaps the censor, +trained as he must have been in the art of reading dangerous meanings +into seemingly harmless sentences, decided in his own mind that it +would be advisable to keep the information about the measles to +himself, and consigned the letter to the waste-paper basket. + +In time experience taught the conspirators at Harmony that the +greatest care would be necessary in the use of the White Envelope, and +to this they probably owe the fact that it was never found out by the +enemy. + +The reproductions given here of specimens of the White Envelope, +showing the address on one side and the written messages on the other, +will give the reader an idea of how this correspondence was carried +on. We do not vouch for the accuracy of the information conveyed in +the following translation of the contents of this envelope. The +figures were quoted from memory, but the general impression conveyed +in this report, of the condition of the commandos at the time, is +reliable and correct. On the side flaps of the envelope certain love +messages were written. These have been covered over with blank paper +and are not for publication. + + [Illustration: (I) LETTER FROM HEAD OF SECRET SERVICE TO + PRESIDENT.] + + [Illustration: (2) LETTER FROM HEAD OF SECRET SERVICE TO + PRESIDENT.] + + [Illustration: (3) LETTER FROM HEAD OF SECRET SERVICE TO + PRESIDENT.] + + +[_Translation_] + + CONTENTS OF WHITE ENVELOPE + + _From Head of Secret Service to President_ + + PRETORIA, _February 12th, 1902_. + + With Commandos all is still about the same as when I was here in + December. Much ammunition has been taken from the enemy + recently. + + No want of food, horses fairly good, but clothing very scarce. + + Three weeks ago I was with the Commandant-General. All well with + him. Government in good health, burghers full of courage. Good + tidings received from President Steyn. + + _Everything_ plentiful in Free State. + + General Botha is now in Ermelo district with 1,000 men; de la + Rey between Klerksdorp and Rustenburg, 1,500 men; Beyers near + Pietersberg, 1,000 men; Muller near Pilgrim's Rest, on Delagoa + line, with 600 or 700 men; Piet Viljoen between Heidelberg and + Middelburg, 1,200; Christian Botha, district Utrecht, 600; Smuts + has gone to the Colony with 1,500. These are the big Commandos + only. There are many small forces of 100 or a few hundred men + under petty officers. Engagements: January 15th General Botha + defeated enemy. Three wounded on our side. Enemy's loss, 46 + killed, 92 wounded, 150 prisoners. 200 horses taken, 15,000 + rounds of ammunition. Great victory by Commandant-General on the + 3rd inst. No full report received yet. + + Everywhere small engagements. + + Many prisoners taken from our ranks lately, through the poor + condition of our horses. Things better now. De la Rey has had a + few small victories. On December 25th engagement under de Wet + near Frankfort. Our side victorious. A camp of 500 men taken, + 150 killed and wounded, 200 captures, 2 Armstrongs taken with + 400 shells; 1 Nordenbeldt with 2,500 maxim pompoms; rifle + ammunition 150,000; all the horses and cattle. The enemy is + plundered daily. Health of burghers excellent. Plenty of fruit. + Our losses, as usual, miraculously small. + + Through perseverance and faith we hope to gain a certain + victory. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +JAN CELLIERS, POET AND PATRIOT + + +That there is more than one man of the name of Jan Celliers in South +Africa I know, but there is only one Jan Celliers who can be honoured +by the title "Poet and Patriot," and that is the remarkable +personality of our friend in Pretoria, J.F.E. Celliers. + +I have chosen him as the subject of this chapter, not so much because +of the important, I may almost say revolutionary part he has played in +the building up of South African literature since the war, as on +account of the unique patriotism displayed by him throughout the war +under circumstances of the severest test and trial. + +How he, after active service in the field since the beginning of the +war, came to be locked up in Pretoria as an unseen prisoner of war, an +unwilling captive between the green walls of his suburban garden, when +the British took possession of the capital on that stupefying June +5th, 1900, we shall briefly relate in this chapter. + +Mr. Celliers' experience was that of many good and faithful burghers. + +The news of heavy Boer losses, the desperately forced march of the +British troops from Bloemfontein to Pretoria, the crushing blows in +quick succession, the departure of the Boer Administration from the +seat of government, the demoralisation of the scattered forces, and +the painful uncertainty of what the next step was to be--these things, +combined with the fact, in Mr. Celliers' case, of having no +riding-horse or bicycle on which to escape from the town, caused him +to be surprised by the wholly unexpected entry of the British forces +into the capital. Just a brief period of dazed inaction, a few hours +of stupefied uncertainty, and he found himself hopelessly cut off from +every chance of escape. + +He planned escape from the beginning, for conscientious scruples +forbade his taking the oath of neutrality. Of the oath of allegiance +there was no question whatever. + +There was nothing for it but to keep himself hidden until an +opportunity for escaping to his fellow-countrymen in the field +presented itself. + +The first three weeks were spent in the garden, but it soon became +evident that listening ears and prying eyes were being paid to +discover his whereabouts, and closer confinement was found necessary. +Thereafter he sat between four walls, reading and writing during the +greater part of the day, keeping a watchful eye on the little front +gate through a narrow opening in the window-blind and disappearing, +through a trap-door, under the floor as soon as a soldier or official +entered the gate. + +When darkness fell he left his cramped hiding-place, and gliding +unseen through the house and yard, this weary prisoner occupied +himself with exercises for the preservation of his health, running, +jumping, standing on his head, and plying the skipping-rope +vigorously, under the protecting shadows of the dark cypress trees. + +The weeks went by, broken once by the intense excitement of a visit of +one of the burghers from the field. + +Mrs. Celliers' brother, M. Dürr, had crept into town at dead of night +between the British sentinels on a dangerous mission for the Boers. A +short week he spent with his brother-in-law, sharing his confinement +and making plans for his escape. Then he was gone, and the old deadly +monotony settled over the house once more. + +July went by, and August was nearly spent when at last an opportunity +presented itself, and Mr. Celliers, in woman's garb, bade wife and +children a passionate farewell, not to see them again for nearly two +years. + +With a cloak over his shoulders and a high collar concealing his +closely cropped hair, his wife's skirt on, and a heavy veil covering a +straw hat, he stepped boldly into a small vehicle standing waiting +before his gate and drove through the streets of Pretoria. For the +time at least he too belonged to the "Petticoat Commando." Mrs. Malan +was in the cart, and had been sent by Mrs. Joubert to escort him +through the town. + +The disguise was taken before a thought could be given to the possible +consequences of such a step. Spurred by the heroic attitude and fine +courage displayed by his wife, Mr. Celliers lost not a moment in +availing himself of the long-looked-for opportunity. + +The thrilling adventures and hairbreadth escapes he went through in +that memorable flight for duty and freedom will no doubt be found +accurately recorded in his book on the war, which I know to be "in the +making" at the present moment. Suffice it to say that he reached the +farm of a friend near Silkatsnek in safety, where, he had been +informed, he would find Boer commandos in the neighbourhood. + +Disappointment awaited him, however. The commando had withdrawn to the +north, followed closely by thousands of British troops whose proximity +to the farm made it dangerous, not only for him, but for the people +who harboured him, to remain there longer than one night. A farm-hand, +a trusted native servant, was asked to undertake the task of escorting +Mr. Celliers to the Boer lines. After some hesitation he consented. +The risk was great, but the promise of £20 reward when the war was +over acted like a charm, and the two set forth before break of day on +their perilous adventure. + +Here and there the tiny light of an outpost on the open field warned +them to make a wide _détour_. The crackling of the short burnt +stubbles of grass under their feet caused them to hold their breath +and listen with loudly beating hearts for the dreaded "Halt! Who goes +there?" + +When the light of day began to break over earth and sky, the Kaffir, +in evident anxiety, warned the _Baas_ to hide in a large dense tree +while he, the Kaffir, went on ahead to reconnoitre. He departed--not +to return again, base coward that he was, and the unfortunate man in +the tree waited for hours until it dawned on him that he had been +deserted at the most critical moment. He stepped from his +hiding-place, quickly deciding to walk nonchalantly forward, the open +veld leaving no possible means of pursuing his way under cover. + +He passes many isolated homesteads, some ruined and deserted, others +inhabited by aged people, delicate women, and little children only. +One and all they shrink from him when he relates his story. They do +not trust him--he may be in the employment of the British, a trap set +for the unwary; their homes are closed to him. He pursues his way +wearily. What is that approaching him in the distance? With straining +eyes he is able to distinguish a group of horsemen coming towards him, +and with lightning-like rapidity he turns from his course and jumps +into the washed-out bed of a small rivulet flowing by. A group of +startled Kaffir children gaze at him in astonishment. The riders come +in clear view--not horsemen, but a number of Kaffir women with +earthenware pots on their heads. These they fill with water, and +mounting their horses depart the way they came. + +With renewed hope and thankfulness at his heart our traveller resumes +his course in the lengthening shadows of the short winter afternoon. +At last he reaches a German mission station. + +No refuge for him here! For the inhabitants are "neutral," but he is +informed that a few days before 20,000 British troops had passed that +way in a northward direction, in hot pursuit of the Boer commandos +fleeing to the Waterberg district. The benevolent old missionary +directs him to a small farm in the neighbourhood where a Boer woman +lives alone with her little children. Perhaps she can give him some +idea of the safest route for him to take. But no, the woman turns from +him in extreme agitation, refuses to answer his questions, and is so +evidently distressed at his appearance that he turns away and +withdraws to the veld to think. What now? What now? + +He is sitting on the outskirts of the great bush-veld, that endless +stretch of forest-growth, dense and dark as far as the eye can reach. +Shall he enter that, unarmed, without provisions or water and totally +ignorant of the direction to take? He shudders. The blackness of the +night is creeping over the scene, and over his soul desolation and +despair. + +"I must return to the mission station," he decides at last. "Surely +they will give me refuge for the night!" + +Slowly he drags his weary limbs across the veld, hesitatingly he +presents himself, falteringly he proffers his request. A moment's +hesitation and the family circle opens to receive him, its members +crowd round him with words of comfort and small deeds of love. They +are not doing _right_, but they will do _well_. Nothing is left undone +to restore and refresh the exhausted fugitive, who soon finds himself +in a perfect haven of domestic happiness and luxury. + +As the evening wears on, the small harmonium is opened, and while the +younger members of the family are singing sweet part-songs together, +our hero turns over the leaves of a small book he has found lying on +the table, a book of German quotations. His eyes are attracted by the +following lines by Dessler: + + Lenkst du durch Wusten meine Reise, + Ich folg, und lehne mich auf Dich + Du gibst mir aus der Wolken Speise + Und Tränkest aus dem Felsen mich, + Ich traue Deinen Wunderwegen, + Sie enden sich in Lieb und Segen, + Genug, wenn ich Dich bei mir hab. + +They are like balm to his troubled soul, and he commits them to memory +for future use. God knows the future looks desperate enough to him, +for he feels that he cannot remain in this haven of rest. +Consideration for the safety of his kind friends forbids this. He soon +departs, having heard that, for the present at least, the western +direction is open to him, and, in taking this, his tribulations begin +afresh. + +Unused to exercise as he has been during the long months of his +confinement, this traveller, in pursuing his course with so much +patience and steadfast determination, now finds himself hardly able to +walk. The tender feet are swollen and bleeding to such an extent that +he finds it impossible to remove his heavy boots. Halting, stumbling, +he continues on his way. + +By good fortune he meets with another Kaffir guide, who leads him to a +small Kaffir hut and revives him with a draught of Kaffir beer. A few +moments' rest, and they are on the way again. + +The day was far spent when they reached a Kaffir kraal, and here Mr. +Celliers sank down in agony of mind and body, too great for words. +More Kaffir beer was respectfully tendered to him and he drank it +gratefully, meanwhile watching with dull interest the Kaffir babies, +jet black and stark naked, except for a small fringe of blue beads +about the loins, as they crept around him, like so many playful +kittens. + +He was not long allowed to rest, the good guide urging him to make a +final effort, and encouraging him with the assurance that he would +find a farm not far distant, the home of Mr. Piet Roos, of Krokodil +Poort. + +This goal was reached that night, and a cordial welcome given to the +poor exhausted traveller, although he was warned that he could by no +means consider himself safe on the farm, as the British passed it +nearly every day. Nigh three weeks he spent there, taking refuge under +the trees of an adjacent hill by day and sleeping under the hospitable +roof by night. As time went on and the visits of the Khakis became +rarer, he became more at ease, and often worked with the farmer and +the women in the fields, helping them to dig sweet-potatoes, and +assisting his host in the work of sorting, drying, and rolling up the +leaves of the tobacco-plant. He also became an expert in the art of +making candles, and took active part in the other small industries +carried on in that frugal and industrious household, and the evenings +were spent in poring over maps, geographical and astronomical, which +his host happened to possess. Many were the questions put to him, and +long the discussions about worlds and suns and planets, while the busy +fingers plied and rolled tobacco leaves, but these discussions +generally ended in a sigh, a shake of the head, and an unbelieving, +"there _must_ be something solid _under_ this earth," from the +sceptical host. + +The time was now approaching for the fulfilment of his heart's +ambition, but there is still one small incident to relate before we +leave our hero. One day, while he was still on the farm, he was passed +by a Kaffir, whom he questioned as to his destination. The native +replied that he was on his way to Pretoria, and the happy thought +occurred to Mr. Celliers to ask this native to let his wife know that +her husband was in perfect safety. + +Now the remarkable part of this incident was, that that unknown native +took the trouble to deliver his message faithfully and conscientiously, +and it was only after the war that Mr. Celliers heard from his wife +that she had received news of his successful escape from a strange +Kaffir, who said he had been sent by her husband. This is a striking +instance, well worth recording here, of the sagacity and fidelity of +some members of the heathen tribes. + +It was on September 13th that unexpected deliverance came in the shape +of a Boer waggon in search of green forage for the horses on commando. +Mr. Celliers instantly decided to accompany the waggon back to the +lager, and prepared himself for departure that very day. Tender, +grateful leave was taken of the good friends who had harboured him so +long, and he drove away, seated, with his few worldly possessions +beside him, on the top of a load of green forage. + +The next day he arrived at the lager of Commandant Badenhorst's +commando on the farm Waterval near the "Sein koppies," and now we +close the chapter with the following words, which I have translated +from his diary: + +"The crown has been set on my undertaking. God be thanked, I find +myself again amongst free men, with weapon in hand. For the first time +in the past four months I feel myself secure. There is no one, on my +arrival, who gives one sign of interest or appreciation; one burgher +even asks me why I had not rather remained in Pretoria. + +"This stolid and philosophic view of life is characteristic of the +Boer and certainly does not discourage me. + +"Excitement and enthusiasm do not appear to be the children of the +great solitudes, the slumbering sunlit vastnesses; nay, rather do they +spring from the unbroken friction of many spirits, sparks bursting +from the anvil of the great, restlessly driven activity of the world." + + * * * * * + +Mr. Celliers remained in the field until the war was over. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A LITTLE ADVENTURE WITH THE BRITISH SOLDIER + + +The exquisite summer of 1901 was drawing to a close. + +January and February had been months of unsurpassed splendour and +riotous luxury in fruit and flowers, each day being more gorgeous than +the last. The glorious sunsets, the mysterious and exquisitely +peaceful moonlight nights were a never-ending source of joy to our +young writer, thrilling her being with emotions not to be described. + +Each morning at 5 o'clock, while the rest of the idiotic world lay +asleep within its cramped boundary of brick and stone, Hansie revelled +in the beauties of Nature, abandoning herself to at least one hour of +perfect bliss before the toil and trouble of another day could occupy +her mind. + +The garden being so situated that its most secluded spots were far +removed from any sights and sounds which could remind one of the war, +Hansie had no difficulty in turning her thoughts into more uplifting +channels during the peaceful morning hour, spent, when the weather +permitted, in her favourite corner under the six gigantic willows +below the orange avenue. + +And the weather in those days nearly always permitted! + +Most of the entries in her diary she made in this fair spot, alone, +but for the sympathetic presence of her big black dog. The morning +solitude was amply atoned for by the dozens of young friends who +joined the "fruit parties" every afternoon, filling the air with their +gay voices and wholesome, happy laughter. + + [Illustration: THE SIX WILLOWS, HARMONY.] + +Four or five young men and a bevy of beautiful young girls were +amongst the most constant visitors at Harmony. The girls, often +referred to in Hansie's diary as the "Four Graces," were certainly the +most exquisite specimens of budding womanhood in Pretoria. + +There was Consuélo, tall and slender, our languid "Spanish beauty," +with her rich brown hair and slumbrous dark-brown eyes; there was our +little Marguerite, fresh and fair as the flower after which she was +named, an opening marguerite in the dewy daintiness of life's first +summer morning; there was Annie, spoilt and wilful but undoubtedly the +fairest of them all; and then there was her sister Sara, Hansie's +favourite, with a girlish charm impossible to describe. Her creamy +white complexion, her lovely soft brown eyes, her winning smile and +tender voice--what could be more delightful than to sit and watch her +as she moved and spoke with rare, unconscious grace, clad in a snowy +dress of fine white muslin! + +One sweet summer morn, a Sabbath, if I remember correctly, when the +air was filled with the fragrance of innumerable buds and blossoms, +Hansie sat in the accustomed spot, with her diary on her lap. She was +not writing then, but, with a slip of paper in her hands and a gleam +of mischief in her eyes, she was repeating with evident enjoyment a +few catching lines. + +"Oh, Carlo, this is lovely! I must learn these verses and recite them +to the girls when they come this afternoon! Listen, Carlo." + + +FROM KITCHENER TO SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR + +_Sunday_ + + I am taking measures once for all to clear my reputation; + I swear to give de Wet a fall that means annihilation. + +_Monday_ + + A brilliant action by Brabant, the enemy has fled, + Their loss was something dreadful; ours--one single Kaffir dead. + +_Tuesday_ + + De Wet is short of food-stuffs, his ammunition's done, + His horses are all dying, and he's only got one gun. + +_Wednesday_ + + The cordon draws in round de Wet; he now has little room, + He only can escape one way--by road to Potchefstroom. + +_Thursday_ + + De Wet is now caged like a rat, he's fairly in a box, + Around him grouped are Clements, Cléry, Methuen, French, and Knox. + +_Friday_ + + An unfortunate event occurred--I report it with regret, + A convoy with five hundred men was captured by de Wet. + +_Saturday_ + + A Kaffir runner says he saw de Wet's men trekking west, + With ammunition for two years, and food supply the best. + +_Saturday (later)_ + + A loyal farmer told our Scouts de Wet was riding east, + Each man, beside the horse he rode, was leading a spare beast. + +Carlo wagged his tail sympathetically. + + * * * * * + +Overhead the sky was of the deepest, richest sapphire blue, paling +away to the horizon to the most delicate tints, against which the +distant hills showed up in bold relief. + +"Gentleman Jim," one of the native servants, was evidently enjoying +his Sunday too, for he loitered in the garden, plucking up a weed here +and there and watching the bees at work, the busy bees who know of no +day of rest. + +"Bring me some grapes, please, Jim," Hansie called out to him. + +"Yes, little missie," with alacrity. "What you like? Them black ones +or them white ones?" + +"Some of both." + +He walked briskly to the house to fetch a basket and disappeared into +the vineyard, returning shortly with a plentiful supply of luscious +grapes. + +"Thank you, Jim. Enough for a week!" Hansie laughed, and he looked +pleased as he went off in the direction of the river. + +A few moments later, half concealed by the shrubs and rank grass with +which the lower part of Harmony was overrun, Hansie noticed two +stooping figures in khaki, moving forward cautiously and then making +sudden dashes at some object, invisible to the girl. She watched them +intently, wondering who the intruders were and what their game could +be, until they came so near that she was able to distinguish what it +was they nourished in their hands. Butterfly nets! + +A pair of harmless Tommies, spending their Sunday morning in catching +butterflies and the other insects of which there abounded so large a +variety at that time of the year. + +They did not catch sight of the girl until Carlo sprang up barking +furiously, and then they started back in consternation and surprise. + +"Lie down, Carlo," Hansie commanded sharply. "Good morning," to the +men. + +"Good morning, miss," respectfully; "I hope we are not intrudin'." + +"Certainly not. Are you catching butterflies? Show me what you have +got." + +The men produced their spoil with pride. + +"Will you have some grapes?" Hansie asked, handing the basket to one +of them, who helped himself gratefully and then passed it on to his +comrade. The latter, evidently not of a very sociable disposition, +took a bunch and walked off in pursuit of more butterflies. + +The first soldier, however, squatted down on the ground at some little +distance from the girl and began to talk, as he ate the grapes with +great relish. At this point Carlo raised himself with the utmost +deliberation, yawned, stretched himself, and sauntering (I cannot call +it anything except _sauntering_) slowly towards his mistress, laid his +full length on the ground between her and the Tommy. Then he went +sound asleep to all appearances, but his mistress observed that when +the soldier made the slightest movement, the dog's ears twitched or an +eyelid quivered. + +Slowly eating his grapes, the man glanced curiously at the book on +Hansie's lap. + +"Are you sketchin', miss?" he asked. + +"No; writing." + +"Poetry?" + +There was no answer. + +"I am one of Lord Kitchener's body-guard," he went on presently. "We +are encamped near Berea Park on the other side of your fence. We were +in Middelburg last week and I saw one of the Boer Generals, General +Botha." + +Hansie's heart bounded. She looked at the man incredulously. + +"Indeed! How was that possible?" + +"Quite simple, miss. Lord Kitchener invited the General into town to +have an interview with him. His brother--I think his name is +Christian--came with him. I acted as their orderly." + +"Tell me more, tell me everything," the girl's voice shook with +ill-controlled emotion. + +"There were five or six other men with them. They arrived at about +nine in the morning and stayed until half-past four that afternoon. +They had lunch with Lord Kitchener. A fine man the General is, well +set up, big and broad-shouldered." + +"Yes, I know." Hansie _could not_ withhold those words. + +"You know!" he exclaimed in great surprise. "Do _you_ know General +Botha?" + +"Yes, indeed. And what is more, he is _my_ General." + +The soldier looked at her in ludicrous amazement. + +"Are you a Boer? You don't look like one, and I never heard any one +speak better English." + +"I don't know whether what you are saying is meant as a compliment to +me, but I don't like being told that I don't look like a Boer, and I +certainly would not be pleased if you took me for an Englishwoman." + +The poor Tommy looked troubled and muttered something about "no +offence meant, I am sure." + +"Now please go on and tell me more about the General. Did you hear +anything of what he said to Lord Kitchener?" + +"Nothing, miss, except when he went away. They shook hands very +hearty-like and the General said, 'Good-bye; I hope you will have good +luck.' That was all." + +"Good luck! What do you think he could have meant?" + +"We don't know, miss, but we think he meant good luck in Natal, for +Lord Kitchener went yesterday and I hear there is some talk of peace." + +Hansie sat silent for a long time, turning these things over in her +mind. + +"But what is all this accursed war about, miss? We soldiers know +nothing except that we have to fight when we are ordered to do so." + +"Of course you know nothing. An English soldier is nothing but a +fighting machine, not allowed to think or act for himself. Discipline +is a grand thing, but Heaven protect a man from the discipline of the +British army. The war? I will tell you if you want to know. The war is +a cruel and unjust attempt to rob us of our rich and independent land, +and England is the tool in base and unscrupulous hands. You suffer +too, I know, and all my heart goes out in sympathy to the bereaved and +broken-hearted Englishwomen across the seas. Their only comfort is +their firm belief that their heroes died a noble death for freedom and +justice. Did they but know the truth! They died to satisfy the lust +for gain and greed of gold of mining magnates on the Rand." + +"Suffer, miss! As long as I live I will not forget that march from the +colony, through Bloemfontein to Pretoria. Fighting nearly every day +and marching at least thirty miles a day, on _one biscuit_. There was +no water to be had! Will you believe that for three days not a drop of +water passed my lips? And I heard the other fellows say, not once, but +a thousand times, 'Would to God that a bullet find me before night!' +Our tongues were hanging from our mouths and our lips were +cracked----" + +"Stop!" Hansie cried, putting her hands to her ears. "I do not want to +hear another word. These things cannot be helped, and your officers +suffered too!" + +"The officers! When at last the water-carts came, we had to stand +aside and watch while bucketsful were being carried into the tents for +their _baths_!" + +There was silence again. + +"If I were an English soldier, I would run away," Hansie said. + +"I've had enough, God knows, and when I get home I mean to leave the +Army and take up my old work--carpentering. The war can't last very +long. England is mighty--but I wish the bloomin' capitalists would +come and do the fighting, if they want this country and its +gold-mines." + +"There are only a 'few marauding bands' left, so the English say," +Hansie answered bitterly. "But remember what I tell you now. South +Africa will be soaked in blood and tears, and a hundred thousand +hearts will be broken here and in your country, before the mighty +British Army has subdued those 'few marauding bands.'" + +The soldier's face grew troubled once again. + +It was a good, strong face--a patient face--and it bore the marks of +much suffering, endured in silence and alone. + +He rose and took off his cap. + +"You've been very good to me, miss. I wish I could be of some use to +you." + +"Run away from Lord Kitchener!" she said, laughing. "I would be very +sorry indeed if you fell by the hand of one of my brothers." + +He looked at her sympathetically. + +"How many brothers have you in the field?" + +"God only knows," she answered sadly. "There were two left when last +we heard of them. The third has been made a prisoner." + +The soldier took his leave and Hansie lost herself in reverie. + +And when at last she roused herself, she wrote with rapid pen: + +"Two Tommies have been in our garden, catching butterflies----" We +know the rest. + + * * * * * + +That afternoon about ten or twelve young people assembled in the +garden and were later joined by several members of the Diplomatic +Corps--Consul Cinatti, Consul Aubert, and Consul Nieuwenhuis, the most +frequent visitors at Harmony. + +_The_ topic of conversation was connected with General Botha's visit +to Lord Kitchener in Middelburg, and when Hansie told her friends what +she had heard from the soldier that morning, they expressed their +conviction that every word he said must have been true. + +And the latest _official_ war news, in rhyme, the dispatch from +Kitchener to the Secretary of State for War, came in for its share of +attention, occasioning no small amount of merriment. + +Oh, happy afternoon! Oh, memories sweet! Oh, long departed days of +good fellowship and mutual understanding! Bright spots of gold and +crimson in our sky of lead! + + * * * * * + +Mrs. van Warmelo never at any time encouraged evening visitors. They +were all early risers at Harmony and their life could not be adapted +to the artificial, the unnatural strain of modern civilisation. + +So the quiet evenings were spent by the mother in reading and writing, +while the daughter gave herself up to the indulgence of her one great +passion, music. Scales and exercises, Schubert and Chopin, and +invariably at the end--before retiring for the night--Beethoven, the +Master, the King of Music. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +PRISONER OF WAR + + +How the routine of life at Harmony was broken in upon by news "from +the front" that April month in 1901, I shall endeavour to relate. + +Hansie coming home one morning from a shopping expedition, found her +mother in a state of suppressed excitement. + +Everything was as much as possible "suppressed" in those +days--goodness only knows why, for surely it would have been better +for the nervous and highly strung mind if an occasional outburst could +have been permitted. Hansie suffered from the same complaint, and had +to pay most dearly in after years for the suppression of her deepest +feelings. + +There is a Dutch saying which forcibly expresses that condition of +tense self-control under circumstances of a particularly trying +nature. We say we are "living on our nerves," and that describes the +case better than anything I have ever heard. + +Our heroines, like so many other sorely tried women in South Africa, +were "living on their nerves," those wise, understanding nerves, so +knowing and so delicate, which form the stronghold of the human frame. + +The external symptoms of this state were only known by those who +lived in close and constant intercourse with one another. Hansie +therefore knew, by an inflection in her mother's voice, that something +out of the way had happened when she said: + +"I have had a note from General Maxwell." + +"Indeed! What does he say?" + +"He writes that Dietlof has been made a prisoner, and he encloses a +telegram from the Assistant Provost-Marshal at Ventersdorp, in the +name of General Babington, to say that Dietlof is well, as was Fritz +when last seen. See for yourself." + +Hansie grabbed--yes, grabbed--the papers from her mother's +outstretched hand. + +"'When last seen?' Mother, what can that mean? Why have the boys been +separated?" + +"That is what I should like to know," her mother answered. "I wonder +how we can find out. We must ask to see General Maxwell at once." + +That afternoon the two women called at the Government Buildings and +were shown into the Governor's office. + +He seemed to be expecting a visit from them, and Mrs. van Warmelo +apologised for troubling him, reminding him of the promise he had made +on the occasion of their very first visit to him, that he would help +them if they came to him in any trouble. + +This he remembered perfectly. + +"What is it you want me to do?" he asked. + +"If you will be so good, we want a permit to visit our prisoner in the +Johannesburg Fort, where he will probably be kept until he is sent to +Ceylon or where-ever he may have to go." + +"Certainly; I will do this with the greatest pleasure. But first we +must wire and find out his whereabouts. I'll see about the matter and +let you know at once." + +Thanking him gratefully, mother and daughter took their leave. + +"We should have asked permission to take a box of clothes and other +little necessaries for our boy," the mother said. + +"Yes, what a pity we did not think of it! But surely there could be no +objection to that! Let us get everything ready at least, and ask +permission when we hear from General Maxwell again." + +The largest portmanteau in the house was overhauled and carefully and +thoughtfully packed by the mother's yearning hands. + +No article of comfort was overlooked, no detail of the wardrobe +considered too small for her closest attention and care. + +Presently Hansie came with _her_ contribution, a thick exercise-book +and a couple of pencils. + +"Put these in, mother, if you still have room. I am going to ask +Dietlof to write down all his adventures in this book for us to read +afterwards. It will help him to get through his time of imprisonment." + +(This small act, I may add here, led to the publication of her +brother's book, _Mijn Kommando en Guerilla-Kommando leven--On +Commando_, in the English edition--which was begun in Ladysmith and +written in the Indian Fort at Ahmednagar and smuggled out to Holland +under conditions of such romantic interest: the first book on the war, +written _during_ the war and devoured by the public in Holland long +before it was allowed to reach South African shores--a book famed for +its moderation and its truth, direct, sincere throughout.) + + * * * * * + +That Saturday night poor Mrs. van Warmelo never closed her eyes. She +feared, and she had good reason to fear, that her son would pass +through Johannesburg, and be transported to some foreign isle, before +a word of greeting and farewell could be made by her. The thought of +the morrow's Sabbath rest and inactivity intensified her fears. + +The first thing she said to Hansie next morning was: + +"You must go to General Maxwell and ask whether there is no news for +us." + +"But, mother, this is Sunday!" + +"I know that. You will have to go to his house." + +"Oh, I could not possibly do that. What does he care about our +anxieties? Besides, I think it would be most indiscreet." + +"I don't care," shortly. + +In the end Hansie had to go, and when once she had made up her mind +she looked forward with some pleasure to her little adventure, for +there was no one of the officials known to her for whom she had a more +sincere regard than General Maxwell. His house was but a few minutes' +walk from Harmony, and Hansie, looking up at the gathering clouds, +hoped that she could be home again before the approaching storm broke +loose. + +Our "brave" heroine _trembled_ when she rang the bell, for all her +distaste of the task had returned with redoubled force, but her +self-confidence was soon restored under the genial warmth of the +General's greetings. + +He did not seem to be the least annoyed or displeased at this +intrusion on his Sabbath privacy. And he was quite alone--not, as +Hansie had feared to find him, surrounded by a crowd of officers. + +He told her that though he had not been able to get news of her +brother direct, he knew that a large number of prisoners had arrived +at the Johannesburg Fort from Ventersdorp. He thought her brother +would probably be amongst them, and gave her special permits to +Johannesburg and back, and also a letter of introduction to the +Military Governor in Johannesburg, asking him as a personal favour to +assist the ladies in their quest. + +"If I were you, I would not wait for definite news, but go to-morrow +on the chance of finding him. Delay might bring you great +disappointment. But, tell me, Miss van Warmelo, are you not glad that +your brother has been captured and is out of danger now?" + +"Glad? No, how can I be glad? It means a man less on our side--and _he +is a man_, I can assure you. If all the Boers were as brave and +true--and such unerring marksmen--the war would soon be over." + +The Governor looked disturbed. + +"It seems to me a strange thing for a girl like you to feel so +strongly. Are all your women such staunch patriots?" + +"Not all, perhaps, but there are many who feel even more strongly than +I do." + +The General kept her there and talked of many things, asked her +innumerable questions on the country and its people, and drew her out +upon the subject of the war. + +Outside, the elements were raging, for the storm had broken loose, and +the rain came down in torrents, while the crashing thunder pealed +overhead. + +Hansie looked anxious, and the Governor said: + +"It will soon be over. Are you afraid?" + +"Oh no, I love our storms; but my mother is alone at home, and she +does _not_." + +She told him, toying with her permits, of her curious collection of +passes and other war-curios, and he left the room with a friendly-- + +"Perhaps I can find something for you too," returning with a button +from his coat and a colonel's crown. + +"The storm is over; let us see what damage has been done," and he led +the way into the garden, showed her the flowers, asked the names of +shrubs unknown to him. + + * * * * * + +"Oh, mother, the English must not be so good to us! It is not right to +accept favours at their hands, for it places us in a false position. +Don't ever ask me to go to General Maxwell again." + +"Of course not. I quite agree with you, but I am very glad to have +those permits. Did you ask about the portmanteau and box?" + +"Yes. He said it was all right, and promised to give permits, so that +they need not be examined." + +They did not leave for Johannesburg, after all, on Monday, for a full +list of the names of prisoners from Ventersdorp arrived, but there was +no van Warmelo among them. + +Telegrams were sent right and left, but there was something strange +about the whole affair, and no satisfactory answers could be got until +five days after the first tidings had reached Harmony. The prisoner +was at Potchefstroom. + +Two more days of suspense and a note from Major Hoskins came, +enclosing a telegram--"Van Warmelo leaving to-morrow for Fort +Johannesburg." + +Great rejoicings! The women had begun to fear that their hero had been +whisked away to some remote portion of the globe, without one word +from them. + +General Maxwell's letters of introduction acted like a charm when +presented at the various military departments in the Golden City. + +Colonel Mackenzie, the Military Governor, gave the women a letter of +introduction to the O.C. troops, who directed them to the +Provost-Marshal, Captain Short, informing them that they would find +him at his office in the Fort. + +The Provost-Marshal did not know that more prisoners from +Ventersdorp were expected that day. He thought there must be some +mistake--unless--yes, there would be another train at 5 o'clock that +afternoon. + +The ladies were advised to call again on Sunday morning and drove to +Heath's Hotel, where they had taken up their quarters. How quiet and +deserted the Golden City looked! How bleak and desolate, with the +first breath of winter upon it! + +Poor Hansie had a shocking cold, and as she drove through the silent +streets with her mother all the miseries of the past eighteen months +came crowding into her aching heart and throbbing brain. + +What would the meeting be like to-morrow? Would he be changed? And +what would he have to tell? The question still remained whether he +would be allowed to tell them anything about the war at all---- + +Suddenly a brilliant thought flashed into Hansie's mind. + +"Oh, mother, let us go to the Braamfontein Station and see the train +arrive. I know we won't be allowed to speak to him, but we may at +least wave our hands and _look_ at him." + +Her mother was delighted with the thought, and at 4 o'clock that +afternoon they took a cab to Braamfontein Station. + +The train had been delayed, and would be in at 6 instead of 5 o'clock, +so they were told, but, for fear of having been misinformed, they +decided to wait at the station. + +Cold, dusty, pitiless, the keen wind blew on that unfriendly platform. +There was no ladies' waiting room--in fact, it seemed as if the rooms +had all been utilised for other, perhaps military, purposes. + +It is incredible the amount of suffering that can be crowded into one +hour of waiting! + +Thank God, at last the train steamed in. + +Armed troops and an unusually large number of passengers alighted on +the platform, but there was not a prisoner to be seen. The desperate +women walked up and down, keenly scrutinising every face they passed, +until they heard a well-known, highly excited voice calling out +"Mother! Mother!" to them from behind. They turned and saw their hero +tumbling from the train, an armed Tommy at his heels. + +There are no memories of the moments such as those which followed. + +Things must have been rather bad, for when Hansie looked round again +the armed soldier had turned away and was slowly walking in another +direction. Blessed, thrice-blessed Tommy! + +To this day when Hansie thinks of him she remembers with a pang that +she did not shake hands with him. + +"May we walk with the prisoner as far as the Johannesburg Fort?" +Hansie asked. + +"Certainly, miss." + +How the people stared and turned round in the street to stare again! + +And now that I come to think of it, it must have looked remarkable--a +ruffianly-looking man, carrying a disreputable bundle of blankets, a +tin cup and water-bottle slung across his shoulders all clanking +together, and a small _Bible_ in his hands, with a well-dressed lady +on each arm and an armed soldier behind, guarding the whole! + +The prisoner was a sight! The old felt hat was full of holes, through +which the unkempt hair was sticking, and the dirty black suit was torn +and greasy-looking--but the face, except for the moustache and +unfamiliar beard, was the same, the look of love in the blue eyes +unchanged. + +It seemed like a dream, incredibly sweet and strange, to be walking +through the streets of Johannesburg in uninterrupted conversation, +carried on _in Dutch,_ with him, and to be able to ask the burning +questions with which their hearts had been filled all day--why he was +alone, where he had left Fritz, how and where he had been captured. + +Everything was explained on that memorable walk, simply and briefly +explained, for the time was short, and under the circumstances Dietlof +would not give any details of information concerning the war, +considering himself bound to silence by the guard's trust in him. + +He had been promoted to the position of commandeering officer by +General Kemp and had been in the habit, for some time past, of leaving +his commando for days at a stretch on commandeering expeditions. + +About four days before his capture he had left his people again for +the same purpose, and on this occasion he had fled before the enemy +for three days, falling into their hands through the death of his good +horse through horse-sickness. + +His brother Fritz was under General Kemp with Jan and Izak Celliers +(this was the first news Mrs. van Warmelo heard of Mr. Celliers' safe +arrival on commando, after the adventures undergone by him and +described in Chapter IX), and a few others of his most trusted +friends, but what they must have thought of his inexplicable +non-appearance Dietlof did not know, but he feared they would be +undergoing much anxiety on his account. + +Near the entrance of the Fort mother and daughter took their leave, +thanking the soldier warmly for his kindness to his charge, whom they +hoped to see again the following morning. + +Very different was the meeting then! + +The prisoner, a forlorn object, stood between two guards, before the +Provost-Marshal's office, when the cab containing the two women drove +up. + +Hansie jumped out and was going up to her brother, when one of the +soldiers said to her: + +"You may not speak to the prisoner." + +"But I may kiss him!" Hansie retorted, throwing her arms round his +neck and giving him a kiss which could be heard all over the Fort. + +There was a general laugh, and Mrs. van Warmelo promptly followed +suit. + +Dietlof was called into the Provost-Marshal's office and +cross-questioned, while his mother and sister waited outside +impatiently. What a lengthy examination! Quarter of an hour, half an +hour passed, then he appeared with a soldier, who said curtly: + +"You may talk to the prisoner for half an hour _in English_!" + +I forget how many minutes of the precious thirty were lost in groping +desperately for some topic of conversation suitable to the occasion, +and safe! but when at last they found their tongues, they talked so +fast that it is doubtful whether the Tommies understood anything. + +Hansie longed to ask her brother whether the Provost-Marshal knew +anything of their escapade the night before, but dared not, hoping +that the men concerned were under the impression that this was their +first interview with the prisoner. + +He told them some of his war experiences and the fights he had been +in, for the Provost-Marshal had given him permission to speak of his +personal experiences of the war. + +One incident Hansie remembered particularly, because of a curious +coincidence connected with it. + +In describing the battle of Moselikatsnek, under General de la Rey, +in which he and Fritz had taken an active part, he told his mother and +sister of a young English officer, Lieutenant Pilkington, whom he had +found lying alone in a pool of blood among the rocks and shrubs. +Dietlof tended him, giving him brandy from a flask which he always +carried with him for such purposes, and laying grass under him on the +hard rocks. The poor man was shockingly wounded, and it was evident +that his case was hopeless. He held Dietlof's hand, imploring him not +to leave him, but Dietlof was the forerunner of the seven burghers who +were forcing their way wedgelike through the English ranks in order to +compel the enemy to surrender by attacking them from behind. He +considered it his duty to go forward, but assured the dying man that +the comrades who were following in his wake could speak English and +would care for him. The donga was strewn with dead and dying English. + +In the meantime the younger brother Fritz was tending a soldier with a +terrible wound in the head. The seven men were now advancing steadily +from one ridge to the other, but Dietlof had reached a point on which +the burghers from behind were bombarding with their cannon, and as the +rocks flew into the air he found it impossible to proceed. + +He therefore returned, and the captain sent a dispatch-bearer down +with orders that the cannon-firing should cease. + +For a moment Dietlof went back to the wounded lieutenant, where he +found some of his comrades assembled, and while they stood there the +unfortunate man, exhausted by loss of blood, drew his last breath. + +Through incredible dangers the seven burghers forced their way through +the donga until they reached the point from where they could attack +the enemy from behind. It was a most critical moment, for they were +exposed to the constant fire of their own burghers, under Commandant +Coetzee, as well as that of the enemy, but soon they were relieved to +see the white flag hoisted, and were then joined by the rest of the +commando. + +The English could not believe that the party which had attacked them +from behind had consisted of only seven men. + +Colonel Roberts, Lieutenant Lyall, and Lieutenant Davis were taken +with 210 men of the Lincolnshire Regiment. One officer escaped while +the burghers were disarming their prisoners and yielding themselves to +the spirit of plunder with which every man is possessed after a severe +struggle for victory. + +Of dead and wounded the burghers had lost thirteen or fourteen men, +but the seven forerunners, who had been exposed to the greatest +dangers, escaped without a scratch, while the enemy, in spite of the +fact that they had been under cover throughout, lay dead and dying in +large numbers. + +Strange to relate, a letter from an English officer fell into +Dietlof's hands some weeks later, and in glancing over it his eye fell +on the words, "Lieutenant Pilkington is also dead--you know that +famous cricketer." + +And still later Hansie heard from her brother that one of the seven +men, Field-cornet von Zulch, who afterwards joined him as prisoner of +war in the Ahmednagar Fort, told him that he had received a letter +from Lieutenant Pilkington's mother, begging for more particulars of +her son's last moments. + +Many wonderful experiences were related, many glimpses given into the +conditions of commando life. The young man dwelt lightly for a moment +on his hardships and privations, saying, "Mother, do you know those +woollen Kaffir blankets with yellow stars and leopards, and red and +green half-crescents?" + +"Yes," his mother answered expectantly. + +"Well, I once had a pair of trousers made of that material." + +Everyone laughed. + +"But there are worse things than _that_," he continued; "unmentionable +horrors--things you pick up in the English camps and can't get rid of +again----" + +Hansie understood. + +"You will find a tin of insect-powder in that wonderful Indian juggler +of a portmanteau," she said, "and don't forget to use the blank +exercise-book." + +The thirty minutes were over, and they were considerately left alone +for a few moments---- + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS + + For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with + great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I + hid My face from thee for a moment; but with + everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith + the Lord thy Redeemer.--Isa. liv. 7 and 8. + + +The hand which holds my pen to-day trembles. + +From the beginning it was not my intention to touch upon the +Concentration Camps, but this story of the war would be incomplete +without at least a brief outline of that which played so important a +part during the war. + +After the occupation of Pretoria, and when it was found that +hostilities, instead of coming to an end, were continued under what +the English called a system of "guerilla" warfare, and that the Boer +forces, instead of being compelled to surrender through starvation or +exhaustion, continued to thrive and increase in numbers, the military +authorities found it necessary to adopt entirely new tactics. But +subsequent events showed that no greater strategical error was ever +committed. + +Let me explain briefly for the benefit of those of my readers who have +forgotten the details of the great South African war. + +The Boer Republics had no organised force. In the event of war against +natives or against some foreign Power, the burghers were called up +from their farms, the husbands, fathers, sons of the nation, to fight +for home and fatherland. This left the women and children unprotected +on the farms, but not unprovided for, for it is an historical fact +that the Boer women in time of war carried on their farming operations +with greater vigour than during times of peace. Fruit trees were +tended, fields were ploughed, and harvests brought in with redoubled +energy, with the result that crops increased and live-stock +multiplied. + +From the natives they had nothing to fear--in fact, their work was +carried on with the help of native servants only. It soon became +evident to the British military authorities that the Boer forces were +being supplied with necessaries in the way of food and clothing by the +women on the farms. + +From the Boer point of view this was right and good, but it was +perfectly natural that the English should resent it, and, in isolated +cases, where it was known beyond doubt to have taken place, the houses +were destroyed, and the women and children removed to the towns as +prisoners of war. + +As time went on and the women continued to provide their men with the +necessaries of life, the British authorities decided to lay the entire +country waste, with the intention of depriving the Boer commandos of +all means of subsistence and forcing them, through starvation, into a +speedy surrender. + +A systematic devastation of the two Boer Republics then took place. +Only the towns were spared; for the rest, the farms and homesteads +and even small villages, throughout the length and breadth of the +country, were laid waste. Trees were cut down, crops destroyed, homes, +pillaged of valuables, burnt with everything they contained, and the +women and children removed to camps in the districts to which they +belonged. + +Now, we are well aware that a savage foe would have left these +helpless victims of the unavoidable circumstances of war on the veld +to die, but the English are not only not savages and heathens, but +they are one of the most civilised and humane Christian nations. + +Concentration Camps were formed in every part of the country, and the +women and children placed in tents on the open veld, near the railway +lines where possible, or in close proximity to the towns. + +The work of devastation, carried out by some British officers with +loathing and distaste, and by others with fiendish exultation, was not +completed in a few weeks or months. It was carried on right through +from the time when the policy was decided on until peace was declared, +and in the end nothing was left but the blackened ruins of once +prosperous homes. + + * * * * * + +If ever there was a war of surprises, it was the Anglo-Boer war. + + * * * * * + +Instead of hostilities being brought to a speedy termination by the +demolition of the farms, the Boer forces gathered and increased in +strength and numbers by the addition to their ranks of men who had +left the commandos and were again living on their farms. + +Wives and children gone, homes devastated, there was nothing left for +the men to live for. + +Instead of being brought to submission by the drastic measures taken +to compel them to surrender, they were transformed into raging lions, +with but one object in view, the expulsion of their enemy from the +land of their birth. + +Not alone in the towns did the secret service do its work. As the +camps grew in size and close supervision became more difficult, the +spies crept in and out, bearing with them the information wanted by +the Boer leaders, concerning the condition of the inmates. + +In nine cases out of ten the earnest request of the women to their men +was to fight to the bitter end--not to surrender on their account, but +to let them die in captivity sooner than yield for the sake of them +and their children. + +Perhaps I may be allowed to say here that when Hansie was in the Irene +Camp as volunteer nurse she knew nothing of the work of the spies. + +Love and pity drew her to the scene of suffering. + + * * * * * + +The British did not count the cost when they began the system of +gathering in the Boer families, any more than they did when they began +their "walk over" to Pretoria. + +Not only had they to support women and children for an indefinite +period after the devastation of the farms, but the entire maintenance +of the scattered Boer forces fell to their lot. During nearly two +years the Boers lived on the enemy, took their convoys, wrecked their +trains, helped themselves to horses, clothing, ammunition, +provisions--everything, in fact, that they required for the +continuation of the war. To tell the truth, there was hardly a Mauser +rifle to be found in the possession of the Boers at the end of the +war, they having destroyed the rifles with which they began the war, +for want of Mauser ammunition, and using only the Lee Metfords of the +enemy. + +Sickness broke out in the camps--scarlet fever, measles, +whooping-cough, enteric, pneumonia, and a thousand ills brought by +exposure, overcrowding, underfeeding, and untold hardships. + +Expectant mothers, tender babes, the aged and infirm, torn from their +homes and herded together under conditions impossible to describe, +exposed to the bitter inclemency of the South African winters and the +scorching, germ-breeding heat of the summer, succumbed in their +thousands, while daily, fresh people, ruddy, healthy, straight from +their wholesome life on the farms, were brought into the infected +camps and left to face sickness and the imminent risk of death. + +Over twenty thousand dead women and children stand recorded in the +books of the Burgher Camps Department to-day, as the victims of this +policy of concentration. + +Over twenty thousand women and children within two years! While the +total number of fighting men lost on the Boer side, in battle and in +captivity, amounts to four thousand throughout the entire war. + +That this appalling result was wholly unlooked for, we do not doubt, +but nothing could be done to prevent the high mortality until many +months after the worst period was over and only the strongest remained +in the camps. It was indeed a case of the survival of the fittest. + +Let me briefly relate a tragic event of the war to show what the +people of the camps went through and what little cause for surprise +there is in the unprecedented death-rate. + +During the winter of 1901 a blizzard passed over the High Veld, the +site of so many Concentration Camps, in the Balmoral district, and +overtook a young lieutenant, W. St. Clare McLaren, of the First Argyll +and Sutherland Highlanders (the friend and playmate of Hansie's +childhood's years at Heidelberg) with his men. + +They were without shelter, their commissariat waggons being some way +ahead, and crept under a tarpaulin for protection from the fierce and +bitterly cold blast. + +During that awful night Mr. McLaren took off his overcoat to cover up +the perishing body of his major, and when morning came he was found +dead with five of his men, while around them, stiffly frozen, lay the +bodies of six hundred mules. + +The brave and heroic heart was stilled for ever, a young and noble +life was lost in performing an act of rare self-sacrifice; but far +away in "bonnie Scotland" a widowed mother, smiling bravely through +her tears, thanked God for the privilege of cherishing _such_ a +memory. + +Small wonder to us then, when tragedies such as this were brought home +to us, that in the camps the thin tents, torn to ribbons by the +storm, afforded no protection to the scantily-clothed, half-famished +inmates! + +That the death-rate was not higher during the winter months we owe +entirely to the overcrowding of the tents, there being in Hansie's +ward at Irene many bell-tents, destined to accommodate six, holding +from sixteen to twenty-three persons for many months. But what was an +advantage during the winter months became a source of great danger +when the heat of summer came. + +To return to our story. + +It was Hansie's privilege--yes, privilege--to act as one of the +volunteer nurses from Pretoria during that very winter of 1901, and +though it is not my intention to record in this book the experience +connected with that period, I do not think it will be out of place +here to mention an important result of that sojourn at Irene. + +Mrs. van Warmelo visited her daughter in the camp for the first time +on May 21st, and she was so much impressed by the misery she had +witnessed that, on her return to Pretoria that night, she could not +sleep, but tossed from side to side, thinking of some way to save her +country-women from suffering and death. + +Suddenly she was inspired by the thought, "Write a petition to the +Consuls!" + +It was 3 a.m. when she got out of bed to fetch her writing-materials +from the dining-room, and she then and there wrote a passionate appeal +for help to the Diplomatic Corps in Pretoria. + +The Consul-General for the Netherlands, Mr. Domela Nieuwenhuis, to +whom she took the petition the following morning, advised her to lay +it before the Portuguese Consul, Mr. Cinatti, who, as the doyen of the +Diplomatic Corps, would bring the matter before the other Consuls, if +he thought it advisable. + +Mr. Cinatti, after reading the petition, said the matter could +certainly be taken up if Mrs. van Warmelo would get a few leading +women in Pretoria to sign the petition. + +This was done within a few days. + +Under injunctions to observe the strictest secrecy, nine prominent +Boer women signed the document, and it was once more laid before the +senior member of the Diplomatic Corps, who immediately called a +meeting of the Consuls, the result of which was that a copy of the +petition, translated into French, was sent by the first mail to each +of the ten different Powers they represented and also to Lord +Kitchener. + +General Maxwell, soon after these were dispatched, asked Mr. Cinatti +to see him at once in his office at Government Buildings, where, in a +long interview with him, he demanded from Mr. Cinatti the names of the +nine signatories. + +Mr. Cinatti said he was not at liberty to disclose them--that, in +fact, they were not known (with the exception of the writer of the +petition) to the other Consuls. General Maxwell then pressed him to +give him that name only, as he particularly wished to know who had +drawn up the petition. + +This was refused, fortunately for Mrs. van Warmelo, for the penalty +would have been great. + +The military authorities left no stone unturned afterwards to find out +who the women petitioners were, but without success, thanks to the +great precautions taken by the Portuguese Consul. + +A full month passed and no reply came from Lord Kitchener. + +A second petition, more strongly worded than the first, was then drawn +up, imploring the Consuls to intercede on behalf of the victims of the +Concentration Camps and to inform the Powers represented by them, of +the death-rate which threatened the Boer nation with extinction. + +Again a meeting of the Consuls was called, at which three of them were +appointed to form a committee of investigation: + + Consul Cinatti, Consul-General for Portugal. + Baron Pitner, Consul-General for Austria. + Baron Ostmann, Consul-General for Germany. + +Some of the other members at the meeting were: + + M. Domela Nieuwenhuis, Consul-General for the Netherlands. + M. Aubert, Consul-General for France. + Mr. Gordon, Consul-General for United States. + +The latter lived in Johannesburg, but attended all the meetings held +in Pretoria in connection with the Concentration Camps. + +From General Maxwell the committee of investigation got permission to +inspect the Camp at Irene, called the "Model Camp," and with the +statistics obtained there, as well as the official statistics of all +the camps in the Transvaal, the Diplomatic Corps drew up a report, +which went to prove that unless immediate steps were taken to arrest +the appalling death-rate, the Boer population in the camps would be +extinct within a period of three years. + +Copies of this report were sent to the Military Governor and Lord +Kitchener, and to ten foreign Powers, with copies of the second +petition. + +What diplomatic correspondence then passed between England and the +foreign Powers we shall never know, for the utmost secrecy was +observed throughout; but what we do know is, that the famous +commission of inquiry, the "Whitewash Committee," so-called by the +Pro-Boers in England, was very soon afterwards sent out. It consisted +of six English ladies, and as a result of their investigations some of +the inland camps were removed to the coast, the rations increased, +additional medical and other comforts provided, and the general +condition of the camps improved to such an extent that after some +months the death-rate decreased considerably, continuing to do so +until it became nearly normal. But, as I have said before, not until +over 20,000 women and children had been sacrificed as a direct result +of being torn from their homes, exposed to the elements, and herded +together under conditions which only the strongest could survive. It +would take too much space to insert copies of the petitions here, but +they are to be found in Hansie's Dutch book on the Irene Concentration +Camp, published in Holland from her diary a year after the war. + +The following statistics of what is known as "Black October 1901" are +taken from the Blue Books of England and will give the reader an idea +of the number of camps in the Transvaal alone, the number of their +inhabitants, and the full death-rate within the period of thirty-one +days:-- + +TOTAL CENSUS OF DEATHS, ETC. ETC., OCCURRING IN THE CONCENTRATION +CAMPS, TRANSVAAL ONLY, DURING THE MONTH OF OCTOBER 1901. + + Camps. Census. Deaths. + 1. Barberton 1,907 12 + 2. Balmoral 2,580 70 + 3. Belfast 1,397 33 + 4. Heidelberg 2,173 41 + 5. Irene 3,972 101 + 6. Johannesburg 2,937 29 + 7. Klerksdorp 3,822 176 + 8. Krugersdorp 5,500 90 + 9. Middelburg 5,602 127 +10. Mafeking 4,783 410 +11. Nylstroom 1,819 52 +12. Pietersburg 3,598 41 +13. Potchefstroom 7,467 90 +14. Standerton 3,005 215 +15. Vereeniging 920 9 +16. Volksrust 5,280 47 +17. Vryburg 1,256 53 + ------ ------ + 58,018 1,596 + ------ ------ + +During this terrible month there was a population of 112,619 in all +the Concentration Camps in South Africa. There were 3,156 deaths, i.e. +a death-rate of 28 per 1,000 per month. After "Black October" the +mortality decreased steadily, as will be seen from the following +figures: + + Population. Deaths. +November 1901 117,974 2,807 +December 1901 117,017 2,380 +January 1902 114,376 1,805 +February 1902 113,905 638 +March 1902 111,508 402 +April 1902 112,733 298 +May 1902 116,572 196 + + +CONSULAR REPORT ON THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS + +The following is the Report on the Concentration Camps by the +Committee appointed by the Consular Corps of the Transvaal in response +to a renewed appeal addressed to them by the Committee of Boer Women +of Pretoria. The appeal was supported by three of the Consuls. + +The Committee, which you have appointed to examine the situation in +the prisoners' camps, where Boer women are concentrated, though they +could not always obtain the required accurate information, have gained +sufficient results to arrive at the conclusions as laid down in short +in the following report:-- + +I.--In order to formulate a clear idea of the situation the Committee +has laid down the following tables: + + (a) Showing the population and deaths in the Camps during April + 1901, compiled from the official reports of the + Inspector-General of the Camps. + + (b) The death-rate in the Camps of the Transvaal calculated from + Table A, as well as from reports published in the Official + Gazette, and according to other trustworthy information. + + (c) The death-rate in the Camps at Bloemfontein and Kroonstad, + compiled from the notices in the Official Gazette of the + Orange Free State. + + (d) Diseases and deaths according to Official Gazette. + +II.--Although the returns are not complete through absence of returns +for whole weeks in the official publications, we may arrive at the +following conclusions: + + 1. That the death-percentage in the Camps surpasses all + hitherto-known proportions. + + 2. That the death-rate amounts to 14 times that of Pretoria, + which has, according to Dr. Stroud, an average of 25 per + thousand per year. + + 3. That the death-rate among the children confined to the Camps + has increased to an alarming extent. + +The Committee, basing their verdict partly on the repeated assertions +of public opinion, on the communications of eye-witnesses, on the +evidence given by certain witnesses in a case before the Military +Court at Pretoria, and finally on the personal observations of four +members of the Consular Corps, to whom permission was granted to visit +the Camp at Irene, feel compelled to believe the principal causes of +diseases, carrying in their train such an abnormal death-rate, to be: + + 1. The difficulties and misery and privations to which the Boer + families are subject after having been driven from their + farms (their journeys often lasting about 20 days). + + 2. The insufficient quantity and frequently even bad quality of + articles of food distributed among them. Often the food given + to the children is in every respect inadequate to their + wants. + + 3. The great fall in temperature during the night. + + 4. The insufficient protection against cold experienced in the + tents by the healthy population, and all the more by the + invalids. + + 5. The absence of clothing and blankets. + + 6. The insufficient providing for invalids and the inadequate + state of medical stores. + + 7. The want of employees for the sanitary service in the Camps. + +In view of the importance of the problem put before the Committee, +they have drawn up the above report and have sent copies of same to +all the members of the Consular Corps. + + (Signed) S.S. PITNER. + P. CINATTI. + BN. OSTMANN. + + +TABLE A + +DIRECT CAUSES OF THE DEATHS IN THE CAMPS OF THE IMPRISONED BOERS, +COMPOSED ACCORDING TO THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER ARTICLES TILL JULY +10TH, 1901. + +Diseases. Number of Deaths. + +Measles 123 +Inflammation of the lungs 50 +Dysentery 45 +Inflammation of the bowels 35 +Consumption 33 +Diarrhoea 29 +Bronchitis 27 +Old age 21 +Inflammation of the stomach 15 +Malaria 18 +Cramps 15 +Measles and bronchitis 14 +Typhoid fever 14 +Weakness (Debility) 13 +Heart disease 12 +Croup 11 +Old age 11 +Cramps and inflammation of the stomach 10 +Measles and weakness 11 +Lying-in fever and child-birth illness 5 +Measles and inflammation of the lungs 4 +Inflammation of the brain 4 +Diphtheria 4 +Consumption and measles 4 +Disease of the kidneys 6 +Measles and diarrhoea 3 +Measles and dysentery 3 +Exhaustion 3 +Inflammation of the bowels 3 +Debility 2 +Heart disease 4 +Inflammation of the kidneys and debility, + diseases through teething, asthma, influenza 6 +Various 26 +Not classified 57 + --- + 641 + + + _Summary and Percentage_ + + Cases. Percentage. + +Simple and complicated measles 149 23 +Diseases of the respiratory organs 106 17 +Diseases of the bowels 105 17 +Fever 67 10 +Debility, old age, consumption 75 12 +Convulsions 15 2 +Debility through old age 13 2 +Heart disease 12 2 +Not classified 57 9 +Various 42 6 + --- + 641 cases. + +TABLE B + +DEATH-RATE OF THE IMPRISONED BOERS IN THE CAMPS OF THE TRANSVAAL +ACCORDING TO OFFICIAL REPORTS AND TRUSTWORTHY INFORMATION. + +------------------------+-----------------------------------+ + | | +Camps and Months. | Number of prisoners + + | under 8 years. | + | | + +-----------+-----------+-----------+ + | | | | + | Male. | Female. | Total. | +------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ +Middelburg April | 666 | 626 | 1,292 | +Potchefstroom April | 1,577 | 4,147 | 5,724 | + May 1-17th | 1,605[B] | 4,207[B] | 5,812[C] | +Standerton April | 584 | 553 | 1,137 | +Volksrust April | 1,911 | 1,667 | 3,578 | +Irene April | 2,134 | 1,589 | 3,703 | + " May | 2,364[B] | 1,738[B] | 4,102[C] | + " June | 2,593[B] | 2,007[B] | 4,600[C] | +Johannesburg April | 1,705 | 1,465 | 3,170 | + May 1-27th | 1,770[B] | 1,515[B] | 3,285[C] | +All Camps in | | | | + Transvaal April | 11,098 | 12,714 | 23,612 | +------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ + +------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+ + | Death Rate for the Period Indicated. | +Camps and Months +------------------------+----------------------+ + | Under 8 years. | Per 1,000 per ann. | + | | Under 8 years. | + +-------+--------+-------+------+--------+------+ + | Male. | Female.| Total.| Male.| Female.| pr. | + | | | | | | 1000 | +------------------------+-------+--------+-------+------+--------+------+ +Middelburg April | 5 | 4 | 9 | 86 | 77 | 83 | +Potchefstroom April | 7[A] | 17[A] | 24 | 53 | 39 | 54 | + May 1-17th | 8 | 17 | 25 | 106 | 86 | 94 | +Standerton April | 5[D] | 20[D] | 25 | 104 | 372 | 255 | +Volkstust April | 5 | 21 | 26 | 32 | 153 | 87 | +Irene April | 14[A] | 35[A] | 49 | 79 | 270 | 161 | + " May | 19 | 49 | 68 | 58 | 331 | 200 | + " June | 38[A] | 97[C] |135[E] | 177 | 588 | 366 | +Johannesburg April | 9 | 82 | 91 | 62 | 681 | 349 | + May 1-27th | 12 | 67 | 79 | 94 | 598 | 325 | +All Camps in | | | | | | | + Transvaal April | 69 | 171 |240 | 75 | 161 | 122 | +------------------------+-------+--------+-------+------+--------+------+ + +A: According to the proportion for the month of May. +B: According to the proportion for the month of April. +C: Average number from April till July 9th. +D: According to the proportion for Volksrust. +E: Statement by a nurse in service at Irene. + + +Without further comment the figures are borrowed from the official +reports of the month of April or published in the _Official Gazette_. + + +TABLE C + +RETURN OF DEATHS OF THE IMPRISONED BOERS IN THE CAMPS OF +BLOEMFONTEIN AND KROONSTAD (ORANGE FREE STATE) ACCORDING TO THE +"OFFICIAL GAZETTE." + +--------------------------+---------------------------------+ + | Number of Deaths. | + +-----+-------+----------+--------+ + | | | | | + | | | | | + | | | Children | | + Camps. | Men.| Women.| under 8 | Total. | + | | | yrs. | | +--------------------------+-----+-------+----------+--------+ +Bloemfontein from April | | | | | + 2nd till July 2nd, 1901 | 33 | 80 | 198 | 311 | + | | | | | +Kroonstad from April | | | | | + 1st till May 16th, 1901 | 8 | 8 | 41 | 57 | + | | | | | +Kroonstad from May 26th | | | | | + till June 23rd, 1901 | 9 | 12 | 26 | 47 | +--------------------------+-----+-------+----------+--------+ + +--------------------------+----------------------------------------------+ + | Causes of Death. | +--------------------------+----------+--------+----------+---------+-----+ + | | | | | | + | | | | | | + | |Lung and|Typhoid, | | | + Camps. |Infectious|Heart |Dysentery,|Debility,| Per | + |Disease. |Disease.|Diarrhoea.|Old Age. |1000.| +--------------------------+----------+--------+----------+---------+-----+ +Bloemfontein from April | | | | | | + 2nd till July 2nd, 1901 | 101 | 99 | 107 | 4 | 309 | + | | | | | | +Kroonstad from April | | | | | | + 1st till May 16th, 1901 | 15 | 16 | 24 | 2 | 195 | + | | | | | | +Kroonstad from May 26th | | | | | | + till June 23rd, 1901 | 18 | 14 | 15 | 6 | 213 | +--------------------------+----------+--------+----------+---------+-----+ + +Number of prisoners till June 1st: Bloemfontein, 4,339; Kroonstad, 2,638. + + +TABLE D + +RETURNS OF DEATHS AND DISEASE OF THE IMPRISONED BOERS IN THE ENGLISH +CAMPS OF THE TRANSVAAL DURING APRIL 1901. + + +----------------+---------------------------------------+ + | Number of Prisoners. | + +---------+---------+---------+---------+ + | | | | | + | Men. | Women. |Children.| Total. | + Camps. | | | | | +----------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ +Barberton | 38 | 151 | 236 | 425 | +Middelburg | 191 | 475 | 626 | 1,292 | +Irene | 892 | 1,242 | 1,569 | 3,703 | +Johannesburg | 505 | 1,200 | 1,465 | 3,170 | +Potchefstroom | 322 | 1,255 | 4,147 | 5,724 | +Klerksdorp | 120 | 350 | 521 | 991 | +Krugersdorp | 234 | 381 | 473 | 1,088 | +Vereeniging | 175 | 312 | 346 | 833 | +Heidelberg | 377 | 327 | 432 | 1,136 | +Standerton | 271 | 313 | 653 | 1,237 | +Volksrust | 452 | 1,459 | 1,667 | 3,578 | +Mafeking | 96 | 140 | 529 | 765 | + +---------+---------+---------+---------+ +Total | 3,673 | 7,605 | 12,664 | 23,942 | +----------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ + +----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ + | Number of Cases during April 1901. | + +---------+---------+-----------+--------+------------+ + | | | | | Deaths | + | Men. | Women. | Children. | Total. | during the | + Camp. | | | | | Month. | +----------------+---------+---------+-----------+--------+------------+ +Barberton | 6 | 26 | 27 | 59 | 4 | +Middelburg | 29 | 46 | 55 | 130 | 9 | +Irene | 51 | 85 | 181 | 317 | 49 | +Johannesburg | 3 | 26 | 110 | 139 | 90 | +Potchefstroom | 3 | 30 | 29 | 62 | 24 | +Klerksdorp | -- | 7 | 12 | 19 | 2 | +Krugersdorp | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | -- | +Vereeniging | 5 | 8 | 11 | 24 | 5 | +Heidelberg | 13 | 21 | 32 | 66 | 2 | +Standerton | 10 | 17 | 20 | 47 | 35 | +Volksrust | 14 | 19 | 33 | 66 | 26 | +Mafeking | 12 | 96 | 44 | 152 | 4 | + +---------+---------+-----------+--------+------------+ +Total | 146 | 381 | 556 | 1,083 | 250 | +----------------+---------+---------+-----------+--------+------------+ + + This table is compiled from an official report by an attendant of + the Prisoner-Camps. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A CONSULAR VISIT TO IRENE CAMP + + +The story of the petitions, related in the previous chapter, had, as I +have said before, taken place during the time of Hansie's sojourn at +Irene. She knew nothing about it at the time because, naturally, her +mother's letters contained no hint of the agitation with the Consuls +at Pretoria, and she was absorbed in her own "agitations" in the Camp, +her stormy interviews with the Commandant, her hopeless struggles +against disease and death. + +If ever a Concentration Camp was mismanaged, Irene was, and the six +volunteer nurses, not being paid servants, but having taken up their +work for love and at no small sacrifice to themselves, left no stone +unturned to bring about the necessary improvements. + +How futile their poor little efforts were! How powerless they found +themselves against the tide of wilful misunderstanding, deliberate +neglect, unpardonable mismanagement! + +The number of deaths in the Camps increased every day, and Hansie, +wiping the hoar-frost from her hair when she woke, half-frozen, in her +tent, wondered how many of her little patients had been mercifully +released by death that night. + +For always, when she resumed her work, there were _childish_ forms +stretched out in their last sleep. + +One morning, when she found that there had been five deaths during the +night, in her ward alone, she took the train to Pretoria, straight to +General Maxwell's office. + +"Come and see for yourself, General. The people are starving, and they +lie on the cold ground with little or no covering. Fuel they have +nothing to speak of, medical comforts are always out of stock----" + +With a heavy frown he asked: + +"Why are these things not reported to me?" + +"I don't know," she answered miserably. "We thought you knew. We can +do nothing with the Commandant----" + +A great deal more was said on both sides, revelations, not to be +repeated here, made by the unhappy girl, and the Governor's +sympathetic face grew stern with righteous indignation as she +proceeded. + +"I will investigate the matter for myself," he said. "But you look +ill--why don't you come home and take a good rest?" + +"I am only sick with misery, General; but if you will speak to the +Commandant and insist on better management in the Camp, we may still +be able to save a great many lives. There is no time to lose. If the +people are not provided with better food and warmer covering during +this intensely cold weather, the mortality will be something appalling +next month." + +A few days later, one beautifully crisp and clear Sunday morning, +General Maxwell and his A.D.C., Major Hoskins, rode over to Irene to +pay the Camp a surprise visit--and a "surprise" it must have been +indeed, of no pleasant nature, to the Commandant, judging by his black +looks afterwards. + +The General asked to see Miss van Warmelo and demanded to be shown +through her ward, inspected her worst cases, visited the overcrowded +tents. He seemed much impressed by the scenes he witnessed that day, +and issued orders to the effect that all complaints from her ward were +to be attended to promptly, and that a distribution of blankets and +warm clothing should be made immediately. + +There were no blankets "in stock" the day before, but they were +produced on this occasion with remarkable alacrity. + +The Governor inspected the foodstuffs and the small supply of medical +comforts (which was _always_, I may say here, kept in stock for +inspection, and was not touched for the use of the inmates of the +Camp, when the stores ran out). + +On leaving, the Governor said to Hansie with marked emphasis: + +"I shall be obliged if you will make your complaints _to me_ in +future." + +Her ward was now in a somewhat better condition, and she was preparing +to leave for home for a month's rest and recreation. + +Although there were never more than six volunteer nurses in the Camp +at a time, there were quite as many again in Pretoria, waiting to take +the place of those obliged to go home on sick leave, and one of them +was immediately sent to take charge of Hansie's ward. + +Tragic were the parting scenes witnessed in that ward next day, and, +as Hansie laughingly extricated herself from the crowd, she promised +to come back "very soon," little thinking that she would be in their +midst again on the morrow. + +The new nurse, an inexperienced girl, after having gone through the +ward once with Hansie, quietly fainted away. + +"Shall I stay?" Hansie asked her, when she had recovered. + +"Oh no; I must get used to it. But what must I do when the babies are +dying like that?" + +"You must pray to God to take them quickly. Very little can be done to +save them. Report your worst cases to the doctor regularly every day; +then, at least, the responsibility does not rest on your shoulders." + +It was terrible, leaving them all in such a state. + +Arrived at Harmony, Hansie found a note from Mr. Cinatti asking her to +come over to the Consulate immediately, because Dr. Kendal Franks, who +was visiting Irene next day, wished to see her before he left. + +She went at once, and found a dinner-party in progress at the +Consulate, the German Consul, Baron Ostmann, the Austrian Consul, +Baron Pitner and his wife, one of the directors of the Dynamite +Company, and Dr. Kendal Franks. She was shown into a private study, +where Mr. Cinatti joined her, in great excitement. + +"Come in to dinner," he urged, but Hansie wished to see only Dr. +Franks and said she would wait. + +"Tell me," she said before Mr. Cinatti left her. "Is there any danger +for my mother in connection with those petitions?" + +"Oh no, my dear, I think not. I hope not. The penalty" (he said +"penality") "would be very great. You won't mention it to Dr. Franks, +will you?" + +"Of course not," Hansie laughed, and when he flew in a few moments +later, with a silver dish containing bon-bons, he whispered excitedly: +"He's coming now. Be on your guard! Take some of these, they contain +_rum_." Dear Mr. Cinatti, how he enjoyed an atmosphere of danger! How +he revelled in secret adventures, and how he would have appreciated +the conspiracies at Harmony, at a later date, if it had been possible +for the van Warmelos to take him into their confidence! + + * * * * * + +There was an atmosphere of serenity in the courtly, kindly presence of +the great doctor. + +"Have you any objection to being cross-questioned?" he asked, +producing a notebook and pencil. + +"Not at all," she said. + +"General Maxwell told me to make a point of visiting your ward. I am +sorry you will not be there. Would it not be possible for you to go +over to Irene with me to-morrow? I am leaving by the early train." + +Hansie hesitated. + +"I have no permit, and it is too late now." + +"Oh, that is easily remedied." + +A messenger was at once dispatched to General Maxwell's house, almost +next door, and he soon returned with the necessary permits and a +cordial note from the Governor, wishing them "good luck." + +That was an eventful day at Irene! + +The anxious face of the "new nurse" broke into a beaming smile when +she saw Hansie on the scenes once more, the people crowding round her +with their questions. Why did she come back? Was she going to stay? +Didn't she go to Pretoria yesterday? Who was that with her? etc. +Mothers pulled her aside and pointed in wordless grief to their tents, +to what lay there in still repose since last night. Children clung to +her skirts--"We thought you had gone for good." + +"The people love you," the great doctor said. + +"But not as much as I love them," the answer quickly came. + +It was arranged that Dr. Franks should go through the hospital, the +dispensary, and the store-rooms in the morning, with the matron and +the doctors of the Camp, and that after lunch he should inspect some +of the tents in Hansie's ward. + +This arrangement suited her to perfection, for she wished, after she +had greeted her people in the Camp, to write an important letter, +destined for the north of Holland, for which she had had neither time +nor opportunity for many weeks. + +The doctor's "hour or two in the Camp" lengthened to three, very +nearly four, and during the greater part of this time Hansie, sitting +in the tent which had been hers, wrote, without lifting her head. + +"How shall I get this away? The censor must not set eyes on _this_," +she mused as she folded the closely written sheets. + +She put the envelope into her handbag, and just then "the girls" +trooped in from the Camp. Surprised greetings were exchanged and +explanations made as they all went into the big marquee where the +midday meal was being served. + +The doctor was very hot and tired after his long visit of inspection, +but highly satisfied with the number of notes he had made, and the +meal passed off in animated conversation. When it was over, Dr. Franks +and Hansie went through the long rows of tents in her ward--her +"prize" tents she called them--and the doctor seemed much struck by +the extreme poverty and misery of the inmates. In one tent two little +boys were dying, and the distracted mother, when she heard the magic +word "doctor," implored him to save them. She was a widow and these +children were all she had. He knelt beside them and examined them with +his strong and gentle hands, shaking his head. There was no hope. + +"Your ward is in a shocking state. But things were not as bad in the +dispensary and store-rooms as you made out last night," he said to her +on their way to the station. + +There was a touch of reproof in the kind voice. + +"You saw the small supply which is always kept for inspection, +doctor," she answered. "It is always there and is not touched when the +stores run out." + +His face wore a troubled look, but he said no more. + +When they parted at the station he said he would report on his visit, +to the Governor, and Hansie laughingly replied that she would report +too. + +"For you are a Briton and I am a Boer. General Maxwell must have _two_ +reports." + +She found the Governor next day in the friendliest of moods and +evidently satisfied when she thanked him for the improvements in her +ward. + +He told her that the Commandant, who had been at Irene when first she +came there, was going round the country to inspect all the Camps and +to write reports for him. Seeing the look of intense dissatisfaction +on her face, he asked whether she did not think that Commandant +----would do it well. + +"No, indeed," she replied. "I think I would do it a great deal better. +Will you let _me_ go round to all the Camps also, to write reports for +you?" + +She spoke in jest, but to her surprise the Governor immediately +entered into the idea, saying that it would be a great help to him to +know that he could rely on getting truthful reports. + +"You must come and see me later," he continued. "I advise you to take +a few weeks' rest before you begin this tour. Is there anything else I +can do for you now, or, I should say, for your people, for I have done +nothing for you." + +"Not just now, thank you, General; but I will let you know when I am +able to go round to the Camps, and when I take up my work again at +Irene." + +Suddenly she remembered the unposted letter in her handbag. + +"But there _is_ something else----" She hesitated. + +"I have a private letter for Holland here. It contains no word about +the war, but I cannot let it pass through the hands of the censor. May +I ask you to send it for me? I can assure you----" + +"With pleasure," he broke in. "I will see that it is dispatched +safely." + +"Thank you very much. Shall I tell you what it is about?" + +"Oh no; I trust you." + +He handed a piece of sealing-wax to her. + +"What is this for?" she asked. + +"To seal the letter," he replied; but she quickly answered, with a +smile: + +"Oh no; _I trust you_." + +He gave her a long official-looking envelope, into which she placed +her letter, and, when she had readdressed it, he closed it with the +stamp of the Military Governor's office. + +Now, this little scene could not have taken place a few months, or +even a few weeks, later, but at the time Hansie had no secrets to +conceal from the Governor, and she had no reason to feel the slightest +qualm in asking him to do her this personal favour. + +But the time was soon to come, however, when she remembered the +incident of the uncensored letter with no small degree of +discomfort--when she found herself in the midst of conspiracies +against the enemy, conspiracies of a far more serious nature than the +harmless "smuggling" hitherto carried on by her and her mother. + +"He would never believe that that letter contained no war news, if he +were to find out what we are doing now," she thought then. "This kind +of thing must cease--no more favours from the enemy, and, if I can +help it, no more interviews with the Governor. But there is this tour +of inspection--no getting out of that, and I shall have to see a great +deal of him. Well, as far as the Camps are concerned, I can always +'play the game' to him. That is a thing apart." + +A few days after this interview with the Governor, Mr. Cinatti called +at Harmony with the interesting news that General Maxwell had invited +the entire Diplomatic Corps to spend a day with him at Irene. + +"We are going to-morrow [July 13th]," he said. "Now, why are you not +there?" looking dolefully at Hansie. + +"Oh, why did I leave my little round tent at Irene Camp?" she wailed. +"But I will give you a letter for Miss Findlay, Mr. Cinatti. She knows +all my worst cases and she has many quite as bad in her ward. Ask to +see her, and whatever you do, don't forget to ask for Dr. Neethling." + +Dr. Neethling was the only Dutch doctor in the Camp, and he was seldom +in evidence when there was any question of inspection. That Consular +visit to Irene must have been quite an event. General Maxwell, Major +Hoskins, and all the Consuls in a body went through the Camp and +hospital, and made the usual inspection of foodstuffs and "medical +comforts." + +They were satisfied that great improvements had been made, but they +did not see the volunteer nurses or Dr. Neethling, although Mr. +Cinatti asked three or four times for Miss Findlay and all the Consuls +asked to see Dr. Neethling. These good people were not forthcoming, +and there was so very much to see that it was time for the sumptuous +lunch, with which General Maxwell treated the Consuls at the Railway +Station, before further questions could be asked. + +On the return journey General Maxwell inquired of Mr. Cinatti what he +thought of the Camps, to which Mr. Cinatti replied, with that quaint +mixture of pathos and humour which characterised him: + +"General, your tiffin was a beauty, but your Camp--was very sad!" + +Mrs. van Warmelo laughed when Hansie repeated these words to her and +said: + +"Oh, you have no idea how funny he is," and then she related the +following incident to her daughter with great relish: + +After she had drawn up the first petition, she was out driving one +afternoon with Mrs. General Joubert in the latter's carriage, going +from house to house to get the signatures to the petition, and on the +Sunnyside bridge they found the three inseparable Consuls, Aubert, +Cinatti, and Nieuwenhuis, out for their daily constitutional, leaning +over the railings and looking down into the stream below. Approaching +the bridge from the opposite direction were Lord Kitchener and his +A.D.C. on horseback, and the three parties met, as luck would have it, +in the centre of the bridge. + +"The Consuls took off their hats in greeting to the ladies in the +carriage, and then turned in salutation to Lord Kitchener, but I wish +you could have seen the look Mr. Cinatti gave me, Hansie, as he +glanced from the document in my hands to Lord Kitchener's retreating +form. It spoke volumes, and I had the greatest difficulty in +preserving my gravity." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +NEW DEVELOPMENTS + + +It was in the winter of 1901, while Hansie was at the Irene +Concentration Camp, as one of six volunteer nurses from Pretoria, that +Mrs. van Warmelo began her first adventures with the spies, and it has +always been a source of keen regret to Hansie that she was not in +Pretoria at the time. But one cannot have everything, and the +knowledge she gained in the Camp was more valuable to her than any +other experience she went through during the war. + +I have merely touched on the Concentration Camps in the previous +chapter, for obvious reasons, and propose to entirely omit the events +of the two months Hansie spent in the Irene Camp. + +As the six volunteer nurses were soon after expelled from the Camp by +the military authorities, there was, fortunately for her, no +opportunity of returning to her labour of love. Other duties awaited +her at home, however, and by degrees she came into full possession of +the facts connected with her mother's experiences during those months. + +Amongst the men caught in Pretoria on June 5th, 1900, when the British +first entered the capital, were two heroes of this book, Mr. J. Naudé +and W.J. Botha. + +These men were destined, through their indecision in allowing +themselves to be caught like rats in a trap, to fulfil with honour a +rôle of great importance in the history of the war--a rôle unknown to +the world, and without which this book would probably not have been +written. Mr. Naudé--who, by the way, was well known in town as beadle +of the Dutch Reformed Church on Church Square immediately opposite the +Government Buildings--had, after the first few days of uncertainty and +remorse, no intention whatever of remaining long in durance vile. + +With a few comrades in the same predicament as himself, amongst whom +were Willem Botha and G. Els, he laid his plans for a speedy escape, +and for the purpose of spying more effectually he used the tower of +the sacred edifice for which he was responsible, as a point of vantage +not only suitable but safe. With a strong telescope he took his +observations, unobserved himself, from the highest point of the tower, +with the result that a certain route was chosen as offering the best +facilities for a safe exit from the town. + +Mr. Botha should have accompanied him on this, his first enterprise; +but because of Mr. Botha's physical weakness, he having been struck by +lightning at Pieter's Heights while on commando, and being subject to +severe headaches and unable to walk far at times, it was decided that +he should wait in town until Mr. Naudé could come back from commando, +bringing with him a horse for the use of his friend. It was as well +that Mr. Botha did not expose himself to the hardships and perils of +that first flight from the capital, for though Mr. Naudé, wearing an +English officer's uniform and carrying his private clothes in a +knapsack, escaped with the greatest ease and safety, he and his +companion roamed about the veld for three days and nights without +finding a trace of the Boer commandos which they were so eager to +join. + + [Illustration: CAPTAIN NAUDÉ.] + +They therefore ventured a return to their homes in Pretoria and +accomplished this successfully at dead of night, except for a small +adventure through having been delayed too long on their homeward +journey, on account of which they reached the first outpost just as +day was breaking. + +Naudé's companion, in great anxiety, suggested making a _détour_, but +Mr. Naudé, with the presence of mind which characterised his every +action, answered firmly: + +"No; we must go straight ahead. Perhaps the watch has already caught a +glimpse of us, and any indecision on our part would be fatal." + +Seeing some clothing hanging on a line to dry near a Kaffir or coolie +hut, Mr. Naudé annexed one or two garments, and, quickly changing his +uniform for the civilian clothes he had with him, he made a bundle of +his knapsack, uniform, and helmet, tying them up in the stolen +articles. With this bundle under his arm and a handkerchief tied over +his head, he and his companion lurched uncertainly over the veld +towards the watch, after first having taken a draught from their +spirit-flask. + +"Halt! who goes there?" + +They halted, smiling at him in an imbecile manner. + +"Show me your residential passes." + +His comrade fumbled in his pockets and produced his, but Mr. Naudé +fumbled in vain. He had no pass. + +He shook his head. His smile became more inane. He muttered hoarsely: + +"Can't find it. Must have lost it last night. We have been on the +booze, old man." + +"I can see _that_," the watch replied and signed to them to pass on. + +That their reappearance caused a stir amongst their relatives and +friends can easily be understood, and it was found necessary to keep +them in hiding. The beadle had been missed from his post, and it was +an open secret among his friends and certainly not unknown to the +enemy, that he had made a dash for liberty. Under the circumstances he +could not remain in Pretoria long, and after a few days of more spying +from the church tower he made a second attempt in a different +direction, with a comrade of the name of Coetzee, the first man having +had enough of the dangerous game. This time their enterprise was +crowned with success, and they were able to join a Boer commando under +General Louis Botha, but not before they had gone through an adventure +which might have cost them their lives. + +They were captured by the Boers under Acting Commandant Badenhorst and +detained as British spies, all protestations of their innocence +proving futile, until Mr. Naudé informed the Commandant that he had +with him dispatches for General Botha. + +Commandant Badenhorst demanded to see them. + +He refused, saying that they were private documents for the +Commandant-General, and that he was not at liberty to deliver them to +any one else. + +His word was accepted, and he was sent to the High Veld with a guard +of men on foot to escort him to the General. + +The want of horses proved to be a serious drawback and hardship to +these men, so they determined to provide themselves with horses, of +the very best, and appointed Mr. Naudé as their leader. + +Instead of proceeding straight to the High Veld, these enterprising +and resourceful young fellows retraced their steps to the vicinity of +the Pretoria West Station, where Mr. Naudé knew that the enemy kept a +number of magnificent horses for the use of officers only. + +With infinite caution they approached the spot, keeping under cover +until they were well within rifle-range of the men on guard. The +movements of the latter were stealthily watched, and it was observed +that the guard, consisting of two men, well armed, walked up and down +before the stables in which the horses were kept. Meeting at a certain +point, they turned abruptly and retraced their steps in the opposite +direction, until they reached the limit of their beat and turned +again. + +Mr. Naudé's plans were quickly made, and his commands given below his +breath. + +There was to be no bloodshed, he said. The thing could easily be done +without, if his instructions were well carried out. + +Two of the men were ordered to level their guns at one of the guard +when he had nearly reached the point farthest from his comrade, while +the others stormed the stables. + +It was the work of a few moments. + +The first thing the unfortunate guard knew was that he was looking +straight into the barrels of two guns. + +Not a word was said on either side. + +Those glittering rifles, held by unseen, steady hands, flashed the +unspoken challenge, "Give the alarm, and you are a dead man." + +The guard stood still as if rooted to the spot. + +Swiftly and silently Mr. Naudé, with his few men, approached and +entered the stables, cut loose the halters of the animals, and +stampeded from the place. + +And yet the guard stood still, transfixed by the unerring aim of those +two deadly implements. + +A moment more and every man was provided with a steed, another moment +and they tore across the veld in mad, exultant flight, while behind +them the shots rang out and the bullets fell beside them in the grass. + +Eleven horses in all! Noble thoroughbreds, well trained and sensitive +to voice and touch. + +No fear of cruel treatment from your captors, beautiful steeds! The +life you are entering upon may be full of hardship for you, but it +will be free and wild, and you will be tended with all care and +gentleness. These men are brave and strong, and it is only the +cowardly and weak who would inflict on you one single unnecessary +pain. + +Serve your new masters well. + +Be swift and sure when Death is on their track. + +God only knows what the future holds for them of suffering and woe. + + * * * * * + +Not on foot, but riding like lords, these men reached General Botha's +force, and the two men Naudé and Coetzee, being among the only +burghers on commando familiar with the route through the British +lines, were thereafter employed by minor officers to travel backwards +and forwards to the capital. At first their work consisted only of +helping other burghers to escape, but as time went on their duties +became more complicated and hazardous. There were countless +commissions to fulfil and information to be obtained on every +imaginable question. + +The need of a body of organised men in town began to be felt more +strongly in the field, and it was Captain Naudé who introduced the +system of employing a set of reliable burghers as spies in the heart +of the enemy. + +For this purpose he once again went to Pretoria with the list of names +of the men he wished to interview. + +Mr. Botha was the first he approached, and the former was only half +pleased when he heard that, instead of the escape from British martial +law, for which he had been keeping himself in readiness so long, he +was commanded to remain in Pretoria as the head of a body of Secret +Service men. + +He protested vehemently, but his objections were overruled by the +argument brought forward by Naudé, a consideration for the state of +his health. This was certainly a point which carried weight. He +consented, and the names of the other men to be appointed as his +co-operators were submitted to him for approval: + +C.P. Hattingh, G. Els, W. Bosch, and J. Gillyland, a body of five men, +which we shall know in future by the name of "the Secret Committee." + +The Secret Service of the Boers was now well established, and could +not have been entrusted into hands more capable, more undaunted, or +more faithful. + +Captain Naudé had in the meantime earned distinction for himself as +the bravest and most enterprising emissary employed in the field. He +was placed by General Botha at the head of a corps of scouts, +including the men who had captured the British remounts, and it is on +the foundation of his adventures as captain of this body of men that +this story is built. + + * * * * * + +We now turn to Mr. Botha and his first visit to Harmony. + +It seems that Mrs. van Warmelo was one morning, during her daughter's +absence at Irene, surprised by the appearance of a stranger at her +house. + +He introduced himself as Mr. Willem Botha and handed a card to Mrs. +van Warmelo, the card of her friend Mrs. Pieter Maritz Botha, on which +were written the following words, "You may trust the bearer as you +would myself." + +No other introduction was necessary. + +Mrs. P.M. Botha, sister of Sir David Graaf, whose striking personality +and unique experiences throughout the war would alone fill a big book, +was one of Mrs. van Warmelo's dearest friends. + +Any one coming from her to Harmony could depend upon a hearty welcome. + +Mrs. van Warmelo looked at her visitor with her keen and searching +eyes. + +He was short of stature and carried a little walking-stick for +support, and his eyes, when they looked into yours, were shrewd, +humorous, and true as steel. + +A _great_ little man he was, and is to-day, God bless him! + +I stretch out my hands to him across these pages and clasp his in the +sympathy and understanding of what we went through together. True as +steel! Yes, that describes him well, for in all his dealings he was a +noble friend, an honourable foe. + +Fate had been hard on him in leaving him a helpless prisoner in the +hands of his enemies when his whole heart was with his brothers in the +field, but Providence was kind in giving him the power and opportunity +he required for serving land and people under circumstances as unique +as they were dangerous and difficult. + +From him Mrs. van Warmelo learnt of the existence of the Secret +Committee. + +No names were mentioned to her, but the general outline of their work +was described, and her assistance was invited in that branch of the +work which included the sending of dispatches to the President. + +Her fame as an exceedingly clever "smuggler" had evidently spread, and +if the plan of the White Envelope had been known to her visitor at the +time, he would no doubt have been even more satisfied with the result +of the visit. + + * * * * * + +That the Committee in Pretoria formed only a very small part of the +scheme of espionage all over South Africa I am well aware, but it is +with this particular Committee that we have to do, and a detailed +account of the work carried out by them will give the reader some idea +of the system generally employed by the Boers. + +Not with the foolhardy young spy who came into the capital to buy a +pound of sweets or a box of cigarettes, not with the reckless youth +who came in to spend a few days with his friend and to escort his +sweetheart to church on Sunday night, thereby increasing the +difficulties and danger of detection for his more earnest +fellow-countrymen, are we concerned in this book. + +These escapades were of such frequent occurrence, and were so well +known to many people in town, that it would have been dangerous in the +extreme to use them for serious purposes. + +From the earliest days of the occupation Pretoria was always full of +spies, and the English were aware of it, but, do what they would, they +could not prevent it. + +Although we always knew how things were going in the field, I do not +for a moment believe that the accounts of British reverses brought +unofficially in to town by the spies were always reliable, nor do I +sanction the reckless coming and going of irresponsible men. Alas, no! +too bitter have been the experiences of disastrous results brought +about by their thoughtlessness. + +The van Warmelos were warned from the beginning against having +dealings with them if they really wished to be of service to their +people, to which warning they owed their safety and the privilege of +being able to help their countrymen till the end of the war. General +Emmet, as prisoner in the Rest Camp, also sent a warning, saying that +General Botha had instructed him to tell Mrs. van Warmelo that her +name was known on commando. + +As time went on, Pretoria was being shut in more completely every day. +Blockhouses rose on every side; on the hills which lie around the +town searchlights played from commanding positions over many miles of +country, making darkest night as clear as noonday; barbed-wire fences +enclosed the entire capital, and outposts were on guard night and +day--with no avail! + +The spies glided in and out like serpents in the night, and some idea +of the hardships and perils they went through in order to achieve +their purpose will be given in this true story of the great Boer war, +some idea of the dangers to which their assistants in town were +exposed, and the part played by women and girls in the scheme of +espionage. + +I believe the events related here to be tame in comparison with some +of the risks incurred and heroism displayed by other Boer women all +over South Africa, but we must confine ourselves strictly to Hansie's +diary, as it was written from day to day, before time could obliterate +the smallest detail from her memory. + +Hansie's diary with all the bitterness left out; Hansie's diary +without its sighs and tears, its ever-changing moods, and deep +emotions; Hansie's diary, shorn of all that makes it human, natural, +and real,--surely what is left of it must be tame and totally unworthy +of the original! + +And yet it needs must be! + +This book must be a calm, dispassionate review of the past, a +temperate recital of historical events as they took place, and, as +facts speak largely for themselves, I leave the details to be filled +in by the reader's imagination. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE FORMATION OF THE NATIONAL SCOUTS CORPS + + +If what theosophists say be true, that thoughts are living forces, +then it seems to me that the subtle power and influence of a national +maxim must be far-reaching and powerful in its effect on the national +mind. + +Of this we had ample proof as the war proceeded. + +With "Might is right" working ceaselessly in a hundred thousand +brains, some people in South Africa and England began to believe that +might _was_ right, and with "All is fair in love and war" held up by +the united force of a million minds, is it to be wondered at that +anything and everything seemed justified under martial law? And yet, +when we come to think of it, how pernicious and demoralising the +effect of such maxims must be on the public in general and the +uneducated mind in particular. Under its influence a nation may +become, in times of war, dishonourable and treacherous, may be dragged +from one abyss of degradation to another, deeper than the last, until +all self-respect is gone and the voice of conscience is silenced for +ever. + +Well may we guard against this growing evil in South Africa! Well may +we keep our national mottoes pure! + +I do believe that the Dutch South African saying, "Geduld en moed, +alles sal reg kom" ("Patience and courage, everything will right +itself"), is responsible to a great extent for the South African +indifference to duty. It was first spoken by President Brand, of the +Orange Free State, no doubt in all thoughtlessness of what it might +lead to, for no one could have foreseen that the first part, "Geduld +en moed," would fall into disuse and be forgotten, because these good +qualities do not come easily to men, and the second, "Alles sal reg +kom," would be made an excuse for a sort of lazy optimism, by which +anything could be justified which comes easiest to us at the moment. + +"Alles sal reg kom," yes, but not if we shirk our responsibilities. +"Alles sal reg kom" if we are true, staunch, and honourable, if with +perseverance and patient endurance we fulfil our duty when its demands +upon us are most exacting and difficult. + +Rightly interpreted, this popular saying would have been a strong +support to the Boers at a time when they were assailed by the fiercest +temptation, and this brings us to the subject with which this short +chapter deals. + +We were frequently told during the war that it was Lord Kitchener's +policy to procure the services of as many members of the opposing +forces as could be persuaded, for material considerations, to take up +arms against their fellow countrymen, a policy which he had often +employed in other countries and to which he owed much of his success. +This may or may not have been the case in previous wars in which he +had taken a leading part, but in the great South African war this +policy was crowned with undoubted success, in the formation of the +National Scouts Corps. + +The thought has occurred to me that the words "National Scout" may +convey nothing to my English reader. + +Would to God that it conveyed nothing to us either! + +It will be necessary to explain. The first downward step to becoming a +National Scout was the voluntary surrendering of arms to the enemy, to +become a "handsupper," as the burghers were called, who laid down +their arms while the Boer leaders were still in the field. + +There were three kinds of handsuppers; first, men who, through a +mistaken sense of duty, surrendered themselves to the enemy, in order +to bring the war to a speedy termination and so to save the women and +children from further suffering; second, the men who, wearied of the +strife, became hopeless and despondent and only longed for peace, +indifferent as to who should prove to be the victor in the field; and +third, the men who, through their lust for gain, fell an easy prey to +the temptations offered them in gold and spoil by the enemy, +surrendering their trusty Mausers in exchange for the Lee Metfords of +the enemy, with whom they thereafter stood, side by side, in infernal +warfare against kith and kin. To the latter class of handsuppers the +National Scouts, better known throughout the war as "Judas-Boers," +belonged. In most cases they were first employed by the enemy as +"Cattle Rangers," to gather in the livestock from the farms and +protect them from recapture by the Boer commandos. The next step +downwards followed as a matter of course, active service against their +brother burghers. + +A few months after the occupation of Pretoria the first public meeting +was held in the Rex Bar, now known as the Lyceum Theatre, on Church +Square ("under the Oaks"), for the purpose of recruiting National +Scouts from the ranks of the burghers in Pretoria. Many prominent men +attended this meeting, which, it will be remembered, was presided over +by a distinguished British officer. These men went, not to become +members of the National Scouts Corps, but to ask a certain question +when the right moment arrived--and then they rose with one accord. +"What about our oath of neutrality?" They were told that the oath of +neutrality need not disturb any one who wished to join the ranks of +the enemy; it would be nullified by the oath of allegiance, and was +declared to be "a mere formality." The noblest motives for uniting +their strength to that of the enemy, in the endeavour "to restore +peace to the land," were laid before the burghers of the Transvaal. +Not only would the helpless inmates of the Concentration Camps be +spared further suffering, but the deplorable loss of life of men on +both sides in the field would cease. + +Then too, the pay was a consideration not to be despised in days of so +much hardship and privation. Large sums were paid for the capture of +each brother burgher, and so liberal a share in the plunder brought +home by them that there are, at the present time, well-to-do farmers, +poor before the war, now flourishing and well known in their districts +as successful "pocket patriots."[1] + +The National Scouts became a strong and well-organised body of men, +versed in all the arts of Boer warfare, familiar with the country--a +dangerous and treacherous addition to the difficulties with which the +faithful burghers were beset. + +It must be clearly understood that there can be no comparison between +the act of the men who, when condemned to death, saved themselves by +turning King's evidence and the treachery of the men who, voluntarily +and for greed of gold, took up arms against their fellow-countrymen. +Under the impulse of fear men may be guilty of a crime for which they +may have to do penance with lifelong remorse, and for these we may +feel pity, even if we do not understand and cannot enter into the +cowardly weakness by which they were driven to betray their comrades. +But in the case of the National Scouts there were no extenuating +circumstances except perhaps that the greater responsibility rested on +the men who paid in dross for the dishonour of their fellow-creatures. + +It was the public recruiting of National Scouts from amongst the +burghers who had taken the oath of neutrality that first induced the +Boers who remained true to their cause to use their influence in +bringing the war to an end. But they determined to assist their +fellow-countrymen, not the enemy, and when the call came from the +field they were found ready to depart for active service or willing to +devote themselves to secret service in the towns, as the case may be. +I may say here that the appointment of the Secret Committee did not at +any time bear an official character. + +Although the Boer leaders knew of its existence and made use of +information conveyed through the members, they did not approve of the +work of espionage being carried on in the towns, because of the great +danger to which it exposed the women and the needless risks incurred +by the men. + +The Secret Service of the Boers was not confined to the burghers. In +every department of importance there were British subjects in the +employment of the Boers, especially in that part connected with the +registration of names of the men who joined the National Scouts. + +From every part of the Transvaal the names and addresses of Boers +joining the English were sent to British head-quarters in Pretoria, +these lists being again conveyed to Captain Naudé, who passed them on +to Boer head-quarters in the field. + +There was no break in this part of the Boer espionage until the war +came to an end. + +In the Burgher Camps Department, as the head-quarters of the +Concentration Camps in Pretoria were called, there were men at work +for us too, men who by smuggling through statistics of the high +mortality and other facts connected with the Camps, strengthened the +hands of the pro-Boers in England and acquainted the world with the +real state of affairs even before the Blue books could appear. + +Towards the latter end of the war thousands of burghers had succumbed +to their temptations, and the appalling increase of the Scouts Corps +preyed on the minds of the Boer leaders more than any other calamity. +Everything that ingenuity could devise was tried to stop the burghers +from sinking deeper into degradation, members of the Scouts Corps, +when captured by the Boers, being executed without mercy and their +fate made known far and wide. + +Hell was indeed let loose in South Africa and every man's hand was +turned against his brother. The worst passions of mankind rose to the +surface, were deliberately played upon, making havoc of every +tradition of country and race. + +In the towns, where the renegades felt themselves comparatively safe +under the protection of the British troops, their work was carried on +quite openly. It would not be possible to describe the feelings of the +faithful Boers when they contemplated this hideous aspect of the war. + +Many futile efforts were made to stem the tide of crime, but it was a +woman in Pretoria who devised a plan which would undoubtedly have +struck terror to the hearts of many waverers had it been put to +practice by the Boer leaders, after she had successfully carried it +out. + +At her instance a trusted mechanic, working secretly at dead of night, +made half a dozen tiny branding-irons in the form of a cross, to be +used for branding the traitors between the eyes, when captured +red-handed. This drastic measure was, however, not resorted to. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: "Zak-patriotten."] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A CONSIGNMENT OF EXPLOSIVES + + +The following story was related to Hansie by her mother soon after her +return from the Irene Camp, and must be repeated here for its +connection with subsequent events. + +One afternoon in June Mrs. van Warmelo had been visited by a young +friend, Miss F., with a man whom she introduced as her brother, an +unexpected arrival from Europe. + +"Indeed!" Mrs. van Warmelo exclaimed. "What a delightful surprise it +must have been to you!" + +"Yes, but he is leaving again very, very soon. In fact"--here Miss +F.'s manner became mysterious--"he is here on a mission and we shall +see very little of him." + +Mrs. van Warmelo expressed her regret at this, and the conversation +naturally turned to the general topic, the war. + +Leading questions were put to Mrs. van Warmelo, and she felt that her +assistance was required for some purpose or other; but being too +discreet to invite her visitors' confidence, she waited. + +After beating about the bush a good deal, Miss F. remarked: + +"You know the Zoutpansberg District very well, do you not?" + +"Yes," Mrs. van Warmelo answered; "we lived there formerly." + +"Then you will perhaps know trustworthy people in Pietersburg, people +on whom one can thoroughly rely in these days." + +Mrs. van Warmelo answered hesitatingly: + +"Yes--there is one, at least, on whom I can depend." + +"Would there be much risk and difficulty in communicating with General +Botha through such a person?" Miss F. inquired. + +"General Botha!" Mrs. van Warmelo exclaimed. "But he is not in the +north. He is on the High Veld, somewhere south-east of Transvaal, and +much easier to communicate with than if he had been in Zoutpansberg." + +"How could one get a message through to him?" Miss F. asked, and her +hostess decided to beat about the bush no longer. + +"Do you not think it would be better to trust me and tell me what you +wish to do? I would be better able to answer and help you." + +Miss F. then turned to her brother and said: + +"Mrs. van Warmelo is quite right. Tell her everything." Upon which the +young man explained that he had been sent out on a secret mission +connected with a consignment of dynamite which lay buried on the +eastern frontier. News had been received in Europe that there was a +dearth of explosives and, consequently, a temporary cessation of +adventures on the railway lines, and it was for the purpose of +communicating the fact that this consignment had arrived that he had +travelled to Pretoria via the East Coast and over Durban. How to get +into touch with some reliable person in Pretoria who was in direct +communication with the Boer forces had been his greatest problem, and +he was grateful indeed for Mrs. van Warmelo's guarded promise of +assistance. + +"I cannot tell you anything now," she said, "but if you will leave the +matter in my hands I promise that you will hear from me to-morrow +morning." + +Mr. F. then told her that he had brought with him a small quantity of +the dynamite, made up into two separate parcels, non-explosive apart, +but dangerous when mixed together in a certain way. He had been +deputed to instruct the Boers how to mix these ingredients. + +He had with him, too, a large prospecting hammer, the long handle of +which was bound with leather and closely studded with nails. But the +handle was _hollow_ and contained a number of detonators, to be sent +out to the Boers for blowing up trains and for damaging the railway +lines and bridges. One other article of interest he had brought with +him, a huge Parisian hat for his sister, and he told Mrs. van Warmelo +how the polite inspector of goods on the frontier had held the lovely +headpiece up, admiring the pink roses nestling in black lace and +chiffon, and little dreaming that he was handling many yards of +dynamite fuse. + +"A lovely hat!" he exclaimed when he put it back into the box, without +having noticed the _weight_, which alone would have betrayed it to any +one familiar with ladies' headgear. + +Early next morning Mrs. van Warmelo sallied forth to the house of her +confederate, Mr. Willem Botha, at the other end of the town. He +listened to her story attentively and said, "There are spies in town +at this very moment, and they are leaving for the General's commando +to-night." + +This was good news indeed, and Mrs. van Warmelo immediately made an +appointment with Mr. Botha to meet Mr. F. at Harmony that afternoon. + +On her way home she called at Miss F.'s house, informing her of the +appointment. + +That afternoon at Harmony a map was closely studied by the two men and +the exact spot pointed out where the dynamite lay buried, while Mrs. +van Warmelo packed the detonators one by one in cotton wool in a small +box, which was conveyed to Mr. Hattingh's house, where the spies were +being harboured. In the meantime the entire crown and brim of the +lovely Parisian hat had been unpicked, and that night the dynamite +fuse, wound closely round the body of a spy, went out to the +commandos, with the small box of detonators. + +Soon after this Mr. F. returned to Europe as he had come, via Natal +and Delagoa Bay, well satisfied that his mission should have been +accomplished with so much ease. + +What became of the sample of dynamite my reader will see in the next +chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE FIRST INTERVIEW WITH SPIES, INTRODUCING TWO HEROES + + +Among other things, Mr. Willem Botha warned his friends at Harmony +against having a single incriminating document in the house. + +"Detection means death for all concerned," he said one day, "but +without written evidence the worst the enemy can do is to send you out +of the country or to a Concentration Camp. Destroy every paper of a +dangerous nature you may have, as I have done, and then you need never +feel anxious." + +This wise counsel was all very well, but Hansie had a mania for +"collecting," and she could not make up her mind to destroy what might +become a valuable relic of the war. + +She therefore had her diaries and white envelopes removed to some safe +hiding-place and began a new book for future use. + +In this book, in everyday pen and ink, she entered the ordinary events +of the day, but in another she wrote in lemon-juice her adventures +with the spies and all information of an incriminating character. Both +books lay open on her writing-table--the "White Diary," as she called +it, with its clean and spotless pages, with only here and there an +almost invisible mark to show how far she had got, and the misleading +record in pen and ink to throw the English off their guard in the +event of an unexpected search of the house. + +The white diary gave a sense of security and satisfaction at the +thought of the secrets it contained for future reference, and it was +only after eight years that portions of the writing became visible to +the naked eye. + +A few hours' exposure to the sun's rays, and the application of a hot +iron here and there, made it sufficiently legible to be rewritten word +for word, and it is to the existence of this diary that we owe our +accurate information of what otherwise would have been lost for ever. + +I may add here that it was only the re-reading of the White Diary +after so many years, and the surprising amount of half-forgotten +information Hansie found in it, that suggested the idea to her mind of +publishing its contents in the form of a story. + +It was on the morning of July 17th, 1901, that Mr. Botha was seen +coming up the garden path between the rows of orange trees at Harmony, +with his jauntiest air, by which it was evident that he was the bearer +of news from the front. Briefly he informed our heroines that two +spies had come in the previous night and wished to see Mrs. van +Warmelo about certain communications sent out by her to General Botha +a few weeks back. They were staying with Mrs. Joubert, widow of the +late Commandant-General P.J. Joubert, and were leaving again the next +night with dispatches. + +In the interview with them at 9 o'clock the next morning Hansie +made her first acquaintance with Captain Naudé, who plays the +principal part in the story here recorded, and whose courage and +resource gave him an unquestioned position of leadership. + + [Illustration: W.J. BOTHA] + +Good reader, do you know what it means to be an unwilling captive in +the hands of your enemy for more than a year, and then to find +yourself in the presence of men, healthy, brown, and hearty, _your own +men_, straight from the glorious freedom of their life in the veld? +Can you realise the sensation of shaking hands with them for the first +time and the atmosphere of wholesome unrestraint and unconscious +dignity which greeted you in their presence? Well, I do, and it would +be useless trying to tell any one what it is like, for those who know +will never forget, and those who don't will never understand. + +In Mrs. Joubert's drawing-room they were waiting for their visitors +next day, Captain Naudé and his private secretary, Mr. Greyling--the +former a tall, fair man, slightly built and boyish-looking and with a +noble, intelligent face, the latter a mere youth, but evidently shrewd +and brave. + +The first eager questions naturally were for news of Fritz, the +youngest of the van Warmelos and the last remaining in the field since +the capture of his brother Dietlof in April of that year. + +Mr. Greyling said that he had seen Fritz a few weeks back in perfect +health and in the best of spirits, but barefoot and in rags. His +trousers were so tattered that he might as well have been without, and +Mr. Greyling had provided him with another pair. With unkempt beard +and long hair he seemed to justify the jest about a "gorilla" war +with which some of our enemies amused themselves. + +When the merriment occasioned by this description of the young warrior +had subsided, the conversation turned on more serious matters. + +The Captain had with him a full report of the last conference held by +the generals, and a copy of the resolution passed by them and +President Steyn, a unanimous determination to stand together until +their independence had been secured. What the ultimate destination of +these documents was I am not at liberty to say, but copies of them +were despatched, smuggled through in one way or another to President +Kruger. + +Captain Naudé also brought greetings from General Botha and told Mrs. +van Warmelo how pleased the General had been with the news she had +sent him on a previous occasion. + +In order to explain the nature of the business which had brought the +Captain into Pretoria again, it will be necessary to turn our +attention for a moment to the matters referred to in the previous +chapter in connection with which he had once more risked the dangers +of a visit to the capital. + +"Yes," in answer to his inquiries, "the dynamite has arrived and is at +Delagoa Bay. A sample will be brought to this house to-day, with +instructions for mixing it." + +This was glad news for the two men, and Hansie soon after took her +leave, promising to come back in the course of the morning with the +dynamite. + +Her manner was rather mysterious, and she took some unnecessary turns, +to make sure of not being followed, before she reached the house +where the dangerous article had been hidden. There a brown-paper +parcel was handed to her with a brief, "Read the instructions and +destroy them," and she was left alone in a quiet drawing-room. + +On opening the parcel she found a small bottle of yellowish powder, +ostensibly a remedy for colic, to be used in the way prescribed, and a +pot of paste purporting to be an excellent salve for chapped hands. +The two, when mixed together in a certain way, made up one pound of +dynamite and had passed safely through the hands of the inspector of +goods on the frontier. + +As Hansie was cycling back to Mrs. Joubert's house with her precious +parcel, she had to pass the Military Governor's offices on Church +Square, and the thought occurred to her that this was a fitting +opportunity to interview General Maxwell regarding her tour of +inspection to the Concentration Camps, and at the same time to procure +a permit for the Vocal Society to hold a charity concert. + +"Why not go in now?" she thought. "There is some fun in going to see +the Governor with one pound of dynamite in one's hands, and it would +save me the trouble of coming into town again. Another thing: if I +_am_ being watched or followed, I am sure there can be nothing like a +visit to Government Buildings to disarm the most suspicious." + +Arrived at the Governor's office, she noticed with some amusement that +the urchin at the door wrote on the card, under her name, "Nature of +business: permission _to have a consort_." (This was indeed to come +later!) + +The German Consul was engaged with General Maxwell and Hansie had a +long time to wait, and when at last she was shown in she found the +affable Governor in a very bad temper and his A.D.C., Major Hoskins, +looking anything but comfortable. + +The former shook hands and greeted her with a curt, "Well, what is the +matter with you now?" + +"That is very unkind of you, General," she said. + +"Why?" he demanded. + +"Oh, because it sounds as if I trouble you every day." + +"Well," he answered, smiling slightly, "what can I do for you?" + +"That's better, thank you," exclaimed Hansie cheerfully, and +straightway plunged into business. + +With her mind dwelling on explosives and Secret Service men, she +reminded him of a promise he had given her soon after her return from +the Irene Camp, that she should visit all the Camps in the Transvaal +and write reports for him, to be sent to London if necessary, for +publication in the Blue books. + +"I have come to arrange with you about my tour," she said. + +"Yes," he answered. "I have thought about it and will give you the +necessary permits and every facility. You will travel at Government +expense, and I will do all I can to make your way easy, on one +condition. You must promise to give me a full and true report of +things exactly as you find them." + +Hansie was deeply touched by his confidence in her truth, which she +knew was not misplaced, and gladly gave the promise he asked from her. + +"What you are undertaking," he continued, "will not only be +difficult, but dangerous. The accommodation in the Camps will probably +be very bad, and what would you think of a charge of dynamite under +your train?" + +Hansie glanced down at the parcel on her lap and said something about +thinking she would risk it. + +The conversation was taking an unexpected turn, and she longed to get +away, but the Governor still had much to say to her. + +"You can safely visit all the Camps except those in the north, in the +Zoutpansberg and Waterberg districts, and the one in Potchefstroom." +("Boers ahead!" was Hansie's mental comment.) "And I don't think you +ought to go alone. Have you thought of any one who could accompany +you?" + +"Yes," Hansie replied. "A friend of mine, Mrs. Stiemens, who nursed +with me at Irene, would like to go with me. She is the right woman for +such an undertaking, strong and healthy and very cheerful." + +This suggestion meeting with the Governor's approval, it was arranged +that they should visit the camp at Middelburg first, and while they +were preparing for the tour he would notify their visit to the various +commandants and arrange about the permits. + +Permission to hold a concert was instantly granted, and she was on the +point of leaving, when he asked her whether she had heard of President +Steyn's narrow escape. + +Yes, she had heard something, but would like to know more about it. + +With evident enjoyment he proceeded to relate how the President had +slept in Reitz, a small, deserted village in the Free State, with +twenty-seven men, how they had stabled their horses and made +themselves generally comfortable for the night, how they were +surrounded and surprised by the English, who took all their horses +before the alarm could be given, how the President escaped on a small +pony, which was standing unnoticed in the back yard, and how all the +other men were captured, General Cronjé (the second), General Wessels, +General Fraser, and many other well-known and prominent men. The +President must have fled in the open in nothing but a shirt, because +all his clothes and even his boots were left behind. In his pockets +were many valuable letters and documents. + +Altogether this event must have given the English great joy, but I +think they forgot it in their chagrin at the President's escape, for +when Hansie openly rejoiced and blessed the "small unnoticed pony," +expressing her great admiration for the brave President, the Governor +suddenly turned crusty again and said he could not understand how any +one could admire a man who had been the ruin of his country. + +"Poor old General!" Hansie mused as she cycled slowly up to Mrs. +Joubert's house, where the spies were waiting for her. "I have never +known him so quarrelsome and unkind. I wonder what it could have been! +The German Consul's visit or the President's escape? What a mercy that +he knew nothing of----" She cycled faster, suddenly remembering that +it was late and there was still much to do before the two men could +begin their perilous journey that night. + +After she had handed the parcel over to them, with verbal +instructions for its use, she bade them good-bye and went home to +lunch. + +That evening Mrs. van Warmelo took important documents, of which we +speak later, and European newspaper cuttings to the Captain, with some +money for her tattered son, and a letter for him in a disguised hand. +No names were mentioned, and in the event of the spies falling into +the hands of the enemy, nothing found on them could have incriminated +any one. + +They were about to leave when she arrived at Mrs. Joubert's house. + +Their preparations were conducted in perfect silence, except for an +occasional whispered command, while outside, guard was kept by an +alert figure, slender and upright, the figure of the aged hostess of +the spies, who, it is said, was never visible to the spies and never +slept by day or night as long as these men were being sheltered under +her roof. + +A brave and dauntless woman she was, knowing no fear for herself, but +filled with concern for the fate of the men whose capture meant +certain death, for it was whispered in town that on the head of Koos +Naudé, Captain of the Secret Service, a price of £1,000 had been +fixed. + +The men left Pretoria that night for the "nest" of the spies in the +Skurvebergen, west from Pretoria, and from there they proceeded to +where they expected to find the Generals. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE CASE OF SPOELSTRA + + +There were so many events of importance during the month of July 1901 +that there is great difficulty in choosing the right material from +Hansie's diary. + +No wonder that that period seems to have been in a state of chaos, for +the things to which we attached the greatest importance "ended in +smoke," and seemingly small incidents assumed gigantic proportions +before the glorious spring broke over the country. + +Hansie was busy preparing for her tour of inspection through the +Camps, though to tell the truth she rather dreaded it, because she was +far from strong, but she realised that this was an opportunity not to +be despised. + +General Maxwell frequently impressed it on her that she was the only +exception, that no one else who had applied for leave to visit the +Camps had been granted permits--it was against the regulations, and he +was only sending her because he knew he could depend upon her. He +wanted to know _the truth_, and she, with her knowledge of the country +and people, would be better able to draw up reports than any one else +he knew. + +Very flattering, but Hansie's heart sank when she thought of Irene. + +What awaited her on this tour? + +On July 27th, when she paid him her last visit in connection with her +passports, he asked her, as she was on the point of leaving him, +whether she did not think the Boers ought to surrender now. + +Now, Hansie had firmly made up her mind not to be drawn into argument +with him again, but this question took her so much by surprise that +she flared out with: + +"Don't you think the English ought to give in? Why should the Boers +give in? We are fighting for our own, and England is fighting for what +belongs to another. Why should England not give in?" + +With some asperity he answered: + +"I suppose it is a question of 'Eendracht maakt Macht,' or whatever +you call it." + +"Eendracht maakt Macht?" she exclaimed. "I really fail to see the +connection." + +"Well," he answered, "isn't Might _Right_ all the world over?" + +"No, indeed!" she cried vehemently. "Might is right in England, and +your motto is an apt one, but in South Africa might is _not_ right. +_Our_ motto, 'Eendracht maakt Macht,' means 'Unity is Strength.'" + +The General seemed much surprised and did not look pleased at her +assurance that he had been misinformed as to the correct +translation--he had been told on "good authority" that the Boer motto +was the same as the English. + +"If might had been right," she continued, "the war would have been +over long ago--our poor little forces would have been crushed--but +unity is glorious strength, an _inspired_ strength." + +Alas, alas, that she was so soon to find out how a want of unity can +bring disaster and defeat! + +"It is very stupid to argue with him. Surely he cannot expect to find +my views changing on account of the duration of the war!" + +Now, whether this unfortunate conversation had anything to do with the +next developments I do not know. I do not _think_ so, for the Governor +was a broadminded and just man, not to be deterred from his purpose by +any small consideration, but the fact remains that Hansie received a +curt note from him four days later, informing her that he had changed +his mind about allowing her to inspect the Camps, and that all her +permits had been cancelled. No word of apology or regret, but a curt +request to return to him the passports and letters of introduction she +had received from him. + +"Serves you right," her mother said, "for showing your enemy your +hand." + +"Oh no," Hansie said, "I am positive that has nothing to do with it; +in fact, I don't believe General Maxwell is responsible for this at +all. He is acting under orders, and if I am not mistaken Lord +Kitchener is at the bottom of it. _He_ has put down that awful foot of +his, mother, and there is nothing more to be done." + +"Perhaps"--Mrs. van Warmelo looked grave--"perhaps they have found out +something. I have often wondered at finding myself still at large +after the commotion made about the petitions and the report of the +Consuls. I can't forget how critical things seemed to me when three +Consuls came to Harmony late at night, while you were at Irene, to +warn me that the whole detective force was on the track of the +petitioners. Poor Mr. Cinatti was frightfully excited and said that it +was his duty to see that his petitioners' names did not become known. +He warned me that everything would be done to find us out, traps would +be set for us, and he advised me, if ever any one came to Harmony and +said that my name had been revealed, I was to say No! No!! No!!! and +he danced about the room, striking his left hand with his clenched +right fist at every 'No!'" + +Hansie laughed and said, "There is no fear of your being found out. +The petitioners won't talk of that, you may be quite sure, and all the +Consuls are to be trusted." + +"What are you going to do about this?" her mother asked, touching the +General's note. + +"Oh, I am going to wait a few days to make him 'feel bad' and then, I +suppose, I must return my passports to him." + +She waited three days, and then the General's behaviour strengthened +her in her belief that he was not to blame for the shabby way in which +he had treated her. + +He was most penitent, begged her to forgive him for having caused her +so much inconvenience, and said he had been "very weak" in +entertaining the idea of her visiting the Camps. + +They talked about certain improvements which Hansie had suggested, and +on which she had intended to lay much stress in her reports. + +He promised that everything in his power would be done to arrest the +high mortality, and, encouraged by his sympathetic attitude, she +pleaded for "poor Middelburg." + +"I have just been told that there were 503 deaths in that Camp during +last month [July]. Can that be possible?" + +"I am afraid it is only too true," he answered, sighing heavily. "The +people on the High Veld are very badly off during this bitter +weather." + +"Will you allow me to send the warm clothing and blankets which I +intended to distribute in the Camps?" she asked. + +"Certainly, the more the better. Every facility will be afforded you +in this." + +Hansie felt happier after this conversation with the Governor, more +convinced that something would be done to alleviate the sufferings in +the Camps. + + * * * * * + +Now, if our heroine had been allowed to carry out her tour of +inspection, she would have been out of "mischief's way" for many +months, and much of what I am about to relate would not have taken +place at all. + +"Fair play is bonny play," and a breach of faith is bound, at some +time or other, to be followed by undesirable consequences. + +Hansie made up her mind to serve her country in another, perhaps +better way, and in this she was assisted by the resistless hand of +Fate, as we shall see in the following chapters. + +That she was never "caught" is a marvel indeed, for she was most +reckless of danger. + +There were a number of intimate and trusted friends with whom she came +into frequent contact, but who had no idea of the work which was being +carried on at Harmony. + +To these friends, however, she went with her "reliable war news" (more +especially news brought into town by the spies, of the Boer victories) +when anything of importance became known, and in time her friends +found out that her news could always be depended upon as reliable +indeed, although they had no inkling of the source whence it had been +derived. There was danger of her becoming altogether too "cocksure," +when she was one day pulled up sharply by the following occurrence: + +Captain Naudé was in town again, was, if I remember rightly, under her +very roof, when she visited a man for whom she entertained feelings of +great affection and esteem, with the object of gladdening his heart +with news of a particularly gratifying nature from the front. + +He listened attentively, he asked a number of questions, nodding with +the greatest satisfaction at her direct and definite replies. + +"I must go," Hansie exclaimed suddenly, "I only came in for a few +moments. We have to see some friends off to-night." + +"Ah! Just wait a minute, please, will you?" + +He hastened from the room, returning shortly with a parcel which he +placed in her hands without a word. + +"What is this?" she asked curiously. + +"Five pounds of the best Boer tobacco." + +"For me?" in amazement. + +He approached her and whispered in her ear: + +"For the spy!" + +Hansie fled from that house, laughing as she went, and patting her +parcel of tobacco rapturously. + +"Oh, mother, wasn't it funny of him?" + +"Yes, but when will you learn to be more careful? Hansie, you are +frightfully reckless. You will not listen to reason, I suppose, until +we find ourselves across the border and Harmony confiscated!" + +The Captain was delighted with the present and willingly added the +extra five pounds weight to his cumbrous and heavy burdens. + + * * * * * + +Somebody, leaving the country for Holland, offered to take documents +and letters from the van Warmelos to the President on condition that +they could guarantee that he would not be "found out." + +This offer came at a most opportune moment, for there was information +of the greatest importance to be sent to Mr. W.T. Stead. + +For some weeks past Mrs. van Warmelo had been anxious to smuggle +through to him copies of the two petitions to the Consuls and a copy +of their report on the Concentration Camps. For this the White +Envelope was not considered satisfactory enough--the documents were +too bulky and the post during those days not to be depended upon. + +The information, therefore, was written on tissue paper (the usual +method) and packed in a small bottle of Dr. Williams's Pink Pills, to +be handed to a relative of Mrs. van Warmelo's in Holland, with +instructions that he should read the contents and forward them without +delay to Mr. Stead for publication in the _Review of Reviews_. + +The "medicine" was faithfully delivered in Holland, but alas! the +recipient, with unheard-of presumption, after having read the +documents, decided in his own mind that they were not of sufficient +importance to be published in London and quietly kept them to himself! + +Kept them to himself, at a time when their publication to the world +would have been of inestimable value to the Boers and would perhaps +have saved thousands of lives! + +Of course this breach of trust was not known at Harmony for many +months--not, in fact, until so long after it took place that the war +was drawing to a close, and it was too late to repeat the attempt. + +When one thinks that but for one man's indifference to duty the report +of the Consuls would have been published in London at a time when all +England was shaken with the revelations made by Miss Hobhouse and the +agitation of the pro-Boers was at its height, then one cannot help +realising the futility of fighting against Fate. + +Not yet had the time of salvation arrived for the victims of the +Concentration Camps--not yet--not until the toll of life had been paid +to the uttermost. + +Other schemes for supplying that section of the British public, +desirous of being acquainted with _the truth_, with trustworthy +information from South Africa, met with greater success, and I relate +the following instance for the sake of the interesting circumstances +connected with it, not for its own sake, for obvious reasons. + +Many of my readers will remember the case of Mr. Spoelstra, a +Hollander, which caused such a commotion in the Transvaal during the +war. + +He wrote a long letter for publication in Holland on the hardships and +ill-treatment to which the Boer women were subjected in transit from +their farms to the Concentration Camps, by the soldiers (chiefly, I +may mention here, the Canadian Scouts and Australian Bushrangers, who +were, however, all regarded as British soldiers, these distinctions +not being sufficiently clear to the average South African). + +This lengthy document Spoelstra confided to the care of a man who was +about to leave for Holland. + +On the borders of Natal, the man, on being cross-questioned by the +inspector of goods, became so confused and agitated that he brought +suspicion on himself, with the result that he was detained while his +luggage was thoroughly overhauled. + +The unfortunate letter was found, Spoelstra was arrested and +immediately imprisoned in the Pretoria Jail. + +The Dutch Consul, Mr. Domela Nieuwenhuis, on being appealed to, +insisted on a public trial, which was granted after some delay, +Spoelstra being allowed three days in which to procure his witnesses, +_in Pretoria_ and in the small Camp in one of the suburbs, _not_ in +Irene. + +Notwithstanding the shortness of the time and the restrictions placed +upon him, he succeeded in getting nearly thirty women to give evidence +on his behalf, and at his trial, which was publicly held, revelations +of a very startling nature were made. + +The greatest indignation was felt and freely expressed by the Dutch +community when, in spite of having proved his accusations beyond a +doubt, Spoelstra was fined £100 and sentenced to one year's +imprisonment. + +The fine was immediately paid by his friends. + +Now, there was a brave Englishwoman, Mrs. Bodde, married to a +Hollander, who was shortly leaving for England, who offered her +services to Mrs. van Warmelo if the latter wished to make the +circumstances of the case known to Mr. Stead. This was an exceedingly +plucky thing to do, for the examinations on the frontier were much +more severe than usual, after the discovery of Spoelstra's letter. +Mrs. van Warmelo therefore promised to take extra precautions in +concealing the articles she wished to send. After a great deal of +trouble she succeeded in getting a full report of the Spoelstra trial, +sixty large pages of closely typed evidence on tissue paper, and with +this valuable material to dispose of Mrs. van Warmelo realised that it +would be necessary to exert the utmost ingenuity. + +She asked her friend Mrs. Bodde whether she would be taking a +lunch-basket. + +Certainly she would. + +"Well," Mrs. van Warmelo said, "I will give you something for your +lunch-basket, if you will promise not to open it until you get to +London." + +She promised, and Mrs. van Warmelo bought a tin of cocoa, a one-pound +tin, unfastened the paper wrapper carefully, then damped the paper +round the lid until it could be folded back without being damaged, +removed the lid and pulled out the paper bag containing the cocoa. +This bag she unfastened _at the bottom_, shook out fully two-thirds of +the cocoa and filled up the empty space with the tightly rolled packet +containing the documents, replacing the whole in the tin, cocoa side +up, of course, and pasting down the paper wrapper over the lid to make +it look like new. + +Although there was very little cocoa in the tin, it was found to weigh +exactly one pound as before. + +Arrangements were then made with Mrs. Bodde for her future +correspondence on the subject with Mrs. van Warmelo, and in due time +the latter received a note from Mrs. Bodde announcing her safe arrival +in London and saying that her friend Mrs. Brown (Mr. Stead) had +received her (the documents) with open arms. She was not going to live +in Mrs. Brown's house as she had intended (the documents would not be +published in the _Review of Reviews_), but she was going into a house +of her own (they would appear in pamphlet form). + +This was good news indeed, and now my readers know how it came about +that the sensational Spoelstra case was published in London in +pamphlet form (in three successive pamphlets, for the evidence was +found to be too bulky for one) during the war. The first pamphlet +reached Harmony in safety through the post, the second and third, +though duly dispatched, failed to reach their destination, but nobody +at Harmony minded. The great object had been achieved. + +Hansie, going to the post one day, took out of her letter-box a small +flat book, addressed to "Mrs. Wentworth, Box 56." + +She was about to throw it back into the Post Office, with "_not_ 56" +scribbled on it, when her eyes fell on the English postmark, Tunbridge +Wells, and she stayed her hand in time. + +Tunbridge Wells was the address of the brave Englishwoman, the great +pro-Boer, and the package when opened was found to contain a copy of +Methuen's _Peace or War in South Africa_, which was first "devoured" +at Harmony and by other people in Pretoria and was then sent out to +the commandos by the spies, to be read and reread by the burghers +until there was nothing left of it except a few tattered pages. + +Soon after the publication of the Spoelstra case there was some +excitement in Pretoria about the appearance in the _Westminster +Gazette_ of a long article on the Irene Concentration Camp. The +writer, who gave each detail with great accuracy, seemed to have +personal knowledge and experience of the Camp, and it was not +surprising that Hansie should have been taxed with it on every side. + +The Consuls spoke to her direct, advising her to be more careful of +her facts, and Mr. Cinatti, when she assured him of her innocence (?), +said with huge delight, in his funny, broken English: + +"Never mind, my dear little sing, you need not confess to _us_--but +are you good at guessing riddles?" + +"Not particularly." + +"Well, dis one won't trouble you much. What is dis? It is small and +oblong and white, and it was laid by a hen?" + +"An egg," Hansie answered innocently. + +He shouted with laughter. + +"Are you sure?" + +"Of course." + +"Well, we are just as sure dat Miss van Warmelo wrote dat article. And +if you want to see your work in print I'll bring it round dis very +afternoon." + +"I should like very much to see it," she replied. + +That afternoon, just before Mr. Cinatti was expected, Gentleman Jim +killed a big snake in his room, and Hansie, thinking to give her +funny friend a fright for misdoubting her word, "arranged" the corpse +on the steps of the front verandah, hiding the mutilated head under +the leaves of the violet plants. + +But the Consul came late, and other visitors before him heralded their +arrival by shrieks and jumps, to the great delight of the mischievous +girl. + +"You are a very pranky little sing," Mr. Cinatti said, flourishing the +_Westminster Gazette_ before her eyes, "and den you want us not to +believe dat you wrote dis." + +And indeed, when Hansie glanced through the article, she found it +difficult to maintain that she had not written it, for there were all +her "pet" cases of overcrowding and underfeeding, her statistics, and +the very terms she was in the habit of using when speaking of the +volunteer nurses. She called them a "set of agitators," in sarcastic +imitation of the Commandant's favourite expression. + +The only explanation to the affair could be that Mr. Stead, or perhaps +Mrs. Bodde, had made use of the facts contained in one of Hansie's +smuggled letters, and in that case she could naturally be held +responsible. She was advised by loving friends to keep her boxes ready +packed for a speedy departure, "for when the warning comes you will +not be allowed much time to pack." + +But she disregarded all warnings, except to take extra precautions for +the safety of her diary. + + [Illustration: GENTLEMAN JIM'S ROOM.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND! + + +It would be a simple matter for me to fill this volume many times by +relating the thrilling experiences and adventures of people unknown to +me personally and yet known sufficiently by intimate friends who +guarantee their truth and veracity, but this is not my intention in +writing this book. + +A brief outline, however, of the history of one of the principal +members of the Secret Committee, during the war, will not be out of +place here, because of his close connection with the "Petticoat +Commando." + +Mr. C.P. Hattingh, head keeper of the Government Buildings under the +South African Republic and deacon of the Dutch Reformed Church under +the Reverend Mr. Bosman, played the part of an honourable and staunch +burgher throughout the war, and rendered countless services to +destitute women and children, in addition to his strenuous labours on +the Secret Service. + +On the morning of June 5th, 1900, when it became evident beyond doubt +that the British would enter Pretoria that day, he removed the +Transvaal flag from Government Buildings and took it to his house for +safe keeping. + +To his surprise he was not asked at any time by the military what had +become of the Government flag, and he was able to keep it in safety +until his position on the Committee became precarious and made it +dangerous for him to preserve this precious relic of the past at his +own house any longer. + +He therefore secretly conveyed it to the house of a friend, Mr. Isaac +Haarhoff, whose wife carefully concealed it until the war was over, +and then handed it to him again. He gave it to General Botha, who +presented it to the Pretoria Museum, where it is now preserved and +exhibited as a priceless national memento. + +Mr. Hattingh took the oath of neutrality with the other burghers in +Pretoria and maintained his post in the Government Buildings for one +month after the occupation of the capital. He was then asked either to +take the oath of allegiance or resign from his post. + +He chose the latter alternative, although he had a wife and family to +support and knew not how, in time of war, he would find the means to +do so. + +After some deliberation he decided to begin a private bakery in a +small building behind his house, and then began what proved to be a +desperate struggle for existence. + +With Boer meal at £8 per bag and flour at £5 per hundred pounds, the +unfortunate man tried to make a small profit on the tiny sixpenny +loaves. There was no question of engaging hired help, and he was +obliged to work almost day and night in order to make the business +pay. Sometimes he had neither sleep nor rest for thirty hours at a +stretch except while partaking of his frugal fare. When flour became +even more scarce he had to augment his supply by mixing it with +mealie meal, ground sweet-potatoes, and barley, until, in fact, only +sufficient flour was used to keep the loaves from falling to pieces. + +By hard work he was not only able to pay his way, but assisted +relatives and friends in a similar predicament. + +As one of the deacons of the church, he came into constant touch with +the wives and families of fighting burghers, brought into town from +their devastated homes, and it was a common sight to see a row of +these unfortunates standing in his back-yard, holding dishes and +buckets containing their rations of meal and flour, which they +implored him to take in exchange for his ready-baked loaves, because +there was a dearth of fuel. + +Although their rations consisted of what had perhaps once been flour, +but was now a black and lumpy composition, evil-smelling and swarming +with vermin, the good man never disappointed his petitioners. + +His fame as a philanthropist spread, and the rows of women in his +back-yard increased. While engaged in serving them he listened to +their tales of hardship and privation, watched their suffering faces, +made mental notes of the harrowing details of each case. + +There was an epidemic of "black measles" going through the town at the +time in the overcrowded quarters of the "Boer refugees," as they were +called. Scarcely a mother appealed to him who had not lost one or more +children, in many cases all she possessed, within a few weeks. + +Now, Mr. Hattingh would no doubt have concerned himself with the +peaceful occupation of his bakery until the end of the war (for he +had his hands more than full), had his compassionate heart not been +wrung beyond endurance by the scenes he was forced to witness every +day. His conscience smote him and he reproached himself with being in +town when duty should have called him to the side of his +fellow-countrymen, struggling against such fearful odds in their +efforts to preserve their independence. + +Bitterness filled his soul. + +What religious and conscientious scruples he still had against +violating his oath of neutrality he laid before his most trusted +friends, to be met with the same answer everywhere, "The oath of +neutrality is null and void, a mere formality," as the enemy had +declared in connection with the recruiting of National Scouts from the +ranks of the Transvaal burghers. + +At this critical moment it was not to be wondered at that he should +have accepted Captain Naudé's appointment of him on the Secret +Committee, not only without hesitation, but in a spirit of intense +satisfaction. + +Henceforth the mind of the baker dwelt with ceaseless activity on the +problems of the Boer espionage, while his busy fingers plied the brown +and white loaves of bread. + +Inspired by patriotism, driven by love and compassion, he became in +time the most resourceful, the most ingenious, and the most trusted of +Boer spies. + +One evening, soon after dusk, while he was engaged in his bakery, he +heard a timid knock at the door, which he opened, fully expecting to +see a customer. + +To his surprise he found there a Boer with a long, unkempt beard--a +"backvelder," or, as we call it, a "takhaar," of the most pronounced +type. + +The man withdrew into the shadows as the door opened, and with great +apparent timidity showed as little of himself as possible. + +Mr. Hattingh asked him to come in, and he ventured forward with +shrinking hesitation. + +"What can I do for you?" Mr. Hattingh asked. + +"Take me in," the man answered breathlessly. "Harbour me. I am a Boer +spy, straight from the commandos." + +Mr. Hattingh betrayed the greatest amazement, as if he had never heard +of the possibility of such a thing. + +"A Boer spy!" he exclaimed. "How did you come in?" + +The man described the route he had taken, and in an instant Mr. +Hattingh, with his intimate knowledge of the actual route employed by +Boers, realised that the man before him was not from the field at all, +but a National Scout, employed by the British to betray the loyal +Boers--a "trap," in fact, such as were in constant use against their +brother burghers. + +Mr. Hattingh asked him a few more leading questions to satisfy himself +of the true nature of the man's errand, and then, as if suddenly +recalled to himself, broke out in evident agitation: + +"But I cannot harbour you, my good fellow. I am _neutral_." + +"Surely you would not have the heart to see me fall into the hands of +the enemy!" the man exclaimed. + +"I am very sorry," Mr. Hattingh replied, "but I dare not take you in." + +"Tell me some news, then," he implored. "Our men are getting hopeless +and desperate, and when we bring them news from town it gives them new +courage to continue the war." + +"I know of no news to tell you. I am _neutral_," Mr. Hattingh answered +firmly, and the man left him with his mission unaccomplished. + +Unseen himself, Mr. Hattingh watched him depart, and saw him getting +into a cab, which was evidently waiting for him in the neighbourhood, +and drive rapidly away. + +Mr. Hattingh immediately went to his neighbour, Mr. Isaac Haarhoff, +and told him what had happened. + +"What do you think I ought to do? I am under suspicion without a +doubt." + +"Report the matter to the authorities at once," Mr. Haarhoff answered, +and our friend accepted the advice with alacrity. + +He mounted his bicycle and rode with all speed to the nearest Charge +Office, reporting that a Boer spy had been to his house for refuge +that evening. + +"Why did you not bring him with you?" the officer inquired. + +"I did not know what to do," Mr. Hattingh began, when another official +made his appearance and asked what the matter was. + +The first related what had occurred, and Mr. Hattingh, keenly watching +the two men, saw the significant glances they exchanged, and caught +the whispered: + +"It is all right." + +"No, old man," he thought, "it is all wrong, and you have been my +dupe." + +The men then turned to him, telling him that if he were visited by a +spy again he was to take him in and report him at the Charge Office. + +"Right," he replied. "I will do so." And on his homeward way he +congratulated himself with the thought that he had no doubt been +entered on the lists as a "faithful British subject." + +This incident was followed, as far as he was concerned, by +far-reaching consequences. Not only was he left with his family in the +undisturbed security of his home-life after that, but he was able to +carry on his work on the Committee in perfect safety, and when +eventually the darkness closed over him in his prisoner's cell, he +felt assured that this would count in favour of his wife and family. + +Many were the men led by him through the streets of Pretoria to the +spot where the burghers awaited them, countless and valuable the +services rendered to the Boer commandos, innumerable the acts of +kindness and charity performed by this brave burgher of Transvaal. + +Mr. Colin Logan, who gave up an excellent position in the bank, was +one of the men escorted out by him in order to join the Boer forces. + +Riding slowly on his bicycle, with Mr. Logan walking beside him, they +passed through a group of military tents, almost touching the soldiers +as they sat around their camp-fires. + +Not a shadow of suspicion could be roused by their calm behaviour, and +they reached the burghers without any difficulty. + +While they were exchanging a few words of greeting, the sudden, +furious barking of the dogs at the Lunatic Asylum, not far from them, +warned them of danger, and, taking a hasty leave, the burghers +disappeared noiselessly into the darkness, and Mr. Hattingh literally +tore home across the veld on his bicycle, clearing holes and jumping +over stones in his mad career. He was able to reach his home just in +time to be under shelter when the "curfew" rang 10 o'clock, the hour +at which all respectable citizens, carrying residential passes, were +supposed to be indoors. + +What eventually became of Mr. Hattingh and the other members of the +Committee we shall see as our story proceeds. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THANKSGIVING AND HUMILIATION + + +The documents sent out to General Botha, and referred to in Chapter +XV, were connected with the report of the Consuls, but the very first +thing sent to the commandos by Mrs. van Warmelo was a copy of the +first petition, tightly packed in a walnut, one of a handful which she +gave the spy, with instructions not to eat any of them on the road. + +He also took a verbal message to the effect that though the condition +of the Camps was bad, everything was being done in town to bring about +the necessary improvements. Influential people were at work to make +everything public in Europe, and the men in the field were urged to be +brave and steadfast and of good cheer. + +On July 29th Harmony was visited again by Mr. Willem Botha, bringing +with him information of a disquieting nature. + +In some mysterious way he had received a piece of paper from Mr. +Gordon Fraser, brother-in-law to President Steyn, and prisoner of war +in the Rest Camp in Pretoria, on which, in a disguised hand, was +written a message imploring the Secret Service men to warn President +Steyn and General de Wet that a certain man amongst them, a prominent +official, was a traitor in their midst, paid by the enemy to betray +their plans before they could be carried out. + +This information made the conspirators very anxious, for it being full +moon, there was no prospect of spies coming into town, and in the +meantime incalculable mischief could be done. Neither was it possible +to send any one out who had not been before and was ignorant of the +route. The matter had therefore to be left until the next suitable +opportunity came and Mr. Botha went home with a heavy heart. + +Unlike his usual prudent self, Mr. Botha did not immediately destroy +the slip of paper on which the warning was written, but folded it +carefully and placed it between the tattered leaves of an old +hymn-book. + +How he paid for this small indiscretion, the only one of which he was +guilty, with days of anxiety and despair, and very nearly with his +life, we shall see as our story develops! + + * * * * * + +In the early days of August the troops encamped around Harmony could, +if they had used their sixth sense, have divined an air of suppressed +excitement about the place. + +Expectation of some sort evidently charged the atmosphere. Visitors +were, in fact, expected, for Captain Naudé and his secretary had +arranged to come in for the report of the Consul, just before the new +moon made its appearance, and now a faint crescent of silver in the +heavens warned our heroines that their time was at hand. + +Harmony had been chosen as a place of refuge, as the safest spot in +all Pretoria, with so many troops around it! + +For several nights in succession a fire was kept going in the kitchen +until a late hour, and a plentiful supply of hot water kept in +readiness for the warm baths which the visitors would so sorely need +after their difficult and perilous journey. + +Still they did not come, but on the morning of August 4th Mr. Botha +paid an early visit, bringing with him the news that on the previous +night five spies had reached the town in safety. + +He did not tell where they were being harboured, it being one of the +laws of the Secret Committee that names were not to be used +needlessly, and that the people working for the Committee were not +even to know about one another. + +So rigorously was this law enforced that from beginning to end the van +Warmelos had dealings with Mr. Botha only, and did not see the four +other members of the Committee, nor even hear their names until---- + +The five spies had not come in as easily as usual. They had +persistently been followed by the searchlights as they neared the +town, but they were able to get through the barbed-wire enclosure in +safety and had then separated and gone to their various homes, +unobserved as they thought. + +But one of them, a young man whom we shall call Harry, who was +destined to play such a terrible part in the history of the Boer +Secret Service, was followed home by three detectives, two of whom +stationed themselves at the front door and the third at the back. + +Fortunately when Harry became aware of his danger, he rushed out at +the back. + +The detective, whose name was Moodie, shouted, "Hands up, or I fire," +but the young man drew his revolver with lightning-like rapidity and, +firing twice, escaped from town under cover of the darkness. + +The reported death of the detective caused a great sensation in the +town next day, and it was not until many months after that we learned +of the fate of the unfortunate man, not death, but mutilation worse +than death--a ghastly wound below the heart and an amputated leg. + +This event caused the British to enforce a stricter vigilance, and +many houses were searched for the other spies, but without success. + +The excitement in town did not abate for some time, and wherever +Hansie went she was told what had taken place by people who would have +been surprised indeed to hear that she was in possession of all the +details, and even of documents brought in from General Kemp by those +very spies. + +The instructions were to see that the information contained in those +documents reached the Consuls without their knowing how and when they +had been brought into town, and for this purpose several copies had +been typed and were slipped under the doors of the different +Consulates while the inmates were asleep. + +Any day between August 5th and 10th Captain Naudé said he would come, +and each evening found Harmony prepared to receive him, but on the 9th +Mr. Botha brought a note from the gallant Captain saying that he would +be unable to partake of Mrs. van Warmelo's hospitality that month. A +woman, whose name was unknown, had conveyed this letter to the Secret +Committee. It contained no particular news except that August 8th had +been celebrated as a day of thanksgiving for our victories, and the +9th, the very day on which the intimation was received in town, would +be a day of humiliation for our many sins. + +When this became known to the "inner circle," private prayer-meetings +were immediately held in different houses in the town, while the men +in the field held their day of humiliation under the open sky. In this +way we worked together and supported one another spiritually, morally, +and practically, in spite of searchlights and barbed-wire fences. + +This was the first news received of the Captain's safe return to the +commandos after that eventful visit in July, and his friends were +thankful to receive it. Another source of thankfulness was the fact +that he was not coming in that month, for the enemy was on the _qui +vive_ for more spies, and consequently the dangers were multiplying +for the Boers. The reckless coming in and going out of irresponsible +men became a source of real danger to the people who harboured them, +and on August 12th Mr. Botha came again to warn Mrs. van Warmelo +against having dealings with any spies except those sent by the Secret +Committee. + +"You will only find yourselves in jail or over the border," he said, +"which would not be so bad if that were all, but it would ruin our +chances of assisting the Generals." + +He then reported that a young spy had come in on Saturday night and +that he had been taken to Mrs. General Joubert's house the next +morning while she was in church. The good lady was anything but +pleased, on her return home, to find him there, for she had a houseful +of people, and she was obliged to stow him into a tiny room, where he +sat as still as a mouse, until he went back to commando. Not very +cheerful for him, but a good lesson for the future! + + * * * * * + +Five or six men who tried to escape from town were captured near the +Magaliesbergen and placed in the Rest Camp, so Dame Rumour said at the +time, but the truth of the story, briefly related, ran thus: + +I have mentioned the nest of the spies in the Skurvebergen not far +from Pretoria in the western direction. + +This "nest" had been surprised and taken possession of by the English +while five of the spies were in Pretoria, and they, cut off from their +own people as they were, were unable to escape. + +One or two attempts were made, but the men were fired on and they had +to abandon the idea for the present. + +The curious part of this story is that these men (one can hardly call +them spies) were Pretoria men who had escaped to the Skurvebergen for +the first time only three weeks previously, and had gone backwards and +forwards several times with small necessaries. One of the five, a man +whose name I cannot mention here, for the sake of what is to follow, +had been so often, and was so much at home both in Pretoria and the +Skurvebergen, that his dearest friends did not know to which part of +the country he really belonged! + +Well, he was in a nice predicament now! + +The house in which he was being harboured, with one of his friends, +was unfortunately suspect. He could not remain there, neither could he +escape from town. + +Some one came to Harmony in great distress. What was to be done with +those two men? To what place of refuge could they be moved that night? +The visitor looked imploringly at Mrs. van Warmelo as if he expected +her to offer Harmony, but she, mindful of Mr. Botha's warning, did +nothing of the kind. + +"Death is staring them in the face," the visitor continued. "I don't +know what to do!" + +Hansie, who knew the visitor well and trusted him implicitly, then +pleaded with her mother--to no avail, Mrs. van Warmelo remaining +firmly obdurate, and saying distinctly, for the edification of her +visitor, "I have never harboured a spy, and I hope I never shall." + +When the good man had departed, in sore disappointment, Hansie +grumbled a good deal and said it was all very fine to assist these +Secret Service men when there was no danger in doing so, but her +mother took no notice of her for the rest of the day, and subsequent +events proved that she had acted wisely in refusing to harbour men +unknown to her. + +What became of them at the time she did not know, and a few weeks +elapsed before the crushing sequel to this escapade became known. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +FLIPPIE AND CO. + + +"Was there no fear of betrayal through the servants at Harmony?" I +have often been asked since the war, and this reminds me that a short +introduction to the other inmates of the property will be necessary +for the reader's benefit and understanding. + +The lower portion of Harmony, through which the Aapies river runs, was +occupied by Italian gardeners, who employed a varying number of Kaffir +labourers in the extensive fruit and vegetable gardens. + +The upper part, on which the house stood, was entirely under Mrs. van +Warmelo's management. No white servants were kept, the domestic staff +consisting of native gardeners, a stable-boy, and a house-boy, neither +was there a single female domestic, either white or black, on the +place. + +One day a small white son of the soil presented himself and asked for +work. + +Mrs. van Warmelo looked him up and down and said she did not farm with +children. + +"What is your name?" Hansie asked. + +There was no answer, and then she noticed that the little stranger was +staring straight in front of him, while two great tears rolled slowly +down his cheeks. + +This touched her, and she repeated her question persuasively. + +"Flippie," he answered brokenly. + +"Where is your mother?" + +"Dead." + +"And your father?" + +"Fighting, with five sons." + +Then Hansie felt inclined to take him in her arms and kiss him for his +dead mother and brave father and brothers. + +She turned to her mother and whispered: + +"Let Flippie stay. Make some agreement with him and let us try him as +errand-boy or general help in the house and garden." + +Mrs. van Warmelo nodded and turned again to him. The conversation +which passed between them is not recorded in Hansie's diary, but +Flippie stayed, and within a week the Harmonites wondered how they had +managed to exist without him for so long. + +He was as sharp as a needle, and, though only thirteen years of age, +he proved to be a perfect "man" of business, rising early every day to +go to the morning market and gardening with surprising energy and +ambition. + +This pleased Mrs. van Warmelo so much that she gave him a plot of +ground to cultivate for himself, and he immediately set to work to +plant vegetables, spending every spare moment of the day in _his_ +garden. + +When Hansie laughingly said that she hoped to be his first customer, +he protested vehemently against the idea of selling anything to her, +and time showed that he meant to keep his word. + +All he had was given away with large-hearted generosity and when he +had nothing more to give, he _took_ all he required from other people! + +Yes, I am afraid Flippie's ideas of honesty were curious in the +extreme. He had no idea of "mine and thine," as we say in Dutch.[2] + +Arguments were of no avail, for Flippie was the scornfullest little +boy I ever came across and knew everything better than his superiors. + +Hansie set to work to study him, but found it necessary to reconstruct +her ideas of him every day. Flippie baffled her at every turn. + +One day she thought he would turn out to be a genius, the next she +declared positively that he would come to the gallows, and the third +she wondered helplessly whether he could by any chance do both. + +Flippie could lie and deceive with the most angelic face and could +melt into tears on the least provocation or whenever it suited his +book to do so. + +A phrenologist would have delighted in the study of that remarkable +head. + +The forehead receded and went on receding until there was nothing left +of it but a great lump at the back of the head, and the little nose +tilted up at one in the most impertinent manner, which was given the +lie to by the drooping corners of the sensitive mouth. What delighted +one most was the sunny temperament, the ringing, infectious laugh, the +cheery whistle. + +Surely Flippie was the merriest and one of the most lovable little +souls one could find anywhere, and his ruling virtue always seemed to +be his unswerving loyalty and constant fidelity. + +His heart seemed to be torn between his sense of duty to the fearful +and wonderful old grandmother, who had taken the place of his dead +mother in what bringing-up he ever had, and his sense of gratitude to +his protectors at Harmony. + +My story would not be complete without a short sketch of this +grandmother, for she played a part of some importance in the events +recorded here, and was at all times a sore trial to the inmates of +Harmony. + +We have no proof, but we _think_ that Flippie's grandmother had a hand +in the undoing of the security and peace which reigned supreme at +Harmony before she came upon the scene. + +Not that she ever lived on the property; no, her home was a small +tent, one of a number which had been erected some little distance to +the south of Harmony on Avondale, on the property of Mr. Christian +Joubert, on the way to the "Fountains." + +These tents were largely occupied by "handsuppers" and their families, +amongst whom were found a few Judas-Boers--Boers of the most dangerous +type. That the life of the loyal Boers in their midst was anything but +a bed of roses can very well be imagined, and we know that bitterness +and strife reigned supreme, for it was an open secret that renegades, +hirelings of the enemy, held their dreaded sway over the inmates of +that small colony. + +Flippie and his grandmother did not belong to that degraded set, but +the one was a thoughtless child and the other an exceedingly +suspicious and inquisitive old woman, and that they were both used as +unsuspecting tools by their more designing fellows I have not a shadow +of doubt. + +Mrs. van Warmelo and Hansie soon gave the old granny the name of +"Um-Ah," for her tongue had been paralysed by a "stroke" twenty years +back, and "Um-Ah," was all she was ever heard to say. It stood for yes +and no and for every imaginable question, being only varied by the +tone of voice in which it was said. Sometimes, when she became excited +or impatient, it was fired off four or five times in quick succession. + +This formidable old dame ruled Flippie with a rod of iron, +appropriating the whole of his small salary every month and refusing +to give him so much as a sixpence. When Mrs. van Warmelo found this +out she stealthily added half a crown to his earnings for his own use, +and this the generous lad regularly spent on sweets, cakes, and +gingerbeer for his granny! + +Even the chocolates and other good things to which kind-hearted +soldiers treated him were laid as "trophies of the war" at his +granny's feet, after he had vainly tried to induce Hansie to partake +of them. + +"Um-Ah" had an inconvenient way of dropping in at Harmony at all hours +of the day, ostensibly to see if Flippie was doing his work well, but +in reality to keep a watchful eye on the other inmates. She seemed to +be always looking for something, and the time was soon to come when +this unpleasant propensity should become a source of real danger to +the van Warmelos. + + * * * * * + +Besides Flippie, there were two other permanent members on the +domestic staff--a gigantic native named Paulus, and a young Zulu who +went by the name of "Gentleman Jim" on account of his dandified +appearance and the aristocratic "drawl" affected by him. American +darkies say, "Dere's some folk dat is slow but shua, and some dar is +dat's _jes' slow!_" Well, Gentleman Jim was "jes' slow." He was the +only one on the premises who steadfastly refused to speak one word of +Dutch, although he perfectly understood everything said to him. + +The result was that the dialogues carried on between mistresses and +servant were in Dutch on one side and in English on the other, it +being one of the rules at Harmony to address all natives either in +their own tongue or in Dutch, never in English. + +I may say here that even at the present time it is customary with many +Dutch South Africans to employ no English-speaking natives, but rather +to engage the "raw" material, i.e. those speaking neither Dutch nor +English, because they are, in nine cases out of ten, still unspoilt by +civilisation and have lost none of the awe and respect with which +they, in their native state, regard the white man. + +Gentleman Jim was the only exception ever known at Harmony, and there +was no lack of respect in _his_ manner; on the contrary, the flourish +with which he took off his hat and his slow and dignified, "Good +morning, little missie," were well worth seeing and a constant source +of amusement to all. + +Paulus, that magnificent specimen of manhood in its natural state, was +by no means the least remarkable of the trio, and there was something +tragic too about his rugged personality. + +He had been taken by the English in the neighbourhood of Pretoria and +brought into town on the false suspicion of having been employed by +the Boers as a spy. + +There being nothing found against him in proof of this, he was set +free in town and allowed to seek employment, but, though he pleaded +hard, he could not obtain permission to return to his home, where wife +and children had been left in complete uncertainty as to his fate. + +This native was a converted heathen, semi-civilised, but with the +noblest instincts within him developed on natural lines to a +remarkable degree. I have often longed to meet the missionary in whose +hands the moulding of this rare product of nature had been carried out +with so much success. Patience, faith, devotion, and an awe amounting +to veneration for his white mistresses were among the most striking +qualities Paulus possessed. + +There were hundreds of his stamp on the farms all over the country, +natives brought up by the Dutch farmers and trained as useful servants +in their homes and in the fields, but it was rare indeed for one of +them to find his way into the towns. Fate had been unkind in +separating him from his dear ones for so many months, and Paulus went +through days of melancholy and despair. + +One day, when Hansie heard him sigh more heavily than usual, she +asked: + +"Are you thinking of your wife and children, Paulus?" + +"Oh yes, Nonnie, I am always thinking of them, but I was thinking also +how sad it was to forget all my learning. I was getting on so well +with my reading and writing, and now I find it so hard to go on by +myself." + +"Oh, if that is all, Paulus," Hansie said cheerfully, "I can help you +a lot. Bring me your books this evening and let me hear you read." + +The poor fellow's look of gratitude was touching to behold. He needed +no second invitation, and appeared that evening in his Sunday suit, +with a new shirt on, and his hands and face scrubbed with soap and +water until they shone like polished ebony. + +A Dutch Bible, a book of hymns and psalms, and a small spelling-book +were all he possessed, but Hansie found him further advanced than she +had expected, and wonderfully intelligent, and she soon added a few +simple reading-books to his small store. + +Now and then she instructed him for a short hour, and it was a +pleasure to see the change which came over him within a few weeks. +Learning became the joy of his life, and in his ambition to get on he +forgot much of his anxiety and distress at the enforced separation +from his wife and children. + +One evening when Hansie had gone into the kitchen to look over his +work, there was a sudden fumbling at the door and "Gentleman Jim" +stumbled in with a campstool under one arm and a slate and Bible, an +English one, under the other. + +"Coming to learn too, little missie," he said, grinning from ear to +ear and settling himself comfortably on the stool. + +Paulus bent over his writing and said never a word. Hansie nodded +uncomfortably. + +That this self-invited pupil was unwelcome was evident, but he +himself seemed serenely unconscious of the fact. + +There was no love lost between Paulus and "Gentleman Jim"--not that +there had ever been an open rupture, but Paulus despised the dandified +Zulu, and "Jim" looked down (figuratively speaking, for he was quite a +foot shorter in stature) on Paulus's rugged simplicity. + +They systematically ignored one another, and were only heard to +exchange brief sentences, in English from Jim and in Dutch from +Paulus, when necessity compelled them to address one another, for Jim +could speak no Sesuto and Paulus knew neither Zulu nor English. + +Their antipathy to one another was so marked, in fact, that "Gentleman +Jim" refused to have his meals with Paulus and had built a small +kitchen apart for himself, under one of the big willows. On this +occasion Hansie did not feel pleased at "Jim's" appearance either, for +it was one thing to teach the self-contained and reverent Sesuto, and +quite another to instruct the flippant "Gentleman Jim." + +But Hansie did not know what to say and asked Jim to let her hear him +read. He began laboriously, floundering hopelessly over the long +words. + +"Fruits, meat _and_ repentance,"[3] he read with painful uncertainty, +when Hansie interrupted him with a laugh: + +"That will do, Jim; you are wonderful, and you need not come again." + + * * * * * + +Other natives on the premises were of the shiftless, wandering type, +changing hands continually, and many were the instances of their +simplicity, not to say rank stupidity. + +On one occasion a "raw" Kaffir, on being ordered to take a heavily +laden wheelbarrow from one part of the garden to the other, was found +half an hour later, still in the same place, vainly trying to place +the wheelbarrow on his head! + +I believe it was the same native who, when told to empty the contents +of a waste-paper basket on a burning heap of rubbish in the garden, +returned without the basket, and when asked what he had done with it, +pointed, with an air of injured surprise, to its smouldering remains +on the heap of rubbish. + +Indeed, the patience of the housewife was often sorely tried. A +relative of Mrs. van Warmelo's coming into the kitchen one morning, +found one of these new "hands" before the stove in a sea of hot water, +desperately trying to fill a small kettle _by the spout_, from a large +one! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 2: Mÿn en dÿn.] + +[Footnote 3: "Fruits meet for repentance."] + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE SECRET RAILWAY TIME-TABLE + + +Thank God for the early rains! + +After the long winter months, dry and dusty, terrific storms pass over +the country, torrents of rain, lashing hailstones. The beautiful world +is washed clean, and everywhere the moist brown earth gives promise of +a plentiful supply of fresh young grass, which means food for the +weary underfed horses on commando, and new life, new hopes to the men. + +Only the middle of August and already the first summer rains are +falling! + +Thank God again! + +The cruel strain of anxious thought for our heroes in the field can be +relaxed for a moment, and we turn our energies with redoubled vigour +and strengthened faith to the task at our hand. Heaven knows that we +shall require all the courage we possess to face the impending +disasters, of which the shadows have already fallen on our hearts. + + * * * * * + +One morning the disconcerting news reached Harmony that Mrs. Naudé's +house had been surrounded by armed soldiers at break of day and that +she had been taken away with her child, in a waggon, no one knew +where. + +The empty house was being closely watched. + +Did the enemy really think that the sagacious Captain of the Secret +Service would walk into the trap some fine evening, there to meet with +certain destruction? Evidently, for the house was guarded night and +day. + + * * * * * + +August 5th brought new sensation and fresh material for thought and +conversation. + +There had been a brief lull in the adventures, and all were of opinion +that as long as this spell of vigilance lasted no spies would enter +the town. It therefore came as a surprise when our little friend with +the walking-stick was to be seen coming up the garden path of Harmony, +wearing that air of happy mystery so familiar to his fellow-workers. + +The spies had come at last, not the Captain himself, but his +secretary, Mr. Greyling, with two other men named Nel and Els, on an +important and extremely dangerous mission. + +They had arrived too late to be brought out to Harmony, but they were +staying with Mrs. Joubert, and, if they were successful in obtaining +the help they required, their intention was to leave again that night. + +At this point in the visitor's narrative, Hansie, who had been engaged +in making butter, came in with an expectant look. Mr. Botha motioned +her to draw nearer, and in hurried whispers, although there was no one +in the room but themselves, told them that these men had been sent to +procure a copy of the secret railway time-table, an official book +containing full detailed information of the military trains, provision +and ammunition--trains, in fact, laden with clothing and everything +required by the military. The women looked at one another and smiled +at the audacity of the request. They had never heard of such a +time-table and might as well have been asked to send the moon to the +front. + +But their visitor was very grave. + +This was no child's play, but a very serious matter, for a great deal +depended on the securing of that book. + +The horses on commando were in a very poor condition after the hard +winter, and the men had no clothes to speak of. So it was absolutely +necessary that they should have their stock reinforced by the capture +of some of the enemy's trains. + +Mrs. van Warmelo promised to do her best, but gave her visitor little +hope of success. + +Soon after he left, a carriage drove up with Mrs. Joubert, her son +"Jannie," and her married daughter, Mrs. Malan. + +Their mission was the same as Mr. Botha's, the secret time-table, and +Mr. Jannie, as he drew Hansie aside, urged her to do all in her power +to procure a copy of this valuable book. The same ground was gone +over, with the same result, "We can but try." That whole morning was +spent in seeing different people, trusted friends, on the subject, and +everywhere Hansie and her mother were met with the same objections. +Most people had never heard of this time-table, and those who knew of +its existence, were convinced that it would be quite impossible to get +a sight of it, as it was in the hands of officials only. + +The afternoon again was spent in roaming disconsolately about the +streets of Pretoria, weary and discouraged. + +Suddenly Hansie exclaimed: + +"Oh mamma, how stupid we have been! Why, we never thought of D. He is +the only one who can help us. Let us go to him." + +Mrs. van Warmelo's tired face beamed at her daughter. + +"_Of course_, but I dare not go to him direct--that would be +indiscreet indeed. Let us send some one for him." + +"F.?" Hansie suggested. + +"Yes, he would do." + +They were walking rapidly to an office on Church Square, when they met +the very man they were in search of. + +"This is wonderful!" Hansie exclaimed. "We were just going to ask F. +to call on you, as we have a great request to make." + +Talking in rapid whispers, the trio walked across the Square. The +man's face was inscrutable at first, but his curt and business-like +way soon gave place to a look of thoughtful contemplation. + +"This is about the most unheard-of request that has ever been made to +me. I know the book exists, but I have never seen it--I shall have to +think about this. When must you have it?" + +"Before six o'clock this evening," Hansie answered. + +"Will you leave me now?" he said. "I must think. If by any chance I am +able to procure a copy, you will find it under your front door between +5 and 6 o'clock." + +Well satisfied, the two ladies proceeded on their way home, when they +were met by Consul Nieuwenhuis, who invited them to have tea with him +at Frascati's. + +Hansie looked at her mother. + +"I think we have earned it--don't you?" + +Mrs. van Warmelo nodded and laughed. + +Arrived at Frascati's they found a regular gathering of the Consuls, +gaily chatting while they partook of the good things set before them. + +"Oh, mother!" Hansie said regretfully, when they had parted from their +friends. "What a pity we could not tell them anything! How they would +have enjoyed sharing our sensations! I can tear the very hair out of +my head at having to keep all these adventures to myself!" + +They then went to Mrs. Joubert's house to tell the spies that there +was just a chance that one of the people they had seen that day would +get the time-table for them. + +Mrs. van Warmelo, with her usual prudent forethought, asked to see Mr. +Greyling only, knowing that it was safer to deal with one man than +with several, so she was shown into the drawing-room while he was +being brought from some unknown back region, with much caution and +bolting of doors and drawing of blinds. It was amusing, when he +entered the room, to see him going straight up to Mrs. Joubert and +shaking her heartily by the hand. As a matter of fact, these +enterprising young men enjoyed her hospitality, slept under her roof, +and partook of the food she secretly prepared for them without ever +setting eyes on their hostess. + +She was not supposed to know of their existence, and as she was close +and silent as the grave, no one ever got anything in the way of +information out of her. + +It was good to see Mr. Greyling again. + +He said that Captain Naudé was with General Botha near the Middelburg +line and had been prevented from coming into town that month. + +Very little fighting was being done on account of the poor condition +of their horses after the severe winter. The men were in splendid +health, and the same spirit of determination and courage which had +always characterised them possessed them still. + +Mr. Greyling and his comrades had come in under some difficulties. +They had been escorted on horseback as far as Eerste Fabrieken on the +North-east Railway, when they had nearly run into the enemy's lines. +They altered their course and rode to Irene, hiding themselves and +fastening their horses in a clump of thorn trees, where they remained +until nightfall. + +On their way to Pretoria in the darkness, Mr. Greyling's horse fell +into a hole, throwing him out of the saddle, but his foot caught in +the stirrup and he was dragged about forty yards, bruising his head +and severely wrenching his ankle. Although by no means fit for the +journey, he was determined to go back that night, because the friends +who were waiting for him with his horse did so at the utmost risk of +their lives. The best news he brought was that the Boers had retaken +the Skurvebergen and that it was again the centre of the Secret +Service. Three of the Boers had fallen there during the fight. + +Although he fully appreciated the obstacles in the way of procuring a +time-table, he said he felt he could hardly go back to the commandos +without it. His instructions had been very explicit. + +Whether she found the time-table at Harmony or not, Hansie +promised to come back that evening, with the European and Colonial +newspaper-cuttings, so eagerly sought after by the men on commando. + +Arrived at Harmony at about 5.15, Hansie could conceal her impatience +no longer, but, running up the garden-path, she threw open the front +door with a flourish, and behold, a small flat parcel on the floor, a +book wrapped carelessly in a bit of white paper! The secret +time-table! + +She only had it in her hands for a moment, but one thing she will ever +remember, the slate-coloured cover and the thick red letters heavily +scored: + + _For the use of officers and officials only._ + +The excited women looked at it as if fascinated, turning the leaves +over slowly and murmuring blessings on _his_ head. + +"Look here," Mrs. van Warmelo whispered, "here we have the meanings of +the different signals, and here the different engine-whistles are +explained. Every 'toot' has a meaning, Hansie----" But Hansie had +flown to her room to don her cycling dress, and was soon on her way, +guarded by her faithful dog. On reaching her destination she was again +shown into the drawing-room, but Mrs. Joubert came to her and asked in +a whisper whether she would not like to go to _the_ room. + +Need I say that she jumped at the suggestion? + +Away with caution, to the winds with prudence and reflection! Was not +the mother safe at Harmony and her wise counsels forgotten? + +Hansie was led silently through mysterious corridors into the open +back-yard, by a mute figure in black. + +This figure pointed to a door and disappeared, and at the same time +another figure rose from Hansie knew not where, and stood sentinel +over the gate leading into the street. + +She ran up the steps and rapped smartly at the door, turning the +handle after a moment and walking in, to the evident consternation of +the three young men inside. There was a general scuffle, followed by a +laugh of relief, when her figure became visible through the heavy +clouds of smoke which filled the room. + +Mr. Greyling came forward to meet her and introduced the other men, +who shook her hand until it ached. + +It was quite evident that the sight of a young lady was a wonderful +and most welcome thing to them. + +Hansie took Mr. Greyling aside and handed him the packet with strict +injunctions not to mention her name on commando, for it was a +well-known fact that there were traitors in the field, who lost no +opportunity of conveying information to the British. She did not tell +him how the book had come into her possession, although his surprise +and curiosity were plainly visible, and the worst that could have +happened, had he fallen into the hands of the enemy and turned King's +evidence, would have been the betrayal of her name. + +The other men were clamouring for a hearing, so she turned to them +and inspected the huge brown-paper parcels containing clothing, etc., +to which they drew her attention and which they were about to convey +to the commandos. + +One of them, with a look of comical despair, was shaking his head, +while he counted the parcels on his fingers. The other showed Hansie +how impossible it was for him to fasten his coat and waistcoat, for he +had on three woollen shirts and three pairs of trousers, of different +sizes. So had the other two, and Hansie could not refrain from +expressing her amazement at their being so heavily laden on an +expedition so perilous. + +But, in high spirits, they laughed at her fears. + +They had done the same thing before. One said it was his seventh +visit, another said it was his third, and they so evidently enjoyed +their adventures that one felt they were to be envied rather than +pitied. + +They parted in fun and high good-humour, but Hansie's heart was wrung +with many a pang, and many a deep and earnest prayer for their +protection was sent up by her that night. + +"I wish you could have seen that room, mother," Hansie exclaimed as +they sat in their cosy dining-room, discussing the events of the day. +"It was filled with so much smoke that I could hardly breathe, and it +was littered with papers and cups and plates. They wanted me to sit +down and chat with them." + +"I am surprised you did not," her mother retorted. + +"Well, you see, I had no lamp and I was afraid I should be arrested, +and besides, you would have been terrified to death, thinking I was in +the hands of the English with that precious time-table." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SYSTEM EMPLOYED BY THE SECRET COMMITTEE + + +Mr. Willem Bosch, a cripple, unable to take active work upon himself, +acted as Secretary to the Committee, Mr. Els was old and infirm, and +Mr. Botha, as we have heard, had been struck by lightning and was +frequently prostrate with headaches of an intensely severe nature. + +But for these infirmities these men would have been on commando with +their brother burghers. + +The wider circle of conspirators consisted of ten or twelve men and +women, who carried out the instructions of the Committee, but in no +case attended their meetings or conferred with them in the presence of +the spies from the field. + +Their work chiefly consisted in finding out men anxious to escape from +town and ignorant of the way to go about it--an exceedingly difficult +and dangerous task, with so many National Scouts and other traitors in +their midst. + +In order to protect themselves from the danger of being led into a +trap, the following precautions were taken by the Committee and +strictly carried out by their fellow-workers: + +When a man was found anxious to join the Boers, he was instructed, +under the most binding injunctions to secrecy, to keep himself in +readiness to depart at a given moment, on the shortest possible +notice. The arrival of an escort from commando was then awaited. + +They did not have long to wait, as two or three times a week, without +fail, a small escort of armed men was to be found at a certain spot in +the vicinity of the capital, while one of their number was sent into +town to inform the Committee of the fact. + +The fugitive was then instructed to walk slowly in a certain street, +from one point to another at a given hour. Here he was met by a man +unknown to him, usually one of the four, who signed to him to follow +him. + +He was not allowed to speak to or follow his leader too closely. It +was not known to him beforehand whether his destination lay north, +south, east, or west. He had but to follow and to find himself, as +darkness fell, in the hands of the armed burghers. + +The men in town were unarmed. It was one of the first rules of the +Committee that no spy entering the town should carry arms of any +description, this rule having been made to safeguard them from death +in the event of their being taken by the enemy. + +Too often was this precaution disregarded by young and hot-headed +spies, who took the risk upon themselves, preferring death to falling +into the hands of the English. + +Captain Naudé's case was recognised by the Committee as an exception +when once it became known to them that a heavy price had been set on +his head. + +Incidentally I may remark here that this sum was known, during the +early part of the war, to be £500 and that it was gradually increased +to £1,500, as the Captain became more notorious for the daring nature +of his enterprises. He was told by an English officer; after the war, +that the British had spent over £9,000 in the vain attempt to capture +him. This statement may, or may not, have been correct, but certain it +is that nothing was left undone to put an end to his activities, +numbers of men and women being employed, under liberal payment, to +trap him when he visited Pretoria. + +In the field, too, his life was known to be even more precarious than +in town, for many were the hirelings surrounding him, watching their +chances to capture him and hand him, dead or living, into the power of +his foes. + +It was therefore an understood thing that Captain Naudé should at all +times be armed, heavily armed, in the field and when he came to town. + +Not so the Secret Committee. What might be his only safeguard would, +in the event of their arrest, prove to be their undoing, and this they +fully realised as they remonstrated, not once, but many times, with +the young spies who worked for them. + +The violation of this rule, which they wished to see enforced so +rigorously, was sometimes followed by most terrible consequences. + +That this brave band of earnest men should have continued their work +so long, beset, as they were, with a thousand dangers and +difficulties, is a marvel indeed. With so much treachery in the air, +it is a wonder to us still that they were able to carry out their +daring enterprise with so much success and to escape detection for so +long. + +But they were prudent and cautious, they knew and trusted one another, +and they observed, with conscientious thoroughness, the unwritten +motto of the Committee: + +"Think quickly, act firmly, calmly, prudently, without fear. Speak as +little as possible." + +Terrible were the experiences of some of the men on their secret +visits to the town. + +Captain Naudé, arriving one night at the house of his friend Mr. +Hattingh (the spies naturally did not take shelter in their own +homes), was informed that his mother lay dangerously ill in her house +close by. It was feared that she would not recover. In the shadows +which enveloped her she seemed to have forgotten all about the war, +and her only cry was for him, her son. + +What was he to do? His mother was surrounded by nurses, and the house +was filled with relatives and friends. + +As Captain of the Secret Service, his name was too well known. He +could not show himself at such a time, when he had every reason to +believe that the enemy was watching him with extra vigilance. + +The next news, while he was still in hopeless deliberation, was that +his mother had passed away. + +It needs a strong man's most powerful self-control to "act firmly, +calmly, prudently," at such a time, and yet even then he restrained +the impulse to go to her. + +Of what avail to kiss that icy brow? + +Next day, from his hiding-place behind the window curtain, he watched +his mother's funeral procession, passing by. + +His comrade, Johannes Coetzee, nicknamed Baden-Powell, the man who had +left the town with him on his second expedition, once had a miraculous +escape from death. + +He was leaving for commando with a bag containing clothes, a number of +Mauser cartridges which the Committee in town had collected by +degrees, when he was taken prisoner by the enemy just as he was +nearing the wire enclosure. + +He was immediately taken to the Commandant, who examined the bundle +containing the contraband articles, and ordered him to be escorted to +another Department. Of his guilt, proof positive had been found, but +this fact was not conveyed to the armed soldier who was about to +escort him to his doom. + +On their way, he knew not where, Coetzee pleaded with the guard to +release him. + +"I have been taken under false pretences," he said. "I am innocent, an +employee at the Lunatic Asylum. If you will escort me over the railway +line, I will pay you." + +"How much money have you?" the man asked. + +Coetzee took some silver from his pocket, counted it and said: + +"I have only thirteen shillings." + +"That will do," his guard replied, and conducted him in safety to the +asylum, in the vicinity of which he found his tethered horse, still +waiting for his return, the soldier himself holding his horse and +assisting him to mount with the bag containing the ammunition. + +Disregard for wise counsel from older men, head-strong self-will, and +a sheer indifference to death and danger were the causes of much +disaster in those days. + +On the other hand, recklessness and the very disregard for death +mentioned above brought more than one man safely through the fierce +fires of adversity, as we shall see in the tragic and stirring events +to be recorded in this and the next chapter. + +One there was amongst the spies, noted for his extraordinary bravery, +a hero of the rarest type, of whom we can only speak with bated breath +and thrilling hearts. In the brief record of his heroic life--and +still more heroic death--we have a rich inheritance. + +Adolph Krause was his name, a man still young, a married man. He was a +German by birth, but a full burgher of the State for which he +sacrificed his noble life. + +The first time Krause had left the capital he had been escorted out, +with eight other Germans, by Mr. Willem Botha, while Captain Naudé +conducted seven or eight young Boers to the freedom of the veld. + +There had been no adventures then. + +Subsequently, in and out he came and went, with the greatest +regularity, and as often as twice a week he would leave the town with +large numbers of Boers and Germans, eager to join the burgher forces +in the field. His services became more and more valuable. + +One evening when, after two days' rest in town, he was again preparing +to depart for the commandos, his friend Willem Botha called to escort +him through the town, as had been previously arranged. + +Mr. Botha's house was in Proes Street between van der Walt and Market +Streets, while not far away his trusted friend and confederate Mr. +Hocke lived, a man who rendered such innumerable services to the +Boers that his name must not be forgotten here. + +These two men met at Mr. Krause's house and found him ready to depart. + +Although a man of slender build, he had now attained to such gigantic +proportions that his friends could scarce believe their eyes, and, +incredible as it may seem, the following is a full and accurate +description of what he had about his person that memorable night: + +Two pairs of trousers; two shirts; two full Mauser bandoliers over his +shoulders and crossed over his breast; a woollen jersey; a thick coat; +a long Mauser gun thrust into one trouser-leg; a German revolver +belonging to Mr. Hocke; his own revolver, and a bag of about two feet +in length, containing Mauser ammunition, which had been buried by Mrs. +Botha and was now going "to the front"; boots, soap, washing soda, +cotton, and a number of other small articles, which had been ordered +by the women on commando--that unknown band of heroic women, fleeing +north, south, east, and west with their men, for whom they cooked and +sewed and prayed throughout the long years of the war. + +Krause had been "shopping" in town for these brave sisters in the +field, and I am sure his thoughts that night were not of fear for the +perils he was about to face, but of satisfaction and pleasurable +anticipation of the joy his arrival at commando would occasion the +women at the front. + +Would that one of their undaunted band could be induced to give the +world a record of their unique and altogether wonderful experiences of +the war! + +Mr. Krause's slight form was now twice, perhaps nearly thrice its +usual size, and his friends, when they looked at him, laughed in +incredulous amazement. + +"Oh, man, what would I not give to possess a photo of you as you are +dressed to-night!" Mr. Botha exclaimed between his fits of laughter. + +It was now 7 o'clock and nearly dark. + +The two guards, walking up and down the street on their accustomed +beat, had just withdrawn; 7 o'clock was their dinner hour, this the +plotters knew. + +In a moment, Krause, with the bag over his shoulder and one leg of +necessity held very straight, limped out into the open street, "Oom +Willie" (Botha) following and crossing to the other side. + +Close to a street lamp, at the corner of Market Street, Krause +suddenly saw a soldier walking on ahead, upon which he immediately +turned down into Market Street, with the evident intention of pursuing +his way along Vermeulen Street. This his friend quite understood as, +ever on the opposite side of the street, he watched and followed +Krause in his course. + +Again a soldier appears on the scene, this time walking _towards_ them +in Vermeulen Street. No time to turn back now; forward, boldly +forward--the fugitive has been observed. + +Under one of the lamps the watcher on the other side sees to his +horror that one of the bandoliers has pushed its way up to the neck +and is showing plainly above the collar of the coat. + +The British guard observes this too, for he turns under the lamp and +watches the retreating form intently. Just a moment, and he raises his +whistle to his lips, giving forth the shrill alarm. + +The game is up. Mr. Botha, unarmed, can be of no assistance to his +friend, who now must fight his way alone from death and danger. The +Mauser gun, which has been impeding his every movement, is whipped out +of the trouser-leg as he flies, weapon conspicuously in hand, through +the well-lit streets of Pretoria, until, making a sudden dive, he +disappears between the wires of a fence, into the seclusion of a +peaceful private garden. There is no time to think. He rushes through +the garden from one side to another, out into the next street, and so +on; block after block he takes, until he finds himself alone in a +quiet street, far from the scene of danger, and while his enemies are +surrounding and searching the block into which he first had +disappeared, he is many miles away, plodding weary and heavy-laden to +friends and liberty. + +Only half satisfied as to his comrade's escape, Mr. Botha returned +home in sore distress that night to watch and await developments, and +it was not until Krause surprised him later with another and wholly +unexpected visit that he learnt the sequel and happy ending of that +memorable flight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE DEATH OF ADOLPH KRAUSE + + +Uninterrupted communication had once more been established between the +conspirators, and all was going well. + +_So it seemed!_ + +But the Prince of Darkness was at work. And with him an accursed band +of Judas-Boers. + +How can I tell the tale? How force into the background of my mind and +soul the unspeakable horror with which all my being is filled when I +contemplate this aspect of the war, in order to collect my thoughts +sufficiently to find the words I need? + +That week the town was full of spies. + +Captain Naudé had come in on Thursday night and was to leave again on +Saturday night. Another spy, young Delport, a brave and reckless +youth, was also in the capital, "recruiting" men to take out with him +to commando. + +That Saturday night, as Mr. Botha was on the point of leaving his home +for the Captain's place of refuge, from where he had to "see him off," +as arranged, Mrs. Krause arrived at his house in some agitation and +said that her husband had just come in and wished to see Mr. Botha. +Krause was suffering from an exceedingly painful whitlow in the thumb +of his left hand, she said, and he had come to see a doctor and to +have the whitlow cut. She implored Mr. Botha and his neighbour Mr. +Hocke to come without delay, and to be present when the operation had +to be performed. + +With all the speed he could Mr. Botha hurried to the house in which +Captain Naudé was waiting, explained the case of Krause to him and +took a warm and hearty leave, kneeling with him for a few moments +first, as was his wont, in earnest prayer to God for the protection of +the traveller. + +He then called for Mr. Hocke, and the two men hurried to Mr. Krause's +house in Prinsloo Street, where they found the doctor (a man initiated +in all the mysteries of Boer espionage and a trusted friend) on the +point of performing the small, though painful operation. + +When it was over, Mr. Botha, prompted Heaven only knows by what +foreshadowing of disaster, gave his friend a serious lecture on the +dangers of his recklessness. + +"How can you go about the town so much in broad daylight, whenever you +come in?" he asked. "Always on that bicycle of yours! Surely you must +know that you expose yourself to untold dangers!" + +"Oh, I could not always stay indoors! The house is far too close," the +patient exclaimed, nursing his lacerated thumb. + +Mr. Botha urged him to leave on Sunday night, not to remain longer +than was necessary, and to take with him a young German, who had been +wounded and was now convalescent, after having been concealed and +nursed for many months by trusty friends in town. + +And another warning he impressed upon him with unusual earnestness: + +"Whatever you do, Krause, don't associate yourself with the party +leaving under young Delport's guidance. I fear that there is something +terribly wrong. He is going out with far too large a number, fifty men +in all, he told me yesterday, and something warns me that amongst the +men there are detectives on the English side. Delport is young and +very reckless, and the thought of the great number going out with him +this time has made me more anxious than I can say." + +Krause produced his revolver from an inside pocket, and declared that +before he surrendered himself a prisoner more than one British soldier +would be killed or wounded by him. + +With a heavy heart and many sad forebodings, Mr. Botha left him. For +he remembered, with increasing anxiety, a visit he had had from +Delport, when the latter had asked for his assistance in getting his +men--fifty, as he had said--safely through the town. + +Mr. Botha had refused at the time, pretending that he had never taken +part in such proceedings, and warning the young man that the game he +was about to play was hazardous in the extreme. + +"If you _must_ go out with those men, leave on Monday night, when the +others have escaped in safety," was his last advice to Delport. + +Unfortunately, Fate decreed that Krause and Delport should meet +accidentally on Sunday morning, the day after Mr. Botha's warning to +Krause. + +Together the two men, flinging caution to the winds, or perhaps in +their enthusiasm entirely forgetting the wise counsel of their friend, +laid their heads together, and agreed to meet at a certain point that +night, Krause with the wounded German and two or three of his most +faithful friends, and Delport with his party of fifty men. + + [Illustration: ADOLPH KRAUSE.] + +As Mr. Botha, with strange intuition, had predicted, there were +dastardly traitors in that group of fifty men--Judas-Boers--who, under +the pretence of seeking an opportunity of joining the burgher forces, +had persuaded Delport to allow them to accompany him. That _he_ was +innocent in this black crime of hideous treachery, no one who knew him +ever had a doubt. + +At the appointed place the two men met. Farther on they were joined by +the wounded German and his comrades; still farther, beyond the +boundary of the town, under a cluster of trees, well known to them as +a secret trysting-place, the large party had assembled one by one and +was awaiting the arrival of its leaders. + +The latter, seeing in the distance a group of moving figures which +they took to be their friends, walked boldly and serenely forward--to +find themselves a moment later in a most deadly trap! + +The conflict must have been a desperate one! + +He who played so brave a part in it, Krause, the only armed man on his +side, shot down his opponents one by one, until they closed on him, +and then, overpowered by the fearful odds and battered beyond +recognition by heavy blows from the butt-ends of their guns, he was at +last pinioned to the ground by his infuriated captors. + +Three men were taken, Krause, Venter (a mere boy, the son of a widow +in Pretoria), and one other--who must be nameless here. + +Of the rest some fled into the open veld, while others, hopelessly +ignorant of their surroundings or of the route to take, wisely +returned to town under cover of the darkness of the night. + +With one exception. Fritz W., the wounded German, lost his way and was +unable to go back to town before the curfew-bell, the hour at which +every resident was supposed to be indoors. + +Finding himself near a small camp of soldiers in the vicinity of the +Pretoria West Station, he cautiously crept into one of the tents, +where he found a solitary soldier, sound asleep. Without a moment's +hesitation, he stretched himself down on the ground beside him, +thinking over the tragic events of that awful Sunday evening and +dozing off at intervals, from sheer exhaustion of mind and body. + +During the night another soldier, evidently returning from duty as +guard or outpost, entered the tent and lay beside him on the other +side. + +So he spent the night between two British soldiers, and with the first +approach of dawn he cautiously and stealthily extricated himself from +his perilous position and made his way to town. + + * * * * * + +Three or four days after the perfidious betrayal of the Secret Service +men the Committee was staggered with the tidings of the execution of +their comrades, Krause and Venter, in the prison-yard of the old +Pretoria jail. + +The third, the nameless one, had, it was said, saved himself by +turning King's evidence. + +Of their last days on earth nothing will ever be known, but those of +us blessed or cursed with the divine and cruel gift of imagination see +in our mind's eye two men in prison-cells in solitary confinement, one +a broken-hearted husband, the other the beloved son of a widowed +mother. + +Wounded and suffering they lie on their last bed of pain. Friendless +and alone they await the untimely end of their brief but glorious +career. Longing, with all the weakness of the human heart, for one +last look of love, one reassuring clasp from a tender woman's hand, +they prepare themselves to meet the death they have faced so often and +so manfully in their heroic struggle for liberty and independence. + +Fear? Despair? + +No--a thousand times, No! + +Could there have been fear or despair in the hearts of those two men, +with the knowledge beating in their brains that they held their lives +in their own hands, that one word from them of information against +their fellow-workers could avert their doom, and that they, and they +alone, could save themselves at the sacrifice of honour and fidelity? + +How in the end they met their fate we do not know--we can but dimly +guess. + +The painful task of acquainting Mrs. Krause with the fate of her +husband fell to the lot of Mr. Botha and Mr. Hocke. + +As she would probably be destitute, the two men decided to collect a +sum of money before approaching her with their evil tidings, and this +they had to do by stealth, in order not to bring suspicion on +themselves. + +They were successful in obtaining over £34 for the bereaved wife in a +very short time, from friends and sympathisers as poor as they +themselves, and later, from the same source, in the same +unostentatious way, a far larger amount was collected in order to send +the widow to her relatives in Germany. + +These details, mundane though they may appear after the stirring acts +of heroism described above, are significant of greater +things--self-sacrificing generosity, unswerving loyalty, and a +compassionate desire to atone, in some practical and helpful way, for +their share in the disaster brought on innocent and helpless +womanhood. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE SHOEMAKER AT WORK + + +That the inborn sense of humour of the Dutch South African race should +have been stunted in its growth, if not completely crushed, by the +horrors of the war, would be small cause for surprise to most people +who have given the matter a thought. But to those of us acquainted +with the facts, an entirely different and wholly comprehensible aspect +of the case has been made manifest. + +The blessed gift of humour is only sharpened by the hard realities of +life, can never be appreciated to the full in the calm and shallow +waters of prosperity. + +Of this we had innumerable proofs during those tempestuous days, and +certain it is that the memory of a harmless joke, enjoyed under +circumstances of unusual stress and trouble, grows sweeter and is +strengthened as the years go by. + +For dry humour and keen enjoyment of the ludicrous, our friend Mr. W. +Botha could not easily be surpassed; and I advise you, good reader, if +you have the chance, to induce him to tell you the following story in +his own words, and to watch the flicker of amusement in his eye. + + * * * * * + +Four of Captain Naudé's spies are in town again, resting, shopping, +and exchanging items of war experiences with their friends and +relatives. + +Countless parcels have arrived from various stores of note in town, +and four big bags, full to bursting, are arrayed against the wall for +transportation "to the front" at 7 o'clock that night. + +But what is this? Another bag? Impossible! There are but four men +going out and each one has his load, quite as much as he can carry +already. + +What does it contain? A beautiful brand-new saddle, the property of an +English officer, which Willie Els, son of the Committee member, has +determined shall on no account be left behind. + +Expostulations from the older men are all in vain. + +The saddle, with the four other bags, is put into Delport's cab, which +is waiting at the door, and, after many fond farewells, the young men +drive off in the direction of the Pretoria Lunatic Asylum. + +At this time there is no better spot for exit from the capital, but in +order to reach it one point of extreme danger has to be passed--the +point at which a British officer, with five-and-twenty mounted men, is +stationed, in command of a searchlight apparatus for scouring the +surrounding country. + +The dangerous spot has been frequently passed in safety by these very +spies. + +To-night they pass again in unobserved security, but alas! when they +have crossed the railway line, immediately opposite the asylum, where +they are in the habit of alighting with their parcels, they find to +their distress that, try as they will, they cannot carry more than the +four bags allotted to them in the first instance. + +The bag containing the precious saddle must go back to town. + +Oh, the pity of it! + +The critical spot must be passed again, and, as ill-luck would have +it, the British officer hails the passing cab and is about to get in, +when his eye falls on the bag. + +"What is this?" he asks the driver. + +No concealment possible now! + +"A saddle, sir." + +"A saddle! Whose, and where are you taking it?" + +"From Mr. Botha to Mr. Els in town. On my way I was stopped and asked +to take some passengers to the asylum, which I have just done. I was +going to Mr. Botha when you stopped me." + +The officer looks doubtful, feels the bag all over and, taking a +notebook from his pocket, enters all the details of this most +suspicious-looking affair, the number of the cab, the name and address +of the driver, the names and full addresses of the two men who have +been mentioned. + +Then he gets in and peremptorily orders the cabman to drive to +such-and-such an hotel in the centre of the town. + +With a throb of relief Delport deposits his fare at the hotel and, +whipping up his horses, drives at the utmost speed to Mr. Els' house, +to warn him of the danger he is in. + +Mr. and Mrs. Botha have just retired for the night, when they are +aroused by a hurried knock at the front door. They admit two girls, +one of them the daughter of Mrs. Els, the other a sister to Mrs. +Naudé, both extremely agitated. + +Miss Els speaks first: + +"Oom Willie, you must please come to our house at once. My father is +very ill." + +Oom Willie's heart sinks into his slippers. + +This, the long-expected sign that their game is up, has come at last. + +He hastens to the home of his friend. + +When he learns the truth the case does not seem so hopeless after all +and he feels his courage returning. + +"We must think of some plan with which to meet the police when they +come. Quick! There is not a moment to lose. They may be here at any +minute." + +In an incredibly short time the officer's new saddle is buried in a +bag of coal, which is again sewn up and thrown into the back-yard, +while an old and worthless saddle is produced, Heaven only knows from +where, cut up into pieces and placed in a large basin of water on the +dining-room table. + +"Now, Oom Gerrie," Mr. Botha says, as soon as he can find his breath, +"you are a shoemaker by trade, and this old saddle has been sent to +you by me to make shoes for my children." + +"But you have not got any! and I have never made a shoe in my life!" + +"Well, then, for my nieces and nephews. Never mind about your +ignorance. When any one comes in, remember you are just on the point +of beginning your work. I shall send you an old last when I get home." + +A pocket-knife, a hammer, and a few nails scattered on the table +complete the shoemaker's outfit, and there he sits, with trembling +hands and spectacles on nose, far into the night, for does he not +expect the dreaded knock at his front door before the dawn of another +day? + +Next morning Oom Willie raps smartly at the door and walks in +unceremoniously, to find Oom Gerrie just about to begin his work, as +with shaking hand he adjusts his spectacles. + +"How is trade this morning?" he asks, with a jolly laugh, as he +settles himself on a chair to watch his friend's discomfiture. But Oom +Gerrie is not pleased at all. The trade is getting on Oom Gerrie's +nerves, and he takes no part in the hilarity around him. + +Two days pass, three, four, and no English officer appears, no search +is made for contraband of war in Oom Gerrie's house; but every time +the door is opened or a footstep heard on the verandah, Oom Gerrie may +be found with one hand plunged in a basin of water, while with the +other he adjusts his spectacles. + +Poor Oom Gerrie! + +He gives up his trade in despair at last, for after all it does not +pay, but as long as the old man lives he will be forced to listen to +the question: + +"How is the boot-making trade?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +BITTEN BY OUR OWN DOGS + + +The events about to be recorded in this chapter have just reminded me +of an incident which took place immediately after the occupation of +the capital. + +An old Kaffir, who had been with the English just before Pretoria was +taken, told Mrs. van Warmelo that three Boer men had ridden out on +bicycles to the English lines, and held consultation with +them--traitors evidently, in secret understanding with the enemy, to +whom they took information of some sort. + +The old Kaffir wound up his remarks by saying: + +"Missis, you are bitten by your own dogs." + +How true this was, was soon to be brought home to us in the most +forcible way; but before we go on to the next developments in our +story I must not forget to tell you, good reader, that the three spies +from whom Hansie parted on the evening of August 15th had quite an +escape as they left the town. + +They were driven in a cab, with their numerous parcels, as far as the +wire enclosure, by a friend who always escorted them through the most +dangerous parts of the town. + +This friend, a young Mr. van der Westhuizen, played an important but +unobtrusive rôle in the history of the men with whom we are +concerned. + +When Hansie met him first he was in the Pretoria hospital with a badly +wounded arm, of which some of the muscles had been completely severed. +As he never recovered the entire use of that arm, he was detained in +Pretoria with other men unable to escape, and, carrying his left arm +in a sling, he was made use of by the Secret Committee and by Mrs. +Joubert, who employed him as her coachman. + +He carried a residential pass, which he produced on every imaginable +occasion, and was able to render untold services to the spies by +conveying them with their parcels to the wire fence. But on this +occasion they nearly got into serious trouble, for, just as the cab +was nearing the enclosure, a searchlight from one of the forts was +turned full on them. In consternation, one of the men ordered the +driver to turn to the left, another to the right, but with great +presence of mind he ignored them both, and drove straight on, thus +disarming a group of soldiers, standing near, of any suspicions they +might have had at seeing a cab so near the fence at night. + +Fortunately, the light was soon turned in another direction. + +The spies descended with their parcels, and were shortly in the deep +furrow along which they had to creep to reach the wire fence, +cautiously wending their way to friends and liberty, when some one +came running after them, shouting to them to stop. + +It was van der Westhuizen with a parcel they had left in the cab. + +In this way the three men left the town with the railway time-table, +not to come in again until September 10th. + +My readers will remember the five men who were cut off from their +refuge in the Skurvebergen some time back, and one of whom Mrs. van +Warmelo had refused to harbour. + +I shall not name them, for I do not feel myself justified in damning +the reputation of the Boer traitors for ever by publishing their +names, but the events I am about to relate cannot be excluded without +changing the entire character of this story. + +These men had been concealed by other friends, and when the scare was +over they escaped from Pretoria to the commandos. They had nearly been +forgotten when news reached the capital of their capture by the enemy, +five of them in all, and of their imprisonment in jail. + +While their life hung in the balance a time of nervous dread, not to +be forgotten, was passed through, for they would either be shot as +spies or they could save themselves by betraying their friends. + +The suspense was soon over. + +One of them--the very one, in fact, who had been refused admittance to +Harmony through Mrs. van Warmelo's prudence, turned King's evidence +and, to save his own precious skin, revealed the names of the good +friends who had sheltered him at their own peril. + +Rumour said that two of the betrayed would be shot on the evidence he +gave against them. + +Not only the names of his friends in town did he betray, but he also +told the authorities how and when and where the spies came in, the +names of the men who worked with him on commando, and the families who +harboured them in town. + +More than eighty people were incriminated. + +On every side whole families were arrested, the men being put into +jail, while their women and children were sent away to Concentration +Camps. + +My readers must understand that this was an entirely different set of +people, not known to those at Harmony, and with whom they had had no +dealings. It was no credit to Hansie that she and her mother were not +on the list of the betrayed. She remembered with humility and shame +her unreasonable fit of temper when her mother refused to harbour the +traitor, and determined to give ear to her wise counsel in future. + +They and their friends were in no way affected by his treachery, +except in so far that it cast a gloom over them and made them realise +that the Boers would not be able to hold out much longer against the +machinations of these traitors of their own flesh and blood. Another +matter for grave concern was the thought that Captain Naudé might +attempt to pass through his usual route, not knowing that the enemy +had been informed of it, and run straight into the traps prepared for +him. + +How to get out a warning to the Skurvebergen in time was the problem +before them now. + +Hansie spent the next few days in flying about on her bicycle to find +out if any one in the "inner circle" had been arrested. + +Thank God, no. Mr. Willem Botha was at home, the Jouberts were still +in undisturbed security, all the other members of the Secret Committee +were safe. + +They congratulated themselves and one another on their escape, and Mr. +Botha, visiting at Harmony a few days later, once more impressed on +them the danger of coming into contact with any spies other than those +they knew and trusted. + +And again he warned them to keep no papers in the house--"for," he +continued, "we must always bear in mind that we can never be sure we +have not been betrayed. Our names may be on the black list already, +and the enemy may only be waiting to catch us red-handed. No one is +safe, and no one ought to _feel_ safe." + +There was a moment's pause, and then he went on, with evident +reluctance: "I have good reason for warning you again. I do not wish +to alarm you, but only last night, as I was walking in the moonlight +with my wife, we passed a man I know well, with a girl on his arm. The +moon was shining very brightly, and, as they passed me, I distinctly +heard him say, 'This man has also been given away.'" + +Hansie felt a thrill of acute anxiety for her friend. The two women +looked at one another. + +They tried to console themselves with the thought that the man might +have mistaken Mr. Botha for some one else. There was nothing to do but +wait, but the suspense and uncertainty were very hard to bear, and +long were the discussions over every imaginable possibility. + +They knew that the traitor was acquainted with the Captain of the +Secret Service and his private secretary Mr. Greyling. Did he also +know the names of the members of the Committee? Did Greyling confide +the secret of the time-table to him? These young men were reckless. +Death was their daily bread, and caution was a thing unknown to them. + +Wonderful developments could be expected within the next few days. + +The lowering clouds of adversity gathered closely, surely, +mercilessly, around our friends. + +Clasp that hand again, and once again, in mute farewell. Look deep +into those steadfast eyes. It may be for the last time for many long, +relentless years; it may be for the last time--on earth! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE BETRAYAL OF THE SECRET COMMITTEE. A MEMORABLE DAY OF TROUBLE + + +It was only a few days after the van Warmelos had parted from Mr. +Botha that Mr. J. Joubert arrived at Harmony with the tidings that +four men had again entered the town that night. One of them was a lad +of nineteen, young Erasmus, whose parents had been killed by lightning +when he was a child, and to whom Mrs. Joubert had been a second +mother. + +When he arrived at their home that night they were very angry with +him, and demanded what he meant by coming into the very heart of +danger. + +He meekly answered that he had merely come to see how they were all +getting on, and to spend a few days at home, casually remarking that +there was a dearth of horse-shoe nails on commando, and that he had +been ordered to bring some out. + +He and his comrades knew nothing of the recent betrayal, and it was +their good fortune that they had used an entirely different route, +coming through Skinner's Court. They had not seen a single guard. + +Besides the horse-shoe nails, there was the usual demand for clothing +and European and Colonial newspapers. + +Mrs. van Warmelo immediately made a parcel of the cuttings which she +and her friends had been collecting for some time past, and wrote a +tiny note to Mr. Greyling, warning him and his fellows against coming +in through the usual way, which was now guarded, and informing him +that his name had been betrayed. This note was hidden in a match-box +with a double false bottom, covered with matches, and given to Erasmus +to be handed to Greyling. + +Since the revelations made, it was not safe to see the spies, nor was +it known by whom the match-box had been sent. + +After all, in spite of Mrs. Joubert's vexation with the reckless +youth, she was thankful to know that some one was going out to +Skurveberg with a warning to the Secret Service. + +Erasmus had to leave without the horse-shoe nails, because, though J. +Joubert hunted all over the town, he could not procure enough to send +out. + +The stores sold them only to the military and blacksmiths, and the +latter were curious to know why he did not bring his horses to them to +be shod. + +Mother and daughter were there at 5.30 p.m., with their parcels, and +at 6 p.m. the spies were to leave, Mrs. Malan and van der Westhuizen +driving out with them as far as they could. + +That was a real danger, compared with which all other risks were as +nothing, to drive through the streets of Pretoria with spies, at a +time when everyone was liable to be stopped to produce residential +passes and to show permits for horses and carriages. + +But, indeed, those women were not to be intimidated by anything! + +We have now come to a morning into which many events of disastrous +importance were crowded, the fateful September 9th. Before breakfast, +an agitated girl, unknown at Harmony, arrived with the intelligence +that Mr. Willem Botha had been arrested at 8 o'clock the night before. + +No other names were mentioned then, but it was felt instinctively that +the entire Secret Committee had been betrayed and arrested, and the +news, when it reached Harmony during the course of the day, found +mother and daughter to some extent prepared. The shock, nevertheless, +was so great, so crushing, that it took them some time to recover +sufficiently to form a plan of action. + +Hansie hastily swallowed some food and was preparing to go to town, +when her mother asked her what she meant to do, whether she had +thought of anything, or if it was advisable to show herself at all +just then. + +"I don't know what I am going to do _afterwards_, mother," she said, +"but I am going straight to Mrs. Botha now." + +"Hansie!" exclaimed Mrs. van Warmelo in consternation, "you will do +nothing of the kind. Their house will be watched, and you will be +followed home. You can do nothing to help that poor woman now, and to +be seen with her would be an unpardonable and unnecessary risk." + +But Hansie had made up her mind, and nothing could persuade her that +it was not her duty to stand by her friend in her hour of need. There +was good reason, too, for her anxiety. + +After thirteen years of happy, though childless married life, Mr. and +Mrs. Botha's home was about to be blessed with an infant child, and +it was the thought of the expectant mother's anguish and despair that +took Hansie to her side. + +"Well" (Mrs. van Warmelo was secretly pleased with her daughter's +behaviour), "if you are determined to expose yourself to this danger, +I think I had better begin to pack at once, for we shall certainly be +sent away." + +"All right, mother," Hansie laughed; "pack away, and I'll come home as +soon as I can to help you." + +She took tender leave of her mother, cheering her with hopeful words +and whistling gaily to Carlo to come and protect her on her +adventurous expedition. + +No one could have been more surprised to see Hansie than Mrs. Botha. +She stared as if she could not believe her eyes, and then fell sobbing +on her young friend's shoulder. + +"How could you risk it to come here?" she exclaimed. + +"No one else has been near me, and I am deserted by all my friends +since----" here she fell a-weeping again, and clung to Hansie for +support. + +As soon as she could speak, she gave an account of all that had taken +place. + +She and her husband were sitting under the verandah the night before, +talking about the miserable business of the spy's infidelity and its +disastrous results to so many people in town. Mr. Botha was just +saying that, in the event of his arrest, his wife need have no fear of +his betraying a friend, and that the English might shoot him, but they +would not get a shred of information out of him, when two detectives +on bicycles rode up and dismounted at the steps. + +Mrs. Botha just had time to whisper hurriedly to her husband that she +would rather see him dead than have him come back to her a traitor, +when the detectives, producing a warrant for his arrest, approached +him. + +He gave himself up quietly; there was nothing else for him to do. He +was unarmed, for it was one of the first rules of the Committee and +practically their only safeguard in the event of an arrest, to carry +on their work without weapons of any sort. + +The house was thoroughly searched for spies and all books and papers +were taken away, but, thanks to Mr. Botha's prudence and foresight, +not a single incriminating document was found. + +The remembrance of this was a source of great comfort to his wife, +for, without proofs, his life was safe, although he would probably be +sent as prisoner of war to one of the distant islands. + +Mrs. Botha was a brave and true woman. She did not think of herself at +all, but she was so much concerned for Hansie's safety that she urged +her to go home at once and not to come again. The first part of her +injunctions Hansie obeyed, but she refused to promise not to be seen +at that house again. + +It was being closely watched, there was no doubt of that, and on +getting into a cab she soon became aware of being followed by two men +on bicycles. + +This was rather exciting, and Hansie actually enjoyed the chase. +Instead of urging her cabby to whip up his horses, she gave him +instructions to go as slowly as possible, well knowing that it would +be more difficult for any one on a bicycle to follow a crawling cab +unnoticed than to pursue a more swiftly moving vehicle. + +When she reached Harmony and paid her fare she saw, out of the corner +of her eye, that the men dismounted before the War Office. + +"Were you followed home?" was her mother's first question. + +"Yes, indeed," she replied, laughing; "they are near our gate at this +very moment, and I can just imagine them going to the sergeant-major +presently, asking questions about the people living here. And I am +quite sure his answer will be, 'Bless you, no. Those two ladies are +quiet and well-behaved, and you don't suppose they could be carrying +on any of _that_ business under my very nose!'" + +Hansie's diaries had all been removed to an office in town and placed +in a _safe_ safe. All safes were _not_ "safe" in those days, but this +one belonged to a man who was known as a model of good behaviour +throughout the war. White envelopes, diaries, copies of official +dispatches from the field, all had been removed from Harmony, except +the "White Diary" which lay open on her writing-table, and to which we +owe a detailed account of the stirring events of September 1901. + +What it naturally did not contain was accurate information of the +arrest of the other Committee members and their subsequent +experiences. + +Trusted friends were beyond her reach, and she had to content herself +with what information she could gather from men "about the town," but +this information, verified by what she was told by the men concerned +long after the war was over, will give the reader a fair idea of the +events of this period. + +Not only Mr. Botha, but all the members of the Secret Committee had +been arrested that night, and two days later the staggering tidings +came of Mr. Jannie Joubert's removal to the Rest Camp, where +"political prisoners" were detained. + +Now indeed fears of a speedy raid on Harmony were justified. + +Their fellow-conspirators were all in the hand of the enemy, and +although they trusted them implicitly, and knew there was no one +amongst them base enough to betray his friends, they had no reason to +think that the people who had betrayed the others would spare them. + +One revelation after the other was made that day, and Hansie learnt +from some one, who said he was in possession of all the facts, that, +despicable though the treacherous spy's behaviour had been, he was not +responsible for the exposure of the Secret Service Committee. + +Alas, no! the appearance of another traitor in our midst has to be +recorded here. + +One of the young spies in the service of the Committee had been taken +by the enemy, how and where I am not at liberty to say, but there were +circumstances connected with his capture, and facts known to the enemy +of the hazardous part he had played on previous occasions, which made +it clear from the beginning that he would be convicted. + +Some one who was allowed to visit him regularly in his cell told me +that he stood his trial bravely and steadfastly refused to betray a +single name to save himself. Threats and persuasions were of no +avail. + +On Saturday night in his cell his death sentence was read to him. + +The execution was to take place on Sunday morning at 6 o'clock, he was +told. + +Incidentally his jailers informed him that there was still a chance +for him if he would give the authorities the names of some of the +people in town who were in communication with the Boers in the field. + +He was then left to his pleasant reflections. + +Reader, we must not be too harsh in our judgment of him. He was only a +boy, not yet twenty years of age, and we shall never know what anguish +of mind he endured that night. + +When day broke he was in no way fit for the harrowing scene awaiting +him. His father, his sister, and his fiancée were admitted to his cell +at the fateful hour that morning, to take their last leave of him. + +They clung to him, sobbing, wailing, and imploring him to give the +names of his fellow-conspirators. What arguments were brought to bear +upon him we shall never know. + +He yielded, and in that God-forsaken cell on Sunday morning he gave +the names required of him, the five members of the Secret Committee +and other names familiar to us all, Jannie Joubert, Franz Smit, +Liebenberg, etc. + +Ah, if he had been executed that day, how his memory would have been +revered by his friends and respected by his foes! But what was he +now?--a traitor, oh God! a traitor to his land and people! + +And a coward too, base and craven-hearted, shielding his miserable +life with dishonour and treachery. + +That the enemy would not have shot him in any case, because of his +youth, makes no difference to the blackness of his deed, except +perhaps to add to the bitterness of his remorse when afterwards he was +apprised of this fact.[4] + +The death sentence was commuted, and instead he was sentenced to +several years' hard labour; he was, in fact, still "doing time" in +Pretoria and Johannesburg two years after peace had been declared. + +Of the women who were the cause of his downfall I can only say that +they were never in any way connected with the "Petticoat Commando." + + * * * * * + +When the news of Jannie Joubert's arrest became known, Mrs. van +Warmelo positively forbade her daughter to go to Mrs. Joubert's house. + +There was nothing to be done, and although they had every reason to +believe that their names were on the list of the betrayed, nothing +could be gained by exposing themselves to unnecessary danger. + +It was told Hansie, the day after the last sweeping arrests had been +made, that Mrs. Joubert's carriage had been standing before the +Military Governor's office for some time. + +This information brought the reality of the situation vividly to her +mind. + +What was the old lady doing there? Pleading for her son? Was there no +way of helping her? These questions preyed on Hansie's mind, until +she obtained permission from her mother to visit Mr. Jannie's sister, +Mrs. Malan. + +Mrs. Malan was in bed with influenza, she said, but it was quite +evident that acute distress of mind had a large share in her +indisposition. + +On Sunday night, after the fateful morning of the last betrayal, the +Jouberts were surprised by a visit from the Provost-Marshal himself, +accompanied by another officer. + +They asked permission to search the house for the ammunition which +they knew to be concealed there. Ammunition! Jannie said he knew of +none, except a boxful of cartridges standing in the loft. They had +been found lying about the house and were stowed away when the English +had taken possession of Pretoria. He took the officers up to the loft +and showed them the box, but they were not satisfied, and ordered him +to appear before the Provost-Marshal the next day, to give a +satisfactory explanation. + +A search was also made for documents, but nothing was found except an +old heliographic chart which his father, Commandant-General Joubert, +had used long ago in Kaffir wars. + +Jannie Joubert went the following day to give an account of himself, +and the next thing his mother heard was that he had been arrested and +removed to the Rest Camp. (_Arrest_ Camp, some people called it!) + +He was very independent and refused to take the oath of neutrality, +which, strange to say, he had hitherto avoided, and it would certainly +not have been to his taste had he known that his mother had been to +the Military Governor to intercede for him. + +The result of that interview was not satisfactory. He would only be +released on signing parole. + +This, Mrs. Malan thought, he would certainly refuse to do. + +"We were treated with marked kindness," she continued, "and this may +be taken as proof that the English are not aware of the _real_ facts." + +The two women laughed in mutual understanding of their conspiracies. + +"Still this leniency may be only a blind, Hansie. It is painful not to +know _how much_ the enemy knows." + +"What will you do if Captain Naudé and Mr. Greyling come in to-night?" +Hansie asked. + +"Shelter them, of course!" was the undaunted reply. + + * * * * * + +That night as Hansie lay on her sleepless pillow, she felt as if all +the batteries of the gold mines were thumping on her heart. + +Mrs. Malan's last words to her rang continually in her ears: + +"Willie Botha will be executed without a doubt." + +But before day dawned Hansie's heart was at rest and she slept, for +she had solved the problem in her mind. + +She would go to General Maxwell and plead with him for the life of her +friend. + +He was human and tender-hearted, that she knew, and she would tell him +how an innocent young life hung in the balance, how the lives of both +mother and child would be imperilled if such a cruel fate befell the +father. If her pleadings were of no avail, she would offer to give, +in exchange for his life, the name of one well known to her as a +dangerous enemy to the English. + +And when she had made sure of his release, hers would be the name she +would reveal. + +During the dark days which followed Hansie found her strong support in +the thought of this resolve. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 4: The writer was misinformed on this point. After the age +of fourteen, boys are liable to be executed.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +HANSIE EARNING THE VOTE + + +Events moved quickly in those days. + +The conspirators had hardly had time to recover from the shock of the +recent arrests, they were just beginning to wonder what would happen +if their unsuspecting friends from commando walked into the pitfalls +prepared for them, racking their brains for plans to avert such a +catastrophe, when the very thing they feared took place. + +Instead of the familiar figure of Willie Botha coming up the garden +path with news, Mrs. Malan drove up with Jannie Joubert's fiancée, +Miss Malan. + +Their appearance at Harmony brought all that had happened most +forcibly to the minds of the stricken inmates, filling them with the +sense of acute loss; and when they heard what their visitors had to +tell, four women more forlorn would have been hard to find. + +In short sentences Mrs. Malan told how four young men, all ignorant of +the fate of their fellows in town, had tried to come in from the High +Veld, bearing with them dispatches from Captain Naudé to the President +and to the Committee of spies in town. + +These men had gone to and fro for months without a single encounter +with outpost or guard, but on this occasion, when they reached the +wire enclosure, they were unexpectedly met by a storm of bullets. + +One of them, as he stooped to get through the fence, felt the hot air +of a bullet passing under his nose. + +He hastily gave the order to retreat over the "koppies" and across the +railway line, thus entering Pretoria on the opposite side. + +When they met again, before entering the town, one of them was +missing! + +Young Els had disappeared, and no one knew whether he had been shot or +taken, or whether he had fallen into some hole and perhaps been so +severely injured that he could not follow them. His comrades were in +deep distress. To go back and search for him was impossible, so they +entered the town at the utmost peril of their lives. Torn and +bleeding, they slunk through the streets of Pretoria, avoiding the +light of the electric lamps, and concealing themselves behind trees at +the sight of every man in khaki, until they reached Mrs. Malan's +house. + +Their guardian angels must have kept them from going to Mrs. Joubert's +house, as usual, that night. + +Imagine their surprise and horror when they heard of the betrayal of +the Committee, for the warning sent out to Skurveberg did not reach +them, they having come from the High Veld. + +The news of Jannie's arrest and of Mrs. Joubert's house having been +searched, and now being so closely watched that they could not +possibly take shelter there, came as a crushing blow. + +True to her word, Mrs. Malan determined to shelter them that night, +but the house being too dangerous a hiding-place, they were stowed +away in Mr. David Malan's waggon-house, closely packed in one small +waggon, and there they still lay when the van Warmelos heard of their +arrival. + +From the bosom of her dress Miss Malan produced the dispatches and a +number of private letters. + +The dispatch to the President Hansie offered to send by the first +opportunity, without telling her friends that it would go by the very +next mail per White Envelope. This was a secret she naturally could +not divulge to her most trusted fellow-workers, although she could +guarantee that the work would be carried out, and they had enough +confidence in her to leave the matter in her hands. + +The letter from the Captain to the Committee was left at Harmony to be +read and destroyed. Needless to say, Hansie, with her mania for +collecting war-curios, made a full copy of both letter and dispatch in +lemon-juice before regretfully consigning them to the flames. It was +hard to destroy original documents for which such risks had been run! + +What was most disconcerting was to hear that the authorities, +evidently aware that the men had come through in spite of having been +fired upon, were searching for them in town. It was imperative that +they should leave that day, or at least as soon as night fell, for the +risk they ran was very great. + +Hansie promised to think of some way of helping them to escape safely, +and said she would see them in the afternoon. + +The feeling of responsibility on her young shoulders was very great. +There was no one to turn to, no man to whom this dangerous mission +could be entrusted, except one, her young friend, F. + +She thought of him and wondered whether she could confide to him a +scheme which had been slowly forming in her mind. + +That afternoon she was on the point of leaving for Mrs. Malan's house, +with a packet of letters and newspapers, when two lady callers arrived +at Harmony brimming with the news that the town was in a great state +of excitement. Armed soldiers were patrolling the streets, men were +stopped to show their residential passes, and every cab and carriage +was held up for inspection. + +The general opinion was that there were spies in town, for the lower +part of the town and west of Market Street were cut off by a patrol, +while a systematic search of the private houses was being carried on. + +Hansie chafed at the delay, listening with impatience to their excited +talk, and wondering what they would say if they knew that she was on +the point of going to those spies with the parcel in her hands. + +By a happy coincidence, when the callers had taken their departure, +another visitor arrived--F., the very man she wished to see. + +But he, too, was full of the excitement in town and did not notice the +unusual anxiety in Hansie's manner. + +"General Botha has come in 'to negotiate,'" he said. "The town is +alive with soldiers, but there must be something else brewing at the +same time, for every house is being searched, and a cordon has been +drawn round some parts of the town. It is impossible for any one to +get through from one place to another beyond Market Street." + +Hansie's heart sank for a moment. + +Then she said: "I have to go to town at once, F.; will you come with +me? I have a great deal to tell you and we can talk as we go along. +You remember you once said that I must come to you if ever I got into +any trouble. Well, I am in serious trouble now--not for myself--but, +tell me, have you your residential pass with you?" + +He produced it. + +She continued: "Then we are safe for the present. Let us sit in the +Park while I tell you in what way I want you to help me." + +They found a secluded spot under one of the trees in Burgher's Park, +and there Hansie took him into her confidence, unfolding her plan to +him. + +"If, as you say, F., a cordon is being drawn around the houses that +have already been searched, those three men may be cut off at any +moment. They cannot wait where they are at present, no more can they +show themselves on the streets without residential passes. If you can +help me to borrow three passes for them, I myself will walk with them +as far as the wire enclosure and bring the passes back to you." + +F. whistled, called her "plucky," but thought the whole thing far too +risky. + +"You would all be taken near the wire fence," he said, "and what about +the men who would be without their passes while you had them?" + +"They must not show themselves," she said. + +"And if they are found in their homes?" + +"Oh!" she cried impatiently, "they must be willing to risk something +too." + +"Have you thought of any one?" he asked. + +"Yes, I have thought of D. and G., if you will bring them to me. Fetch +them, F. I'll go and tell the men to wait for the passes. You will +find me at your gate." + +"But then you would have only two passes, Hansie." + +She looked earnestly into his eyes, and he turned away without a word. + +He went off in one direction and Hansie in another, and when she +reached Mrs. Malan's house she was told that the three men had decided +to risk the dangers of the street and to leave immediately. In this +they were impelled, not so much by the consideration of their own +safety, as the thought of the perils to which they exposed the Malans +by remaining in their house. When Hansie told them she was procuring +residential passes for them, they held a short consultation and +eventually decided to wait another half-hour. With passes in their +pockets they would be comparatively safe. + +Promising to come back immediately, Hansie rushed to F.'s rooms, where +she met him coming through the gate with D. and G. + +"F.," she whispered, "be quick. They are on the point of leaving." + +He drew her aside and said: "I am very sorry, Hansie. The fellows +refuse to lend you their passes." + +"Refuse!" she echoed in miserable incredulity. "Refuse! oh Heaven, and +this means life or death to those men! They _cannot_ appear on the +streets to-night without passes." + +"It is a great thing to ask, Hansie. You cannot blame them." + +"F., I must once again remind you of your promise. Help me now. I am +not pleading for myself." + +He drew his residential pass from his pocket and placed it in her +hand, motioning her to go. She gave him a quick look of gratitude, but +returned the pass with the words, "No good to me unless I have three. +Think of something else." + +He called to the two other young fellows who were standing moodily +apart and ordered them to think. + +They thought. Perhaps they would have been standing there thinking +still, if F. had not suddenly burst out with: + +"Look here, you fellows, it is not safe to stand out here like this, +and we are losing time. Let us go into my room and talk this thing +over." + +They walked rapidly towards the house, where a number of bachelors +lived together, and reached the room unobserved. + +F. drew the blinds, locked the door, and placed Hansie in an easy +chair, while he and D. rummaged in a writing-table for some papers. G. +sat on the bed with his long legs stretched out in front of him. + +The two young men were whispering together, bending eagerly over some +papers they had found. + +"This one will do," Hansie heard F. say, "but it will take some time." + +"Don't you think I ought to go and tell the men to wait?" she asked. + +"No, better not be seen walking in and out here. We will make haste!" + +Ah, why did Hansie not obey the warning voice within, and go? + +For the next ten minutes nothing was said. The men cut and glued and +typed without a word, and the result, when it was placed in Hansie's +hands, was a document exceedingly well-planned and put together. + +This was what she read: + + + MILITARY GOVERNOR'S OFFICE, + PRETORIA. + + _Special Pass_ + + for J.W. Venter, G. Vermaak, and L. Erasmus to be out until + midnight, on Secret Service. + + Signed by MAJOR J. WESTON, + Assistant Military Governor. + +What puzzled her at first sight was the small official crown above, +undoubtedly authentic, and the unmistakable signature of the Major +below; but on closer inspection, she observed that the part containing +the original letter had been cut away from the centre, the top part +with the heading and the bottom part with the signature being pasted +down on the blank page underneath. + +On the middle part of the blank sheet the "Special Pass" was typed, +and the whole when completed, with the date plainly typed underneath, +looked like a single sheet of paper folded in three. + +Hansie shook hands with them all, and asking G. to go to Harmony to +reassure her mother, she sped on her way to Mrs. Malan's house. + +F. called out after her, "If you come back this way, Hansie, I'll wait +for you and see you home." + +"All right, thank you," the answer came. + +It was now past 6 o'clock and nearly dark. Every one else was at +supper, and Hansie flew through the deserted streets with apprehension +at her heart. + +She was met at the gate by Mrs. Malan, wringing her hands and crying +out: + +"Oh, where have you been so long? Why did you not come sooner? +_They've gone!_" + +Then Hansie felt inclined to lie down and die. + +Fortunately there was no time for that. + +There was still something to be done, and, with the precious paper +clasped to her heart, she could at least pursue the men. Perhaps she +could overtake them before evil should befall them. + +"What direction did they take, and how many of them are there?" she +asked. + +"Four," Mrs. Malan answered. "One has a residential pass. If they are +held up, the other three will escape while he pretends to be searching +for it. Go over the Sunnyside bridge and call 'Jasper' when you see +four men----" + +Without waiting to hear more, Hansie turned and ran, stopping only a +moment at F.'s gate to call out his name. She did not wait to see +whether he had heard, but ran again, and he, sauntering towards the +gate a moment later on the look-out for her, saw her flying form just +disappearing in the darkness. + +"Something has evidently gone wrong," he muttered, and he, too, in his +turn began to run, pursuing the figure of the girl as she sped after +the Secret Service men. + +She did not stop when he caught up with her, pulling her arm through +his, but ran on, telling him in brief sentences what had happened. + +Every few yards she called, "Jasper! Jasper!" in the vain hope that +this might bring the fugitives forward, should they have concealed +themselves behind the trees along the road. + +Poor Hansie was becoming thoroughly exhausted, when suddenly, as they +neared the Sunnyside bridge, four men under the electric light became +plainly visible. + +"You must run again, Hansie," F. said, and putting his arm around her, +he literally carried her along. + +Alas! the figures proved to be four Kaffirs coming _towards_ them, +and, with a broken sob, Hansie realised that all their efforts were in +vain. + +It was no use running now. + +Sunnyside was badly lit, and one could barely see two yards ahead, so +the plotters walked slowly to Harmony, encouraging one another with +the thought that the men must already be beyond the outskirts of the +town. + +"We have heard no shots, and that is a good sign," Hansie said, "for +the men were armed, and in the event of a surprise they meant to fight +for their lives." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +A WAR-BABY AND A CURIOUS CHRISTENING + + +As far as was known, no men were arrested that night. + +The man who had escorted the spies through Sunnyside and over the +railway line, the dauntless van der Westhuizen with the bandaged arm, +had left them not far from the wire enclosure, and had then waited +some time, listening for sounds of commotion. + +As no shots had broken the stillness of the night, he had every reason +to believe that they had escaped with their lives. + + * * * * * + +For some weeks there was a "lull in spies." But there was no lack of +other sensations, for September 1901 will ever be remembered as one of +the most trying months throughout the year of the war. + +It reminded one of that September month before war was declared, when +the air was filled with the sweet, penetrating odour of +orange-blossoms and many hearts were torn with the agony of suspense +and a feeling of impending disaster. + +Again the orange trees were in full bloom, bringing back to one's +senses the remembrance of past suffering, and the full realisation of +present horror and unrest. + +The great weeping-willows were showing their first mysterious tinge of +pale yellowish green, and Hansie, watching them, wondered what +developments would have taken place before those overhanging branches +would be crowned with the full beauty of midsummer. September 1901 was +a month of proclamations and peace negotiations, all of which "ended +in smoke." + +After General Botha's visit to Pretoria the Boers concentrated their +forces around the capital, strong commandos under General Botha, de la +Rey, Beyers, and Viljoen. It was said that there were quite 6,000 +troops in town awaiting developments, and Hansie coming home one +evening, surprised her mother by saying that "Khaki was in the deuce +of a funk!" + +Her mother remonstrated with her, expressing her strong disapproval of +such language, but Hansie only laughed. + +"I was told so in town, mother. The enemy seems to expect our people +to sweep through the town, if only to release our prisoners. How I +wish they would come and carry off some of our splendid men in the +jail and Rest Camp!" + +The fate of the Committee men had not yet been decided. + +As they were kept in solitary confinement and naturally not allowed to +hold communication with any of their friends, nothing was known at the +time of the troubles undergone by them, and it was some years after +the war before Hansie came into full possession of the facts. + +Ten men in all had been taken that night, the five members of the +Committee and five other men in their service, and they were kept +separate, not being allowed to see one another during the sixteen days +of their imprisonment in the Pretoria jail. + +Now, the remarkable part about this story is, that though nothing had +been arranged between these men in the event of an arrest, no line of +action agreed upon by them by which they could safely guard themselves +and their friends, they one and all adopted the same policy under the +severe cross-questioning to which they were subjected in their cells. + +My readers must understand that trials under martial law are not +necessarily conducted with the ordinary formalities of a court of +justice; in fact, in the case of these men it cannot be said that +there was a trial at all, for they were cross-questioned in their +cells apart, and without witnesses. + +They never saw the light of day except for a ten-minutes' exercise in +the prison-yard every morning; and, on comparing notes afterwards, +they found that they had been subjected to the same treatment +undergone by the unfortunate men who had turned King's evidence and +who had been the cause of their undoing. To some of them the death +sentence was read at night, with a promise of pardon if they betrayed +the names of their fellow-conspirators in town, and sometimes they +were visited in their cells by officers who informed them that one or +other of their fellow-prisoners had "given away the show." + +"You may safely speak out now, for we know everything. So-and-so has +turned King's evidence." But these brave men saw through the ruse, +and steadfastly refused to sell their honour for their lives. With +one accord they answered, "So-and-so may have given you information, +but _I_ know nothing." + +They were subjected to severe treatment, half-starved, threatened, +told that they were condemned to death, and then severely left alone +with the sword hanging over their heads--to no avail. Not a word of +information was wrung from them, no murmur of complaint crossed their +lips. + +This lasted sixteen days, and during that time they suffered +intensely, the food being unfit for consumption and their surroundings +filthy beyond words. As I have said before, there were among their +number men physically unfit for hardships like these. + +Mr. Willem Botha was one of them, and as the days dragged on, the +headaches with which he was afflicted became more frequent and +increased in violence. + +He feared that he would lose his reason and, in losing it, betray all +to his jailers, and he was consumed with anxiety for his wife. + +After the first shock of his arrest, he was suddenly overwhelmed with +the recollection that he had forgotten to destroy the slip of paper on +which the message concerning the Boer traitor in the Free State had +been conveyed to him through a prisoner in the Rest Camp. He tried to +remember what he had done with it, but in vain. Each day found him +torn with anxiety, searching his memory for the threads of +recollection, broken in the stress of the last stirring events before +his arrest. Suddenly one day it flashed across his mind that he had +pushed the slip of paper between the tattered leaves of an old +hymn-book. + +Bitterly he reproached himself with his unpardonable negligence. That +slip of paper, containing injunctions to the Committee to convey +information of such a serious character to the Boer leaders, would be +sufficient proof against him and his fellows. No other evidence would +be required to bring them to their death, if it had fallen into the +hands of the enemy. + +The unfortunate man, in his prison cell, prayed for deliverance, not +only for himself, but for the trusty comrades who would be exposed to +such deadly peril by this, his one act of indiscretion. + +The weary days dragged on. + +Suffering, not to be described by words, was the daily portion of this +man. + +His fellow-prisoners shared the same fate, with one exception. + +Mr. Hattingh in his prison cell, who had been taken in his deacon's +frock-coat that Sunday night, reaped the rewards of the sagacity he +had displayed on the occasion of the visit to his house of the +Judas-Boer. + +There was a marked difference in the treatment he received at the hands +of his jailers. He was not once condemned to death, and he was hardly +cross-questioned during the entire term of his imprisonment--better +food, kinder treatment being accorded him than to any of his fellows, +as he found on comparing notes with them afterwards. + +It was quite evident that he was the only man about whose guilt the +enemy was in a certain amount of doubt. + +His family, too, was privileged, his wife being allowed a few days' +grace to sell her household goods before she was conveyed to a camp +with her children, while the families of the other men were instantly +removed and their homes taken into possession by the English. + +If the enemy had only known it, Mr. Hattingh, who was known for his +uprightness and moral integrity, had no intention of perjuring himself +in the witness-box, but had fully made up his mind to confess his +complicity and to face his death like a man and a patriot. + +There is no doubt that this brave man would have been endowed with the +required courage to uphold his word when the hour came, but it is +equally certain that no word of accusation in evidence against his +fellow-conspirators would have been wrung from his lips. + +When at the end of the sixteen days no proof of their guilt had been +found, their captors, recognising and appreciating their staunch +fidelity and unswerving loyalty, removed them from their cells in the +dreary jail to the Rest Camp, where they were able to enjoy the +privileges of the ordinary prisoners of war, and refreshing +intercourse with their brothers from the field. + +But before they were admitted to the Rest Camp they were brought one +by one into the presence of a British officer, who pompously read +their sentence to them. + +How the other men passed through their interview with him I do not +know, but Mr. Hattingh's story, told in his own words, runs thus: + +After a few questions had been put, the British officer said to him: + +"You have been found guilty of high treason, but Lord Kitchener has +been kind enough to commute your sentence to banishment as prisoner of +war." + +"But how could you find me guilty?" Mr. Hattingh asked. "I have never +been tried." + +"Be silent," the officer commanded sternly. "You have nothing to say." + +Mr. Hattingh says he was only too glad to "be silent," and betook +himself to the Rest Camp with alacrity. + +During the weeks of their imprisonment in the jail those at Harmony +were not living in a bed of roses. + +Of Willie Botha's loyalty they never had a doubt, but the other men +were unknown to them, and they knew that all were aware of the part +played by them in the Secret Service. And even if they were not +betrayed by one of the prisoners, it was a mystery that they had not +been betrayed _with_ them. + +Many of their friends, the families of the men in jail, had been sent +to Camps or across the border, and no one was more surprised at +finding themselves still in Pretoria than Mrs. van Warmelo and her +daughter. + +They felt the strain, the uncertainty of their position keenly, and +throughout those weeks they were obliged to conceal from their good +friends, the Consuls and their families, the danger to which they were +exposed and the intense anxiety with which they were filled, not only +on their own account, but for those brave men in the Pretoria jail. + +Towards the end of September, when the prisoners had been removed to +the Rest Camp, a baby-girl was born in Willie Botha's house. + +The mother had been left undisturbed in her home, a consideration for +which she and all who were concerned for her were devoutly grateful, +and now she had passed through the portals of Gethsemane and the wide +gates of Eden, in the bitter-sweet experiences of motherhood. + +The news of the birth of a daughter was duly conveyed to Willie Botha +in the Rest Camp, with a request to the authorities to allow him to +visit his wife and see his child before leaving South Africa's shores +for Bermuda. + +Permission was granted for a two-hours' visit. + +An armed soldier escorted him to his home and sat outside, under the +verandah, drinking coffee and enjoying the good things with which he +had been provided, while, inside, his prisoner, speechless with +emotion, knelt beside the mother's bed, showering kisses on the tiny +feet of his infant daughter. + +When the first greetings were over Mr. Botha said: + +"Wife, what became of that old hymn-book which was standing on the +shelf in the dining-room?" + +"I don't know," she answered; "I suppose it was taken away by Elliot +with all the other books and papers." + +"Elliot!" he muttered between his teeth. + +"Elliot, betrayer of friends, and Judas-Boer!" + +This man had been intimately known to them all, had, in fact, for many +months lived with his wife and family, as guest and friend, under the +hospitable roof of Mr. and Mrs. Hattingh, at whose hands they received +innumerable acts of love and kindness. + +Elliot was the man by whom the members of the Secret Committee were +arrested that Sunday night. + +Verily it can be said of him-- + +"For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne +it; neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against +me; then I would have hid myself from him. But it was thou, a man my +equal, my guide, and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, +and walked unto the house of God in company." + +The occasion of Willie Botha's visit having been made to serve at the +same time as a christening, there were quiet, sacred rejoicings when +the minister, who had in the meantime arrived, performed the ceremony. + +As soon as the service was over Mr. Botha walked rapidly to the +dining-room and glanced over the empty book-shelves. Nothing there! + +He stood on tiptoe for a moment, surveying the topmost shelf, and was +about to turn away disappointed, when his eye fell on the tattered +psalm-book, lying unnoticed in a corner of the shelf. + +He could hardly believe his eyes! He pounced on the book, turning over +the pages in the greatest agitation and suspense. + +The fateful slip of paper fell into his hands! + +Triumphantly he marched back to his wife's bedroom and held the magic +paper before her astonished eyes, telling her of the sleepless nights +and days of suspense he had endured through it. + +With unspeakable thankfulness in their hearts, they then and there +reduced the fragment of paper to ashes, thanking God for His wonderful +deliverance. + +But the hour of parting was now at hand--and over this, good reader, +we must draw the veil. + + * * * * * + +On their way back to the Rest Camp the armed escort, becoming +confidential, positively assured his charge that peace would be +proclaimed before October 10th. The "Powers" had intervened, he said, +and the English were leaving the country! + +He was an Irishman. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +FORMING A NEW COMMITTEE + + +Not until it became positively known at Harmony, towards the middle of +October, that the members of the Secret Committee had been sent away +to Bermuda, did Mrs. van Warmelo and Hansie breathe freely again. + +The suspense of five full weeks was over at last, a suspense not to be +described, and never to be forgotten by those who endured it. + +It did not seem possible to grasp the fact that those brave men had +escaped with their lives, and Hansie, looking up at the stars that +night, felt that she had learnt something of unspeakable value in the +relief and gratitude with which that period of concentrated suffering +had been followed. + +Carlo looked up at the stars too, for he invariably followed his young +mistress's gaze, but on this occasion, seeing nothing unusual in that +vast expanse, he stood up on his hind legs before her and gave a short +bark of inquiry. + +"They have gone, Carlo," she said. "I know you won't believe it, but +they have really gone, and if 'Gentleman Jim' knew anything about +this, he would surely say, 'I 'spose their time hadn't come yet, +little missie.' That's it, Carlo. Their time had not come yet. But +they have left things in a fearful muddle, and we will have to work as +we never worked before. The first thing to be done to-morrow morning +will be----" + +She stopped suddenly--not even to her faithful Carlo could she confide +the secret plan which she had made for reorganising and +re-establishing on a safer footing the Secret Service of the Boers in +town. + +She would form a new Committee, of five women this time, who would +carry on the work on the same lines which had been adopted by the +Secret Committee, and this plan, when she unfolded it to her mother +that night, was received with warm approval. + +The first and last meeting was held at Harmony on October 15th and was +attended by Mrs. Malan, Mrs. Armstrong, Mrs. Honey, Mrs. van Warmelo, +and Hansie, who was appointed secretary. + +Bound together by the sacred oath of fidelity and secrecy, these five +women vowed to serve their country and people, as an organised body of +workers, as long as they had the power to do so. + +On the occasion of his next visit to the capital Captain Naudé was to +be informed of the formation of the new Committee, but for the rest +its very existence was to be kept a dead secret. + +Mrs. van Warmelo told the members that she was in a position to +communicate with the President in Holland by every mail, and that the +methods employed by her would be revealed to them _after the war_. +With this they expressed themselves satisfied, willingly leaving the +matter of sending away dispatches from the field in Mrs. van Warmelo's +capable hands. + +It was felt that the greatest responsibility resting on them at the +time was to have a suitable place of refuge ready to receive the +Captain when next he entered the town. + +There was no house free from suspicion since the arrest of the +Committee, except--except--Harmony! + +Harmony, surrounded as it was by British officers and their staffs, by +British troops and Military Mounted Police--Harmony was at last chosen +as the most suitable, the only spot in Pretoria in which the Captain +of the Secret Service could be harboured with any degree of safety. + +It was arranged that he would immediately be brought to Harmony when +he came again, and in the meantime the Committee would be on the +look-out for an opportunity to send a warning and instructions out to +him not to approach the houses hitherto frequented by him. + +For many weeks no spies belonging to his set came into town. No war +news of any description reached his friends, except one day the +information, conveyed we know not how, of the safe arrival at the +Skurvebergen of young Els, the spy who had been fired upon and was +missing from his companions on that eventful September 12th. That this +news gave his relatives and friends great joy and relief after the +intense anxiety gone through on his account, my readers will readily +understand. + + * * * * * + +The discovery of the White Envelope was not always a source of unmixed +satisfaction. + +One of them, containing news of the betrayal and arrest of the +Committee, and sent to Alphen in the ordinary way, failed to reach +its destination. This caused the senders so much anxiety that for some +time they did not dare risk the sending of another. The letter might +have fallen into the hands of the censors and the secret be discovered +by them, in which event they were probably waiting quietly to catch up +further information. + +It may have been only a coincidence, but at this time the plotters at +Harmony observed that the censorship on _their_ post had been +withdrawn altogether. + +They knew only too well what this meant! And their hearts sank when +they thought of the White Envelope! + +It meant, good reader, that there was a most disquieting increase in +the vigilance of the censor; it meant that their letters were opened +_by steam_, to throw them off their guard, and to encourage them to +write with greater frankness to their absent friends. + +Mother and daughter felt the hair rising on their heads when they +thought of one of their precious White Envelopes being subjected to a +treatment of _steam_ by the censor, and of his exultation on beholding +the result. + +As the days went by, their dread of him and his evil machinations +increased, for hardly a letter reached them that did not betray traces +of his handiwork--or unhandiwork, for he was not always judicious in +the quantity of glue used by him in reclosing the envelopes. He should +have been a little more economical in the use of Government property +if he really wished to hoodwink his enemies, and he would have saved +Mrs. van Warmelo the trouble of damping the envelopes afterwards where +they stuck, on the inside, to the letters. + +While the steaming process was being carried on at the General Post +Office, no White Envelopes were taken to the censor, but they were +posted at Johannesburg by friends, and in this way the distant +correspondents were warned of danger, until it became evident that the +steam-censorship had been withdrawn and the old reassuring order of +things been established once more. + +A week or two later another White Envelope from Holland reached +Harmony in safety, by which it was known that the secret was still +undiscovered, but the fate of the missing envelope remained a mystery +to the end, and was a constant reminder and warning to the +conspirators to be careful in the use of their priceless secret. + +I am sure the Post Office officials had plenty to do during the war, +but there is no doubt that their labours were considerably lightened +by the "smugglers" who chose to dispense with the services of the +censors entirely. And then we must not forget the activities of the +spies and of their fellow-workers in town. + +Quite a large private postal service was carried on by them, as we all +know, and every week, before the entry into Pretoria became so +difficult and dangerous, hundreds of letters were carried backwards +and forwards, to and from the commandos. + +One man in town was in the habit of receiving great batches of these +smuggled letters, which he distributed to the various addresses, until +one day he was very nearly caught. He had just received a packet of +communications "from the front" and had opened it on his writing-table +in his quiet study, when the doors were opened unceremoniously and +some officials entered with a warrant to search his house. Carpets +were taken up, walls were tapped, furniture was overturned and +examined, books were removed from their shelves and every cranny +inspected with the greatest thoroughness, but the pile of letters +lying open on his writing-table, over which they had found him bending +when they entered the room, was passed over without so much as a +glance. + +This may sound a bit unreal, unlikely, but there are similar cases on +record, which we know to be true beyond a doubt, and one of these I +must relate, because it so closely concerned our friends at Harmony +and so very nearly proved to be their undoing. They did not know it at +the time, but were told by Mrs. Cloete, after the war, that she had +sent all their uncensored, their "smuggled" letters, to her friend at +Capetown, Mrs. Koopmans de Wet, with instructions to read and return +them to her as soon as possible, which Mrs. Koopmans had done, with +the alarming news that her house had been thoroughly searched for +documents while the pile of letters was lying open on her +writing-table. + +The authorities must have been "struck blind," she had said, for +though they had overhauled the place and had taken away with them +every suspicious-looking document, they had passed and repassed the +papers on her table without a word and with nothing more than a +superficial glance. + +This information had alarmed Mrs. Cloete so much that she had +immediately packed every incriminating letter and all her White +Envelopes into a tin, which she secretly buried, with the help of her +German nurse, under one of the trees at Alphen. + +And there they, or what is left of them after ten years, still lie, +for the spot has never again been found, although every effort was +made to do so. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +"TEA FOR TWO" + + +It was at the time when the northern territories were being swept by +the enemy for the first time that Mrs. van Warmelo heard that a +relative of hers had been put over the border, and was staying with +her husband at the Grand Hotel in Pretoria. + +She therefore asked Hansie to call at the hotel to inquire whether she +could be of any assistance to them in their trouble, and Hansie donned +her prettiest frock that very afternoon on her "calling" expedition, +Carlo walking with unusual sedateness by her side. + +"We'll go and see General Maxwell too this afternoon, Carlo," she +said, "and see whether we can get that permit. Always put on your best +clothes when you go to the Military Governor, my boy. You'll find that +Tommy Atkins never keeps you waiting then." + +Arrived at the hotel, she suddenly remembered that she had forgotten +her young relative's name, and did not know whom to ask for. + +She was waited upon by a hall-porter, who watched her with a face of +stolid patience while she searched her memory for the forgotten name. + +At last she said: "The lady I want was a Miss Maré, but she has +married an Englishman since last I saw her, and I have forgotten his +name. Can you tell me whether there is a young couple with a baby, +from Zoutpansberg, staying at the hotel?" + +"I'll find out, miss." + +He came back with the information that there were four young couples +from Zoutpansberg, each with a baby. + +Hansie wondered that he did not smile. + +"Are they all in?" she asked. + +"Some are in and some are out," he said. + +Suddenly he seemed to wake up. + +"Would it be any help if I told you their names?" he inquired. + +"Yes, indeed," she exclaimed; "I would know the name at once if I +heard it." + +He brought her the book in which the names of visitors were entered, +and read one name after the other slowly. + +"That's it," Hansie said. "Knevitt! Is Mrs. Knevitt in?" + +"No, miss, she is out, and I happen to know that she is leaving again +soon. They only arrived yesterday. They were put over the border by +the Boers." + +"I don't understand," Hansie answered. + +"Don't you see, miss? The Boers are still in possession of +Pietersburg, and Mr. Knevitt, as a British subject, has been put over +the border." + +"Oh yes, I see. Well, will you please give these cards to Mrs. Knevitt +when she comes in?" + +Once on the street, Hansie again addressed herself to her faithful +companion: + +"It is not hard to believe that the world is turning round, Carlo, +when one has to believe that Pretoria is the other side of one's own +border. I wonder what our next sensation is to be." + +She was soon to find out. + +The Military Governor was engaged, and she was shown into the office +of an under official, a tall, fair man whose name she did not catch. + +She was politely asked to take a seat and the nature of her business +inquired into. + +The tall, fair man bent over some papers he had before him and toyed +with a gold pencil, while she stated her case as clearly and concisely +as she could. + +He asked her a few questions, with long pauses in between, and again +bent over his papers, making pencil marks and turning the pages over +slowly. + +The silvery chime of a tiny clock told the hour of five. + +"You--er--will have some tea?" + +"No, thank you," surprised. + +A moment's silence, then he pressed an electric bell at his right +hand. + +An immaculate "Buttons" instantly appeared. + +"Tea for two," the officer commanded, without raising his head. + +Buttons disappeared, to return in an incredibly short time, bearing +aloft a well-appointed _tête-à-tête_. + +When he had withdrawn, the hospitable officer, of whom it could well +be said that "he had a teapot in his soul," poured out two cups of tea +with an abstracted air, pushed one towards Hansie with his right hand, +while he slowly stirred his own with his left. + +"Have some tea," he said persuasively. + +There was no answer, and he again bent over the work with which he was +occupied. + +Hansie got up quietly and left the room, but she had not gone many +yards in the long corridor before she became aware of hurried +footsteps following. + +It was the tall officer, very straight now, who called out to her: + +"Stop, stop a moment. Where are you going?" + +Without turning round she replied: + +"To General Maxwell. He _never_ keeps me waiting," and walked on +rapidly. + +"Don't go," he implored. "Come back to my office. I have your permits +quite ready for you. I was busy with them all the time." + +She turned round slowly and walked back with him to his office. + +"Thank you _very_ much," she said as she took the papers from his +hand. + +He opened the door for her with exaggerated courtesy, and she went on +her way, brimming over with delight. + +"I missed two teas this afternoon, but I got my permits and came off +with flying colours," she confided to her dumb companion. "Let us go +home and tell the mother all about it, Carlo mine." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +KIDNAPPING MAUSER THE KITTEN + + +One afternoon when Mrs. van Warmelo and Hansie were returning home, as +they passed the house occupied by one of the biggest "lords" in the +British Army, they saw an exquisite black kitten sitting on the steps +leading from the street to the garden. + +Such a kitten! Coal black she was, except for a snowy shirt front and +four dainty, snow-white paws. + +A delicate ribbon of pale blue satin was fastened in a bow round her +neck, and she blinked at the passers-by in friendly consciousness of +her superior beauty. + +"Oh, you darling!" Hansie exclaimed. "I wish you belonged to me!" + +"She does," Mrs. van Warmelo answered, and stooping, she picked up the +unresisting kitten and placed it in her daughter's arms. + +It was done in a moment and was meant for a joke, but Hansie took the +matter seriously and walked on, rapturously caressing her small +"trophy of the war." + +"Hansie, put that cat down," Mrs. van Warmelo said, looking anxiously +up and down the street. + +"No indeed, mother; you gave her to me." + +"You know very well I did not mean you to keep her. I decline to have +anything more to do with the matter." + +She walked rapidly on and Hansie followed in some uncertainty, but +holding on to her new-found treasure as if her life depended upon it. + +Soon she caught up with her indignant parent and said in a +conciliatory tone of voice: + +"Surely, mother, you don't suppose I would steal a cat from any one +else! But Lord ---- is trying to take my country, why should I not +take his cat?" + +"Two wrongs never made one right," her mother answered, "but do as you +please. You always do." + +Hansie kept that kitten and, after Carlo, loved it better than any +other pet, and even Mrs. van Warmelo relented as she watched the +playful creature hiding in the shadows and springing out at every +passer-by. + +"What are you going to call her?" she asked her daughter. + +"Oh, I don't know. Perhaps I'll go and ask Lord ---- what _he_ called +her." + +She stopped, observing her mother's frown, and then went on: + +"We must think of a name, a nice, appropriate war name." + +A few moments later the kitten crept into a corner, with a small mouse +held firmly between her jaws. + +"Oh, mother, look, she has caught a mouse already. She is going to be +a splendid mouser. And oh, now I have a name for her. We'll call her +'_Mauser_,' mother dear!" + +So be it. "Mauser" is her name, and hereafter she may be seen +invariably in Hansie's company, a welcome addition to the small, +harmonious family. + +Perched on Hansie's shoulder as she sat reading under the verandah, or +purring round her as she lay under the trees, with Carlo watching by +her side, Mauser was ever to be found where her young mistress was; +and when the latter went to town she and Carlo were invariably +escorted to the gate by the faithful Mauser, who again welcomed them +on their return. + +This kidnapping episode had taken place a few months after the British +entry into Pretoria. + +A full year had gone by; and Mauser, the kitten, had developed into a +beautiful full-grown cat and was the mother of five mischievous little +ones, grey-striped and very wild, for whom she had made a home in a +deep hollow in the trunk of one of the big weeping-willows, the very +tree under which "Gentleman Jim" had built his small kitchen of +corrugated iron. + +It is a stormy night in November 1901, a month remembered by all for +the violence and frequency of its storms. + +Hansie is bending over her diary, trying to make her entries between +the crashes with which the house is shaken. + +Her mother is lying on a couch near by; her tired eyes are closed, but +she is not asleep. Who could sleep in such a storm? + +Perhaps we may be allowed to look over the writer's shoulder. + +"Nov. 8th, Friday, 10 o'clock p.m. + +"And this terrific storm has been raging for hours! It seems +incredible. + +"It was the same last night and the night before. As I write, the roar +of thunder never once breaks off, peal after peal, crash after crash, +vivid, dazzling flashes of lightning, torrents of rain mixed with +hail, and a howling wind. + +"Such a night is never to be forgotten. + +"One is thrilled and impressed by its magnificence, by its awful +grandeur and its majesty, and yet I think one would go mad if it +continued for any length of time. + +"I feel as if _I_ am going mad with the thought of our thousands and +thousands of women and tender little children exposed to all this +fury.... + +"Where is the God of pity to-night? + +"Surely not in our desolate land, not in our ruined homes--_not in +South Africa_! + +"The fourth storm within a few hours, each more violent than the last, +is just approaching, and this one threatens to surpass the others in +unabated fury. + +"The Lord hath turned His face from us. + +"The hand of the Lord is laid heavily upon us. His ear is deaf to our +cries and supplications. I cannot write, my soul is crushed by the +sorrow, suffering, and sin around me.... + +"I feel better now, but the struggle has been great.... + +"At the front, fierce blows have been struck lately. Our men are +fighting as they never fought before.... + +"How the storm rages on! In my sheltered home, safe from the fury of +the elements, I think I suffer more than the women under canvas, for +_their_ sakes.... + +"The letter I have before me must be answered now. He asks me to bind +myself to him definitely.... + +"I have decided to do so. It is a weighty step, and God knows.... + +"But I have long prayed for guidance, and it seems to me clear enough +that we are destined for one another. + +"So to-night, in this raging storm, with a heart filled with the +desolation of land and people, the blackness of the present, the +hopeless misery of the future, I am going to write the words which +will bind me for ever to L.E.B. + +"Strange betrothal! Strange sequel to a stormy life! + +"But perhaps--perhaps, the future holds something for me of calm and +peace...." + +With throbbing brow she went out into the night to watch the storm, +from a sheltered corner under the verandah. + +Nothing fascinated her so much. + +Suddenly a blinding flash, accompanied by a sound like the sharp +cracking of a whip and instantly followed by a deafening roar of +thunder, drove her to her mother's side. + +"Are you all right, mother? That bolt fell very near. I thought it +struck the house." + +"It was frightfully close," Mrs. van Warmelo answered. + +"Come and sit beside me here. I am quite sure one of our big trees has +been struck." + +She was right, for walking through the demolished garden next morning, +they came upon the spot where the bolt had fallen and found one of the +gigantic willow trees furrowed from top to bottom, with the outer bark +scorched and curled up like paper and the white bark showing +underneath. + +Jim was breaking down his little kitchen with all the speed he could. + +"What are you doing, Jim?" Hansie asked. + +"Jim's shifting," was the answer, soberly and sadly made. + +"But the storm is over. All the danger is past. You can safely stay on +now." + +"No fear, little missie. The Big Baas was very cross last night, and +when Him cross He don't care what He do. Jim want to live a little +longer." + +Hansie laughed. + +"I wonder where Mauser could have been with her kittens last night!" +she exclaimed, putting her hand into the deep hollow of the tree. "The +nest is empty. Do you know, Jim?" + +"No, little Missie. I 'spose Mauser's time had not come yet," he said, +with stolid philosophy. + +"I suppose not." + +But alas, alas! Mauser's time was soon to come, for the soldiers, +setting a strong trap to catch a wild cat which was nightly plundering +them of their meat ration, caught Hansie's beloved Mauser instead, +killing her instantly. + +No reproaches from her mother were added to her keen remorse as she +bent over the motherless kittens, whispering: "_I_ will care for you, +as _she_ would have done; but oh, remember this, that honesty is the +best policy, and all is _not_ fair in love and war." + + * * * * * + +Tragedy was in the air. + +A bee-keeper came to Harmony one morning to help Mrs. van Warmelo to +take out honey from the hives, and this disturbance, combined with the +fact that the soldiers had unwisely set up a smithy near the beehives +under the row of blue-gum trees dividing their camp from Harmony, +enraged the bees so much with the noise and the smoke and heat of the +smithy fires, that they attacked man and beast in vicious fury. + + [Illustration: THE APIARY, HARMONY.] + +In a few moments all was confusion. + +The servants rushed about frantically, in their endeavours to bring +the fowls and calves under shelter in time. + +The two women took refuge in the house, closing the doors and windows, +while they watched the consternation and disorder in the camp. + +Fortunately there was only one horse in the smithy at the time, a +beautiful chestnut mare belonging to the Provost-Marshal, Major Poore, +so Mrs. van Warmelo was told afterwards. + +The soldiers seemed to lose their heads entirely. They ran away, not +into their tents, but right away into the "koppies" on the other side +of the railway line. + +The bee-keeper cut the halter with which the unfortunate horse was +tethered to a post, then he too took refuge. + +What followed was pitiful to behold and will never be forgotten by the +women, helplessly, and as if fascinated by the scene, watching from +their windows. + +The infuriated bees, deprived of all other living things on which to +wreak their vengeance, turned, in their thousands, on the hapless +mare, which stood unmoved, as horses do, when lashed by hail or +panic-stricken under flames. + +She made no attempt to save herself, but with bent head and ears laid +flat she stood still under the furious attack of countless bees. + +One or two of the men, wrapped up to the eyes in the coats and +waistcoats of their comrades, cautiously approached the mare at their +own great peril, and tried with all their strength to move her from +the scene. + +In vain. As if rooted to the spot she stood, with her four feet +planted firmly on the ground, and they desisted in despair, once more +fleeing to the hills. + +All day they sat upon the hillside, homeless, many of them hatless, +until towards afternoon, when, the fury of the bees abating, they +ventured a return to their tents. + +The next day, when the dead mare had been removed for burial, a letter +was brought to Mrs. van Warmelo from the Provost-Marshal, commanding +the immediate removal of the beehives to some safer spot in the lower +portion of Harmony. + +This was done by degrees, little by little every night, in order to +accustom the bees to the change gradually, and there was never any +repetition of the attack. + +Hansie, writing to her brother in his prison-fort at Ahmednagar, that +his bees had put a valuable English horse out of action for ever, +received in reply a postcard, with the single comment, "My brave +bees!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE FIRST SPIES AT HARMONY + + +As we have said, the Committee of women had decided on Harmony as the +only safe spot for harbouring Captain Naudé on his next visit. It was +still hemmed in by troops on every side, and, as the weeks went by, +and the van Warmelos became _more_ convinced that their name had not +been betrayed with those of the Secret Committee, they settled down +with a sense of peaceful security and prepared themselves once more +for the reception of their friends. + +Their wonderful "escape" was a topic of daily conversation, and they +congratulated themselves over and over again with not even having been +approached by the military and put on their best behaviour. + +No promises had been given by them, and they felt free as the birds of +the air to continue their work of outwitting the enemy, whenever +occasion presented itself. But occasions were rare now. + +As far as was known, there was no longer a spot in the fencework +around Pretoria through which a spy could enter unobserved, and no +word or sign had been received from the brave Captain for more than +three months. By this they knew that he had been informed of the +calamities which had befallen his friends in town. + +Still they doubted not that he would at least make an attempt to come +in again. His friends remembered his once having said that his keen +enjoyment of the perils he underwent was only enhanced by the +obstacles which lay in his way, and when the English thought they had +made it quite impossible for any man to cross their lines, it would be +his greatest pleasure to prove how much mistaken they were. + +There was no vain boasting in the quiet and natural way in which he +made these remarks, and they were remembered with a strong conviction +that he would keep his word. But still it was realised that his +greatest difficulty would not be so much his entrance into the town as +his perplexity when once he found himself there. + +He would not know where to go. His friends had been banished, their +houses were occupied by the enemy, and as yet he did not know of the +existence of the new Committee. Sending out word to him was +impossible. + +No man could risk the unknown dangers of leaving the town under the +present conditions to warn him; no one would know where to find the +Secret Service Corps in the field. His friends decided to possess +their souls in patience, trusting in the capabilities of the wily +Captain and knowing full well that if any one could find a way out, or +in, he would. + +He did not disappoint them, and they might have known that on this +occasion everything he did would be exactly opposed to his former +methods. + +It was to be a time of surprises for every one. + +Hansie and her mother were just talking about the Captain and +regretting the appearance of the young moon--which meant under +ordinary circumstances, _no_ spies in town--and wondering how much +longer they would be able to endure their suspense--wondering, too, +how they would communicate with the Commander in future and longing +for reliable news from the field--when the unexpected happened. + +At break of day December 17th three travellers entered the town, +travel-stained, torn, and weary. They walked boldly through the +streets of Pretoria in the dim light of a summer's dawn, and what +their destination was we shall see presently. + +The van Warmelos were having supper that night at 8 o'clock when the +door opened unceremoniously and Flippie's shock head was thrust in. + +"There are two ladies looking for Harmony," he said. "They are at the +front gate and want to see you." + +Hansie immediately went out and met two girls, strangers to her, +coming up the garden-path. + +"Good evening," she said. "Do you wish to see my mother?" + +"Who are you?" was the somewhat unexpected but perfectly natural +question. + +"I am Miss van Warmelo. Do you want any one here?" + +"Yes," one of them replied in a hurried and mysterious way. "There are +two men at your garden gate and they want to see Mrs. van Warmelo." + +"Won't you ask them to come up to the house?" Hansie asked. "You can't +very well expect my mother to----" + +"Oh yes, she must," the other broke in hurriedly; "it is all +right--she knows them. They will tell her themselves what they want." + +"Wait here a moment. I will call my mother." + +Hansie had some trouble in persuading her mother to leave the house. + +"I am not going down to the gate to see any men," she said. "Let them +come up to me." + +"They won't, mother. It is no use. There is something behind this. +They are either our own spies or the English are setting a trap for +us. Be on your guard, but come out into the garden." + +Sorely against her will Mrs. van Warmelo hurried out of the house, +where she gave the girls a cool and haughty reception, saying: + +"I don't understand this. Will you be good enough to ask your friends +to come up to my house if they wish to speak to me?" And with that she +turned back to the house alone. + +Girl No. 1 said, "I think I had better go and fetch them, they are +waiting near the wire fence," and walked rapidly down the path, while +Hansie followed slowly with girl No. 2, asking many questions, but +getting none but the most unsatisfactory replies. + +When they reached the gate, girl No. 1 had disappeared altogether and +there was no sign of the men. Hansie thought this very suspicious, and +was about to turn to her companion with an impatient remark, when she +suddenly said something about going to look for girl No. 1 and +disappeared too, leaving Hansie standing alone at the gate with her +troubled reflections. + +Men and girls had now disappeared for good it seemed, and, after what +seemed an endless time of waiting, she decided to go back to the +house, when she was suddenly joined by her mother, now thoroughly +alarmed. + +"It must be a trap, dear mother," she whispered. "I can't make it out. +Ah, here is some one coming at last"--but then her heart stood still, +for a tall English officer, with helmet on and armed to the teeth, +advanced, saluting the two ladies in the pale light of the young moon. + +"Naudé," he whispered, stretching out his hands to them. + +Captain Naudé in an English officer's uniform! Thank God, thank God! + +In a moment all was happy confusion. + +The Captain introduced his corporal, Venter, warmly took leave of +girls No. 1 and 2, thanking them gratefully for services rendered by +them that night, and then the four people sauntered up to the house, +talking loudly as they passed the sergeant-major's tin "villa" on the +other side of the fence. + +The glimpse Hansie caught of the good man, calmly sitting inside, +smoking his pipe and reading, little dreaming that his arch enemies +were within a stone's throw of his peaceful abode, added a delightful +thrill to the sensations experienced by her that night. + +Very little was said when once they got inside. The hostesses took in +the condition of the starved and exhausted heroes at a glance and +busied themselves with preparations for a feast, while the men +stretched themselves on the sofas in the dining-room. When Mrs. van +Warmelo had lit the fire in the kitchen and set the kettle on to +boil, Hansie opened the windows of the drawing-room as wide as +possible, lit the lamps and candles, and opening the piano, played +some "loud music" for the edification of the sergeant-major. + +"I've made him understand that we have visitors," she said, laughing, +when she got back to the dining-room. "He will quite understand the +all-pervading smell of coffee, even if he can't account for the ham +and eggs at this time of night." + +Home-made bread, butter, and preserves, rusks, cold plum-pudding, and +fruit completed the repast--and how the men tucked in! They were so +bruised and worn-out that they could hardly sit up straight to eat, +and when they had each "forced a square meal into a round stomach" +they once more stretched themselves out on the sofas, supremely +content with their pipes. + +Mother and daughter sat beside them talking until nearly midnight. + +"Tell me" (Hansie began at the end)--"tell me where you disappeared to +from our gate. I can't quite forgive you the nasty fright you gave us. +You might have come straight up to the house." + +"Well," Naudé answered, "I did not know whether you were still in town +and alone at home, and we could not risk finding you with visitors. +While we were at the gate some of the Military Mounted Police passed +and we thought it safer to go for a walk. Unfortunately we walked +right into their camp, and before we knew where we were, we were +falling over their tent-ropes, and in our hurry to escape from them we +found ourselves before the house of the Military Governor, where the +sentinels on guard saluted me most respectfully. I can't tell you how +glad we were to find you waiting for us when we came back to the +gate." The diary shrinks from the attempt to describe the thrilling +adventures these men had to relate, their hairbreadth escapes, their +hardships, privations, and fatigue. + +They sat talking with them far into the night, their hostesses hung on +every word, their hearts full of admiration and respect for men so +brave, so strong and calm, facing death a thousand times without +flinching, looking their troubles philosophically in the face, +trusting implicitly in their God. + +The faith of Captain Naudé was sublime. + +By degrees they got the story of their entering into the town from +them. + +It seemed that at this time Pretoria was so well guarded that it was +almost impossible for the wiliest of spies to pass through the +sentries unobserved, but, after much cautious inspection, one single +unguarded spot had been found, the drift of the Aapies River, over +which the S.E. railway bridge passed. This drift, which was about +twenty feet wide, was so completely fenced in with a network of barbed +wire that it was evidently not considered necessary to place sentinels +there. By throwing over their parcels first and working away the +ground for more than an hour under the barbed wire, the men were able +to crawl and wriggle their way through the barrier. + +They made it a rule never to clip the wires around the town, because +this would betray the route used by them, but out in the veld no wire +fences were spared. + +When they had removed the worst traces of dust and dirt from their +clothes they walked boldly through the streets, Naudé in the uniform +of an English officer and Venter and Brenckmann, as his orderlies, +dressed in khaki. + +They were anxious to get under cover before the full light of day +overtook them, but none of them knew where Harmony was, and they +actually walked over the lower portion of Harmony's grounds, across +the main road and over the Sunnyside bridge, hiding themselves in the +thick poplar bushes beside the river. Here three Kaffir police sprang +up and saluted Naudé as he passed. But for his uniform, he and his men +would have been lost. + +After a short consultation it was decided that Brenckmann should risk +walking through the town in daylight to his home in Arcadia and send +some one in the evening to escort Naudé and Venter to Harmony. + +The two men had a terrible day in the bush, lying as flat as possible +in the choking heat, without food and nothing to drink but a little +filthy water in a hole near by. + +When night fell Brenckmann sent his sister, with one of Venter's, to +their hiding-place, and then the search for Harmony began. It was the +unsuspecting Flippie, lounging about the streets after his day's work +was done, who gave the required information and volunteered to show +them the way. + +Before they retired for the night Naudé took Mrs. van Warmelo's hand, +and, looking earnestly into her face, said: + +"Do you know what it means to harbour me? There is a heavy price on my +head, and in the event of an attack I do not mean to be taken alive. +There will be a fight under your roof. I am well armed"--he tapped his +revolvers significantly; "it means confiscation of your property and +imprisonment for you and your daughter. Are you prepared for this? If +not, say the word; it is not yet too late for us to seek refuge +elsewhere." + +"You are heartily welcome here," she replied, "and if it comes to +fighting----" + +"We have arms too," Hansie broke in, "a revolver and a pocket-pistol. +It will not be the first time that Boer women have fought side by side +with their men----" She stopped in some confusion, suddenly +remembering General Maxwell and the permits he had given her. + +"I fervently hope there will be no fighting," she continued. "I am +sure there will not be. There are too many troops lying around +Harmony, we shall never be suspected of harbouring spies; but if we +should be surprised in the night, don't begin shooting at once. We +have a hiding-place for you." + +Mrs. van Warmelo led the way to her bedroom, where the men were to +sleep, and, removing a rug from the floor beside the bed, she lifted +two boards and disclosed an opening large enough for the body of a man +to pass through. + +"Put all your belongings in here and creep in at the first alarm," she +said. "We will cover you up securely. Leave the matter in our hands." + +"By the way," said the Captain suddenly, "who is Flippie?" + +She gave him a brief outline of Flippie's history and how he came to +be at Harmony. + +"Why do you ask?" + +"Well, I should like to cultivate Flippie's acquaintance. I must find +out what he thinks of how _we_ come to be with you." + +"Oh, Flippie is all right," she declared. "You can trust him with +anything. But perhaps it will be safer for you to remain in hiding +while you are with us, not to be seen even by the servants." + +"We can arrange all that to-morrow," Captain Naudé answered. "I am +sure you must be tired now, and perhaps you will not get much rest. +There are many things to do and to discuss to-morrow. I must see +several people and give you the reports for the President." + +"Will you let me be your secretary?" Hansie asked. "I am secretary to +the new Committee." + +"I shall be very glad if you will," Captain Naudé replied. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE CAPTAIN'S VISIT + + +Needless to say, there was not much peace or rest for any one that +night. + +Mrs. van Warmelo and Hansie kept guard all night in the dining-room. +Every time Carlo barked outside they sprang up in alarm, their hearts +throbbing, their breath held up in listening suspense, but nothing +happened; and when day broke and the glorious sunlight flooded the +garden, all their fears vanished, and they felt as if they had been +harbouring spies all their lives. + +They were up early, and as soon as their guests heard sounds of life +about the house they cautiously emerged from their rooms, looking +about them anxiously and inquiringly. + +"Come in and have some coffee," Mrs. van Warmelo said warmly. "Did you +have a good night? The servants are not in the house yet and you are +safe for the present, but we must make our plans immediately. Are you +going to be seen about the house or not?" + +Captain Naudé then informed her that his orderly Venter wished to go +home to his people in Arcadia towards evening, if she could lend him +civilian clothing to wear, for once in the town the khaki was more of +a danger than a safeguard to him, and Captain Naudé was in the same +difficulty himself. + +It would never do for him to be seen at Harmony in an English +officer's uniform--"unless," he added inquiringly, "you are in the +habit of entertaining the British military?" + +"No, indeed we are not!" she exclaimed indignantly, and told him the +story of the officers who had tried to visit her. + +"Only one dear old colonel comes now," Hansie said, "but he has not +been here for a long, long time. I would enjoy introducing you to +him." + +"Not in these clothes," Naudé replied. "An English colonel would know +at once to whom they belonged. No; if I am to remain at Harmony as an +ordinary visitor, you will have to provide me with ordinary clothes." + +Mrs. van Warmelo promised to do that during the course of the day, and +in the meantime it was decided to keep the men in the unused spare +bedroom, out of sight of the prying eyes of servants and possible +callers. + +There their meals were served to them, the women washing up their +dishes without a sound in the privacy of their own bedrooms, and at +the same time doing all in their power to look and act as usual, +showing themselves all over the house and garden, and busying +themselves with the usual household duties. + +"What did those two khaki women want with you last night, Miss +Hansie?" the irrepressible Flippie asked as soon as he saw her that +morning. + +"Khaki women! What _do_ you mean, Flippie?" + +"They _were_ khaki women," he said aggressively. "I saw two English +officers with revolvers with them, and they were pretending they +didn't belong to them. What did they want with Harmony?" + +"I don't know them, Flippie. I never set eyes on them before. I am +sure they were up to no good." + +"But what did they say they wanted with Harmony?" he persisted. + +"They told me they were looking for something else," Hansie answered +lamely. "Have you fed the fowls, Flippie?" + +"No, but I wonder--" + +"Then go and do so at once," Hansie interrupted severely. "It is long +past 6 o'clock." + +He went unwillingly. + +On comparing notes, she found that he had carried on the same +conversation with her mother. There was no doubt that his suspicions +had been thoroughly roused, and for the next few days they had their +hands full, trying to keep his curiosity in check. Perhaps if they had +taken Flippie into their confidence and trusted him with their secret, +it would have saved them all the anxiety and unrest they had to pass +through afterwards, but they acted for the best, and perhaps they +would have been betrayed in any case. + +What use to speculate now on what might have been? + +Hansie's first duty that day was to go to town and inform the members +of the Secret Committee of Naudé's arrival in Pretoria, and to procure +clothing for Venter. + +A friend of hers, whom she judged to be about the same size as Venter, +gave her a splendid suit of clothes, nearly new, without asking many +questions, and placed his further services at her disposal. + +She then went to Venter's relatives in Arcadia and told them on no +account to visit him at Harmony, as he was coming home to them that +evening. Too many people knew about the spies at Harmony, and there +was good reason for beginning to feel uncomfortable. + +The women of the Committee promised to call at Harmony that afternoon. + +When Hansie arrived home she sewed on Venter's buttons, supplied him +with studs and ties, a clean pocket-handkerchief, and a new hat. + +I believe he had on clothing belonging to six different people when he +sallied forth soon after sundown, and Mrs. van Warmelo was glad to see +the last of him, for her cares and responsibilities were multiplying, +and his presence in the house was one more. + +The Captain was still in his uniform, but he was provided with clean +underclothing from the "boys'" wardrobes, and from that moment the +unmistakable smell of _commando_ no longer pervaded that home! + +The rest of the morning was spent in making copies of the dispatches +to the President and drawing up a list of the necessaries to be +provided by the Committee for the men to take out with them, and in +the afternoon Harmony was besieged with a stream of callers. + +Poor Hansie thought they would never end, and while she was +entertaining them in the drawing-room her mother was keeping the +others quiet in the dining-room--Mrs. Honey, Mrs. Armstrong, Mrs. +Malan, and the two spies. + +That night their sleep was deep and refreshing, for they were worn +out in mind and body. There was only one man in the house, and they +were getting used to his presence, and the thought of the secret +hiding-place gave a sense of security. + +They were up early again next morning, and, all the "business" +transactions having been done the day before, they devoted themselves +to the entertainment of their guest. + +A more delightful day they never spent, and the memory of it clings to +them still. + +Captain Naudé was beginning to feel the restrictions of city +hospitality, and, longing to get out into the big garden, where the +early figs and apricots held their tempting sway, he asked Mrs. van +Warmelo once more to provide him with a suit of civilian clothing. + +He was taller and slighter of build than the "boys," but she gave him +a suit belonging to the youngest son, Fritz, and from that moment he +walked freely about the house and garden. + +His helmet and uniform lay buried in the hiding-place under the floor, +but his revolvers he kept on under his coat, in the leathern belt +strapped around his waist. This fact was significant of the deadly +peril in which they all were. + +While the women were hastily getting through their household duties in +order to have a long talk with him, he roamed about the garden and +finally stretched himself out on the benches under the six +weeping-willows at the foot of the orange avenue. + +"Who dat lying under our trees, Miss Hansie?" "Gentleman Jim" +inquired, from his perch in the mulberry tree behind the house. + +"A friend of ours, Jim. He has been very ill in the hospital and has +asked us to let him spend the day in our garden." + +"Oh yes, I can see him's cloes much too big for him." + +"Hand me that basket, Jim, if it is full," Hansie commanded. "Here is +another; and when you have finished, make a big fire in the kitchen, +because we must have a nice dinner to-day for the baas." + +"All right, little missie," was the respectful answer. + +"Gentleman Jim" was settled, and the same performance was gone through +casually with Flippie and Paulus; but the three Italian gardeners and +the eight or ten Kaffirs employed by them were left to think what they +pleased, and they went about their work without taking the slightest +notice of Captain Naudé. + +"The people in your hospital have nice ruddy complexions," Mrs. van +Warmelo said laughingly, when Hansie told her what the Captain was +passing for; but the ruse answered, and, for the time at least, all +suspicions were lulled to rest. + +When they joined the Captain in the garden later on they invited him +to help them to gather strawberries for the people who were coming to +see him again that afternoon. They were just engaged in the pleasant +task, chatting gaily and feeling, oh, so safe, when Mrs. van Warmelo +started violently. + +The sergeant-major was standing on the other side of the fence, +watching them intently. + +Captain Naudé bent low over the strawberry plants and whispered: +"Don't move. Go on picking quietly. He will soon go away." + +He did, apparently satisfied with the appearance of the stranger, but +the ladies had been seized with a sudden nervousness and implored the +Captain to come into the house. + +Mrs. van Warmelo pointed out to him a group of dense loquat trees, +with dark-green, glossy foliage, a suitable place of refuge should he +be compelled to flee from the house at night. + +He was not a man of many words, but, once started, there was no +difficulty in getting all the information they wanted out of him, and +he answered their leading questions in a simple, straightforward way, +his every word bearing the unmistakable stamp of truth. + +I have avoided going into the details of the actual war as much as +possible. + +It has not been my intention to weary my reader with dry facts +concerning battlefields, nor to give the war reports and war rumours, +so often unreliable, with which Hansie's diary is filled, but the +events connected with Captain Naudé's first visit to Harmony I wish to +give in the smallest detail. Great historical truths stand out in bold +relief against a background of minute details and the realistic +description of the common life. This background Hansie's diary affords +better than anything written from memory after many years could have +done. + +While the Captain slept Hansie made her notes, and when he woke she +was with him again for further news. + +Her thirst for information was insatiable. + +"I have been longing to ask you, Captain, where you got your English +uniform," Hansie said as they sat down in the dining-room with the +great bowls of scarlet strawberries before them. "Tell us everything +while we remove these stems." + +"You have heard of the terrible battle we had at Bakenlaagte--when +Colonel Benson fell, mortally wounded? I was there." + +"Were you?" they exclaimed in breathless surprise. + +"Yes, and the uniform lying buried under your floor I myself took from +the dead body of Colonel Thorold after the battle." + +By degrees a full description was given of that great British reverse +on the High Veld and what took place after. + +When the battle was over and Colonel Benson lay mortally wounded, +surrounded by doctors and officers in high authority, Naudé advanced, +and asked to be allowed to take his papers. The men protested, but +Naudé ordered them all aside and gently removed every paper from his +pockets. He had no important documents with him and the private papers +were of course returned to the men in charge of the dying officer. + +He expired soon afterwards and was mourned by the Boers as well as the +English, for he was admired and respected by all for his courage and +daring, and his fame as an honourable foe had spread throughout the +Boer lines. + +Many of them were heard to say that they had only meant to catch him +and that they bitterly regretted his death. + +It was one of the worst battles, under General Botha, Naudé had ever +been in. About twelve Boers were killed instantly, and three wounded +to death. + +With the storming of the cannon, Boers and English were so close +together that the one could hear what the other said, and Naudé's +corporal, Venter, saw a poor soldier fall back mortally wounded, +gasping out with his dying breath, "Oh, dear mother!" + +God of pity! who will tell that bereaved parent that her son's last +thoughts and words were for her alone? + +It was terrible to hear the wounded and dying praying and calling to +their God for help. Nationality, language, enmity, and bitter hatred +were forgotten as side by side those mortal foes prepared to meet +their God--_one God!_ + +Imploring one another for help, praying for one drop of water to +alleviate their dying agonies--in vain! + +Two cannon were taken by the Boers, one of which they destroyed at +once, keeping the other for their future use. + +When all was over General Botha spoke a few touching words to his men, +thanking them for their bravery, and congratulating them on their +success. + +Unpleasant though it may be to think of, it is my duty to relate that, +before burial, the soldiers were stripped of their clothes, and every +Boer permitted to take what he required, but the bodies were treated +with respect. + +Naudé, for purposes of his own, chose the uniform of the dead Colonel +Thorold, which had six bullet holes through it and was covered with +blood-stains. + +Revolvers, leggings, whistle, helmet, all was complete, even to the +stars and crown on the Colonel's shoulders. + +Naudé felt himself rich indeed in the possession of articles which he +knew would be invaluable to him on his next entry into Pretoria. + +One of his men took Colonel Benson's uniform, but handed the crown to +him (Naudé) at his request, and then the bodies were covered with +blankets for a hurried burial. + +Oh, cruel war when men slay one another! + +"Oh, blest Red Cross, like an angel in the trail of the men who slay!" + +There were about ten dead English _officers_ on the field and nineteen +wounded, of whom three or four died afterwards. + + * * * * * + +"When did you see General Botha last?" Mrs. van Warmelo inquired. + +"About three weeks ago, and then he was looking well and brown. He +told me of a narrow escape he had had. He was completely surrounded +and barely got off with his life. His hat was left behind, also his +Bible and hymn-books. Lord Kitchener, courteously, and with a touch of +humour, returned the books to him with a boy's hat which had been +found on the field, thinking evidently that it belonged to the +General's little son, who was known to go everywhere with him; but +General Botha sent the hat back to Lord Kitchener with a message to +the effect that it was not his son's, but had belonged to his +'achter-ryder,' and thanking him for the books."[5] + +"Tell us some of your own escapes," Hansie begged, "I am sure you have +had many." + +"So many that I have forgotten them nearly all," he answered, "but one +I shall never forget." + +He then related how he and twenty of his men had once been pursued for +four hours by about one thousand English. The bullets fell like hail +about them, and he was keeping the saddle he rode on, as a curiosity, +because of the many bullet holes in it. Once a bullet passed between +his coat and shirt along his stomach, the shock taking his breath +away. He was sure he had been mortally wounded, but could not stop to +find out, and the very recollection of it still caused him to +experience the sensation of coming into close contact with death. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 5: General Botha tells me that the hat which was returned to +him by Lord Kitchener had first belonged to his little son, Louis, who +had written his name in full, in blue pencil, on the inside of the +crown, and had given it, when he had no more use for it, to his little +native orderly.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +MEMORIES BITTER-SWEET + + +The Captain's visit was not an unmixed joy. Some bitter revelations +were made, much pathos mixed with the humours of the situation and +tragic experiences related by all--but on these I shall merely touch, +as unavoidable and necessary for the completion of my story. + +After the treachery of their own people and the arming of the natives, +nothing troubled the men so much as the fact that the fighting +burghers were, in some parts of the country, suffering from sore gums +and showing signs of scurvy, caused by an unchanging diet of meat and +mealies. The spies wanted to communicate this to some good, +trustworthy doctor and to get medicine for them to take out to the +commandos, but Mrs. van Warmelo told them that no medicine in the +world could cure that. What they wanted was a change of diet--fresh +milk, vegetables, fruit, and an abundant supply of lime-juice, etc. + +Sending out lime-juice would be as absurd as impossible, for it would +be as a drop in the ocean of want--and as it was, the men were +handicapped by the two bottles of good French brandy which they were +taking out for medicinal purposes. These could not be thrown across +with the other parcels, but would have to be carried on their persons +as they wriggled through the barbed wires across the drift of the +Aapies River. + +In some districts, where the destruction of farms had not yet been +completed, the commando found a sufficient supply of fresh fruit and +vegetables and were in no immediate danger of the dread disease, but +in the neighbourhood of the towns there was nothing more to be done in +the way of devastation, and the only fresh food they got was what they +took from the enemy. As an instance of the thoroughness of the system +of destruction, Naudé related how he and his corps of hungry men had +one day come upon a kraal containing the bodies of over 500 sheep in +an advanced stage of decomposition, with their throats cut or their +heads cleft in two by swords. Too far away from towns or camps to be +driven to some place where they could have been kept for the use of +starving and suffering humanity, they had been slaughtered and left to +rot--anything to prevent their falling into the hands of the Boer +commandos. + +No provisions of any sort were left within their reach and they lived +entirely on what they took by main force from the enemy. + +A precarious existence indeed! + +Not to know from day to day where the next meal would come from and +with appetites sharpened by the healthy, roving, outdoor life they +led, no wonder these men uttered imprecations on the heads of those +responsible for the systematic devastation of the country and +wholesale destruction of food. + +The privilege too of stripping their prisoners of their clothes had +its disadvantages, for in many cases they swarmed with vermin and had +to be boiled before they could be used, while a camp deserted by the +English had to be approached warily and with the utmost caution on +account of the vermin with which it frequently was infested. + +English prisoners were set free (what could the Boers do with them +otherwise?), but the traitors caught with them red-handed were shot +without mercy--and it was Naudé's duty, as Captain of the Secret +Service, to see that these executions were carried out. This was to +him the hardest task of all. + +"His fallen brothers" he called them, and voice and eye when he spoke +of them betrayed compassionate horror and wrath unspeakable. + +Armed natives met the same fate, and in a few words he described to +his shuddering listeners how it was done, how he informed the doomed +man of his fate, how the prisoner pleaded for mercy and offered to +join the Boer ranks, how he prayed in despair when he found no mercy, +no relenting, how he covered his face or folded his arms, how the +shots rang out and he fell down dead. + +Scenes such as these were witnessed without number, but the execution +of a "fallen brother," when the details were arranged, took place some +distance apart, beyond the vision of the burghers who had captured +him. + +But it was when the subject of the Concentration Camps was broached +that the darkest gloom settled over Harmony. + +Captain Naudé had a young wife and two children in one of the Camps in +Natal, and Mrs. Malan had procured, as a surprise for him, snapshots +of his dear ones taken in the Camp. When they were placed in his +hands he gazed on them for a long time in silence, finally muttering +under his breath, "For this the English must die!" and from that +moment he was moody and silent. + +His thirst for information on the condition of the Irene Camp, as +Hansie had found it, was insatiable, and hours were spent in +discussing the subject and its probable effect on the duration of the +war. + +"What do the men think of the Concentration Camps?" Hansie asked. +"Will they give in for the sake of the women and children?" + +"No," was the emphatic answer--"never. We all feel that our first duty +is to fight until our independence is assured. _We_ are not +responsible for the fate of our women and children, and they let no +opportunity pass of urging us to be brave and steadfast in the +fulfilment of our duty to our country. Our spies come from the Camps +continually with messages of encouragement and hope; but that the +mortality among them is more bitter to bear than anything else, you +can understand...." + +There was a long pause, and then, the Captain continued gloomily: + +"I did not recognise my wife on that photo--she has become an old, old +woman.... Sometimes on commando we actually enjoy ourselves. You must +not think that it is all hardship and trouble! I gave a concert, quite +a good one, on the President's birthday, and occasionally, when we +come to a farm where there are still some girls left, we take them out +riding and driving." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +A SILENT DEPARTURE. "FARE THEE WELL" + + +As the afternoon wore on, an extreme nervousness came over all at +Harmony, a feeling of tense anxiety which no words can describe, and +was betrayed in a restless flitting through the house, arranging +something here, peering through the blinds at the camp of the Military +Mounted Police. + +Unconsciously voices were lowered and final instructions given in +hushed tones. + +Only a few hours remained of the Captain's visit to Harmony and much +had still to be arranged. + +The tension was broken by the arrival of Mrs. Malan, with large +parcels containing the articles of clothing, etc., ordered by +Naudé--hats, boots, riding-suits, soap, matches, salt, and a number of +the small necessities of life. This gave the women something to do, +for everything had to be sorted and made up into smaller parcels as +compactly as possible, while Naudé donned a surprising quantity of +clothing and disposed of various articles about his person. + +In the excitement of the moment Captain Naudé, while he was dressing, +must have forgotten to take off a waistcoat lent to him by Mrs. van +Warmelo and clearly marked D.S. van Warmelo. + +This caused her a great deal of anxiety for some days after the +departure of the spies. + +Had Naudé reached the commandos in safety or had he fallen into the +hands of the enemy with the tell-tale waistcoat on? + +They wondered and speculated, but as the days went by and no startling +reports convulsed the town, they once again settled down--not to the +same old sense of security as far as they were personally concerned, +but to the comforting conviction that all was well with their friends. + +Their own fate--but this is coming presently. + +Mrs. Malan did not stay long, and there were fortunately no unexpected +visitors that afternoon--except, strange to say, the English colonel +who had all but ceased his visits and was on this occasion entertained +by Hansie and her mother in turn. + +His presence gave a great sense of security! + +Hansie walked with Mrs. Malan to the gate, where her carriage was +waiting for her, and the sergeant-major, slowly sauntering past and +saluting to the girl as she gave the coachman her directions, little +knew that the words spoken in Dutch were: + +"You must be here at 7 to-night, and bring your residential pass +without fail." + +Van der Westhuizen, with the bandaged arm, was going to help to carry +their parcels through the bush and escort the three men through the +most dangerous parts of the town. + +When all the preparations were complete there was an hour or two to +spare before the other men, under cover of darkness, should join Naudé +near the six willow trees at the foot of the orchard. That time was +spent in making plans for the future. + +"Promise me that you will never take in strange men," Naudé said +earnestly. "Do not even harbour any one who professes to come from me +unless he gives a watchword. What shall our watchword be?" + +They thought for a few moments, and then Mrs. van Warmelo said: + +"'Appelkoos' [apricots], because you came to us in the apricot +season!" + +"So be it." This was agreed upon. + +"And if anything should happen to us before you come again?" Hansie +inquired. "By what sign will you know that we have been taken and that +Harmony is a pitfall instead of a refuge?" + +Again they pondered. This was indeed a serious problem, for in the +event of an arrest they would not be allowed to see or communicate +with any of their friends, and there would be no possible chance of +sending out a warning. + +After a great deal of discussion it was decided that they should use +one of the posts of the enclosure dividing the upper part of Harmony, +where the orchard was, from the lower, on which the vegetable gardens +of the Italians were. + +On one of the posts they would, if they had time to do so, fasten a +small piece of plank, and this would serve as a warning to the men not +to approach the house. + +In case the enemy was not considerate enough to give them time to put +up signs and signals, it was agreed to have this done at dead of night +by one of the few remaining men in town, van der Westhuizen for +instance, at the first news of their arrest. + +This arrangement eased their minds of some anxiety, and the rest of +the time was spent in quietly chatting about other matters. + +"I suppose you cannot let my wife know that I have been here and am +well?" Naudé asked. + +"I am afraid not," Mrs. van Warmelo answered thoughtfully. + +"We know no one in the Camp in which she is, and her correspondence +will no doubt be closely watched, but we could write an ordinary, +cheerful letter, urging her to be hopeful and strong." + +"Thank you very much," he answered gratefully, "but do not use your +own names on any account. Get other people to write, people less +implicated than yourselves." + +Towards 7 o'clock Hansie walked slowly down to the willows, the +faithful Carlo by her side, wistfully looking into her face. Did he +feel the suppressed agitation, the unrest in the air? + +I do believe Carlo knew and felt every changing emotion in his young +mistress, and sympathised or rejoiced accordingly. + +There was no one in the garden. + +Hansie waited ten minutes, twenty, half an hour, then she went back to +the house. + +There the form of the tall young man in his English officer's uniform, +from which the traces of blood had been removed as well as possible, +was to be seen walking to and fro in restless nervousness. + +"Have the others not come yet?" he exclaimed impatiently. "Where can +they be so late?" + +"I think it is too light still for them to be abroad," Hansie +answered; "you should have made the appointment for 8 o'clock." + +"But then the moon will be up," he objected. "I hope they will be here +soon." + +Hansie once more walked to the six willows, and the next half-hour was +spent in a restless pacing up and down between the orange trees of the +avenue. + +"Will they never come? Have they fallen into some unforeseen pitfall? + +"At this, the most critical moment of our whole adventure, when all +arrangements seem to have come to a smooth and successful termination, +must our plans be frustrated, and a bloody encounter be the climax?" + +Hansie walked boldly towards the Military Camp, whistling to Carlo and +admonishing him thus audibly: + +"Why can't you leave the kittens alone, Carlo?" Then more softly: "A +peaceful serenity pervades the camp. Evidently nothing brewing here!" + +With a lighter heart she went back to the house, but one glance at the +face of the Captain was enough, and once more she sped down the +garden-path to the ill-fated trysting-place. + +As she neared the spot she heard no sound of life and her heart once +more sank, but only for a moment. Suddenly she started violently. +"What is this?" + +The place seemed in a moment alive with silent figures. From the +depths of the overhanging willow branches they emerged, one by one, +and approached the tense form of the girl as she stood immovable, with +straining eyes trying to distinguish the moving, silent figures in the +darkness. + +The white dress of a woman fluttering among the leaves reassured her. + +"What is this?" she whispered. "Who are you? Why are you here?" + +One of the men came forward. + +"Venter and Brenckmann," he said softly, "come for the Captain." + +"Yes, yes," Hansie said hurriedly. "I know. We have waited for you +more than an hour. But these people? Who are they?" + +"Our friends and relatives come to see us off," came the unexpected +reply. + +Hansie was silent, trying to hide her indignation, her rising +resentment, as another and yet another form cautiously emerged from +behind the foliage. + +"Do you know," she said at last, "that you are not only exposing us to +great danger by coming here at a time like this, but that you are +making it a thousand times more difficult for the Captain to depart +unobserved? How could you be so indiscreet?" + +"These people are all trustworthy," one of the men volunteered. + +"I have no doubt of it." Hansie extended her hands cordially to them. +"But you must all go now as quietly as you came. Say good-bye and go, +please, before I go to call the Captain." + +She turned away with a lump in her throat, for no sounds broke the +stillness of the night save those of stifled sobs and murmured +caresses. + +"Fare thee well. God be with you!" + +There was Brenckmann with his three sisters, there was Venter with one +sister and a sweetheart, and there was the sweetheart of one of +Brenckmann's sisters, to say nothing of the other relatives and +friends whom I have been unable to place. + +Some distance from the scene, and unobserved by all save one, was the +figure of the ever-cautious and discreet van der Westhuizen, guarding +the parcels which had previously been conveyed there, lurking among +the trees. + +Swiftly and silently Hansie sped up to the house to meet the Captain, +just as he, unable to bear the suspense any longer, had made up his +mind to set out on his perilous expedition alone and was cautiously +emerging from the bath-room door, concealing himself under the +vineyard as he went. + +"They are there, Captain," she said in a quick and lowered voice, +"waiting for you under the willows. Lower down near the bush van der +Westhuizen is also waiting. He will distribute the parcels when you +come. I think everything is in order and the coast clear. The military +camp is quiet, the sergeant-major is in his 'tin villa.' Good-bye, +Captain. God bless you." + +The man removed his helmet and stood before her in the pale light of +the rising moon. His face was very white. + +"I shall never be able to thank you. God keep you. Good-bye, +good-bye." He clasped her hand and was gone, as silent as the shadows +into which he disappeared. + +When Hansie rejoined her mother a few minutes later no word was said +on either side. The extreme tension was over, the reaction had set in, +and they could not trust themselves to speak, but set to work at once, +firmly and decently removing every trace in the house of confusion and +disorder. + +In the room vacated by Captain Naudé they found the snapshots of his +wife and children taken in the Concentration Camp. + +Mrs. van Warmelo held them up to her daughter's view with a +significant look. + +"I am not surprised that he would not take them with him," she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +BETRAYED + + +Hansie was one of those unfortunate women who cannot cry, but I +believe she cried that night when the awful strain was over, the house +quiet and deserted, and the feeling of "nothing to do but wait" +creeping over her. + +She and her mother lay for hours listening for sounds of commotion in +the suburb, following in spirit the brave men on their route to the +free veld, so perilous and insecure, watching and praying for their +safety. + +At last Hansie fell into a heavy, unrefreshing sleep, from which she +was roused in the early dawn by her mother's voice, hurried and +extremely agitated. + +"Hansie, Hansie, come here quick!" + +"Where, mother? Where are you?" + +"In the dining-room! Come at once, come and look!" + +Hansie sprang out of bed, alarmed and now thoroughly roused, and ran +into the dining-room, where she found her mother concealing herself +behind the lace curtains and cautiously looking out of the window to +the Military Camp. + +She half turned as her daughter approached and said in a whisper: +"Don't show yourself. Look, Hansie, we have been betrayed. Our house +is suspected. See how it is being watched." + +Hansie looked and looked again. There was no doubt of it. + +The sergeant was in excited conversation with a man on horseback, well +known to Hansie by sight as a detective in plain clothes. Here and +there the soldiers were grouped around other private detectives, on +horseback and on foot, talking and gesticulating and pointing to the +house in wild excitement. What struck Hansie as almost ludicrous, even +at that moment, was the _unbounded astonishment_ betrayed by them. + +Their looks and gestures spoke as plainly as the plainest words: "Can +it be possible? Has that been going on under our noses? And pray, how +long?" + +"There is no doubt about it. We and our house have been betrayed. But +cheer up, mother; forewarned is forearmed. Oh, silly fools, to give +away their game like that!" + +"They have not seen us yet, Hansie. They think we are asleep." + +"Even so, the servants are about. Oh, mother!" + +"Go and get dressed, Hansie, and let us behave exactly the same as +usual. All we can do now is to see that we do not betray that we +_know_ we have been betrayed. How do you think this has come about?" + +"The crowd under the willows last night?" + +"Gentleman Jim?" + +"Flippie?" + +They looked at one another inquiringly and slowly shook their heads. + +Good reader, after more than ten years, when they talk about this +period of their lives, they still look inquiringly at one another and +slowly shake their heads. + +_Who could it have been? How did it come about?_ + + * * * * * + +When Hansie went out into the garden an hour or so later to gather +roses for the table, Harmony was flooded with the exquisite morning +sun, the birds were twittering and bickering among themselves, and +Carlo sprang up to meet her, barking an affectionate "good morning," +as he playfully capered round his mistress. + +As she stooped down to pat him she glanced through her hair to the +camp, where some of the men were bending over their camp-fires and +others were rubbing down and feeding their horses. + +Will you believe it? At the first sight of the girl every man dropped +his work, stood up straight and stared at her in open-mouthed +astonishment as if he had never seen her before. They even got +together again in little groups of twos and threes and began talking +rapidly to one another. Their amazement, their consternation was so +obvious that Hansie found it difficult to pretend that she saw nothing +unusual in their behaviour, and when she joined her mother at the +breakfast-table and told her what a commotion her appearance had +created, Mrs. van Warmelo said: "It is the same with me. Wherever I +show myself under the verandahs or in the garden, I am met with stares +that can only be described as thunderstruck." + +"And that, after all the months they have spent within earshot of all +that went on at Harmony! Why, mother, those men have never lifted +their heads when we have passed them for a year and more, they had got +so used to us, but now----!" + +She went on more seriously: + +"We can never be thankful enough that you found this out in time. The +members of the Committee must be warned not to come to Harmony, but we +must invite lots of other people. Let us give a few fruit parties and +musical evenings for the young people, and above all, let us invite +the Consuls and their families." Hansie was feeling hopeful, buoyed up +by the unlooked-for privilege of having been put on her guard, but +Mrs. van Warmelo was silent and depressed. + +"I am thinking about the spies," she said at last. "How can we ever +harbour them here again? How can we let them know that Harmony is +being watched? How shall we get through the anxiety and suspense when +we begin to expect them again? Naudé's last words to me were, 'We +shall be with you four weeks from now, when the moon is young again.'" + +Hansie looked thoughtful, but brightened up again immediately. + +"We have always the sign on the gatepost to fall back on, you know, +mother dear, but I hope it won't be necessary to put that up. In the +meantime let us watch developments. We have nothing to be anxious +about _yet_, and when the time comes we shall know what to do. Just +think how terrible it would have been if this had happened yesterday +while Naudé was in the house!" + +But poor Mrs. van Warmelo could not shake off her gloom, and Hansie, +who, strange to say, was usually most hopeful and strong in the +presence of depressed folk, but pessimistic and downhearted when +others were most bright, sighed for once and allowed herself to be +cast down by her mother's forebodings. + +They realised that an anxious time was before them, their worst fear +being that Naudé and his companions had been captured the previous +night and that some time would probably elapse before they knew with +any certainty what his fate had been. + +That they were safe in his hands they never doubted for a moment, but +there were too many others, practically unknown to them, concerned in +this enterprise, and every conspirator more added to the list made +their own position less secure. + +"I think I must go to Mrs. Joubert this afternoon, mother, to see if I +can get hold of van der Westhuizen. Perhaps he can throw some light on +the subject. At any rate he will be able to tell us whether he parted +from Naudé under favourable conditions last night." + +"Do that," Mrs. van Warmelo answered, "if you can make sure beforehand +of not being watched. Don't go to that house if you have any reason to +think you are being followed. We are on the black list now, but that +makes it all the more necessary for us to protect our friends." + +"Yes, mother; but the Jouberts have been under suspicion so long and +have so successfully escaped detection that I am sure their names have +long since been removed from the black list." + +"Don't be too sure. Jannie's transportation was not a sign of the +cessation of hostilities. The enemy is not asleep, but merely +slumbering, as far as they are concerned--that is, if this thing" +(waving her hand over Harmony) "has not roused him completely." + +All day long, and in fact for many days after, an unusual commotion +was apparent in the Military Camp. + +Detectives could be seen coming and going, little groups of soldiers +clustered together, and even "Judas-Boers" made their appearance on +the lower portion of Harmony, examining the ground and following the +tracks made by the spies in their escape from the town. + +Beyond that the van Warmelos could not follow their investigations, +and whether they found conclusive evidence in the marks made by the +men at the closely barbed and netted drift, under the railway bridge, +will never be known, but there was reason to believe that the last +remaining route of the spies had been discovered. Brave hearts sank at +the thought of their probable fate when they tried that route again. + +But, thank God! the birds had flown--for the time at least. + +That afternoon, when Hansie cycled to Mrs. Joubert's house, the +streets were quiet and practically deserted. She was quite sure that +no one followed her, for she dropped her handkerchief once and had +suddenly to turn and pick it up. + +Carlo was some way ahead of her and did not notice the interruption +until she was on her bicycle again, when he came tearing back to find +out what had happened, furious with himself for having missed the +smallest piece of excitement. After that he did not leave her side +again, but trotted quietly along, watching her every moment from the +corner of his eye. + +When Hansie entered the house in Visagie Street, Carlo stretched +himself as usual beside her bicycle, ostensibly to sleep, but in +reality on guard and alert with every nerve in his quick body. Hansie +was thankful to find van der Westhuizen in; in fact, he was expecting +her and wished to see her, but did not think it advisable to go to +Harmony. + +"Tell me all about last night," she said. "Tell me everything, and +then I have something to tell you too." + +"Well," he said, and the inscrutable face was for once turned to her +in frank confidence, "after we left Harmony last night things did not +go as smoothly as we expected. It was all right as long as we were in +the bush, and we were able to get our heavy parcels through safely, +but when we came to the drift we found it strongly guarded. We +retreated at once without a sound and lay down in the thick shrubs to +wait. The men were nervous and impatient, and after a little while +Brenckmann borrowed my residential pass from me and walked on ahead to +see if the coast were clear. + +"He soon came back and said it was impossible to get through. + +"After a short consultation, Naudé advised me to come home. They would +stay in the bush and wait until the moon went down, he said. I hated +leaving them in such a plight, but Naudé insisted, and I only came +away when he said he thought there would be more chance for them to +get through unobserved if they were fewer in number. How they managed +without residential passes and handicapped by those parcels, I do not +know." + +"God only knows how they _do_ manage," Hansie answered sombrely. +"Well, I have nothing good to relate either." + +She told him in a few words what had happened at Harmony, and the +steadfast face opposite her, so calm and strong, grew more grave as +she proceeded. + +"This is very serious," he said at last; "then the fact of their being +in town, and the route they had taken, must have been known to the +enemy yesterday. That is why we found the drift guarded. But do not be +downcast. I am sure they got through unharmed, for there has been no +commotion of any sort in town. I always know when prisoners have been +taken. We must be thankful they were not discovered in your house." + +Hansie nodded, and the quiet voice went on: + +"You are in no danger now----" + +But the girl broke in impetuously: + +"Oh, that does not trouble me at all, but I would give my life to know +that those men were with General Botha now. I am only anxious about +them." + +"I am not," he answered. "The Captain is a man of vast experience. +This was not his first visit to Pretoria. Venter has been five times +in Pretoria and nine times in Johannesburg under the same conditions. +Brenckmann, too, can speak of unique experiences--but I can bet you +anything that _he_ will never come in again." + +"Why not?" + +"Oh, he had an awful time here. There are khakis and handsuppers +living all round his house, to some of whom he is well known by +sight. It was found necessary to conceal him, and for three days and +two nights the poor boy was stowed away in a tiny attic, just under +the corrugated-iron roof and hardly large enough to hold a man. There +he lay in the suffocating heat of those endless days, only coming out +at night for a few hours like the bats and owls. No, he won't trouble +us again!" + +Before she left she told him what had been arranged about a sign on +the gatepost and asked van der Westhuizen to warn her friends of the +"inner circle" that Harmony was no longer a safe place to visit, +begging them to keep this information to themselves, "because," she +added, "the enemy must not know that we know." Later on she hoped to +see him again when the time approached for Naudé to come again, but +she advised him not to visit Harmony unnecessarily, as much would +depend on him in the event of a raid on Harmony and the transportation +of its inhabitants to other regions. + +I can only say in conclusion of this chapter that the friends of the +"inner circle," Mrs. Malan, Mrs. Joubert, Mrs. Armstrong, Mrs. Honey, +and a few others, bravely scorned the idea of avoiding Harmony. + +"Why should we not come?" Mrs. Armstrong asked, with her cheerful, +ever-ready laugh; "don't other people come here still?" + +"Oh yes, but----" + +"Then why not we? The more the better, say I! Surely we cannot _all_ +be arrested and sent away!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +THE RAID ON HARMONY + + +It was the peacefullest, decentest raid I ever heard of, and it would +be difficult to think of anything with a termination more tame and +commonplace. + +But we have not got there yet. + +The events which led up to it must be got over first as briefly as +possible, and then we go on to what was called a formal declaration of +war between the inmates of the Military Camp and the two principal +actors at Harmony. + +After the van Warmelos had discovered on December 20th, through the +enemy's rank stupidity, that they had been found out, a regular game +of hide-and-seek began to be played in and around their beautiful +garden. + +The curious thing about this game was that it was only carried on +under cover of darkness and intense silence, a silence which could +almost be felt, and which became so uncanny as time went on that the +women found it quite insupportable and had no peace by night or by day +until the day on which, a month later, the enemy took the initiative +and made what may be called an attack in front. There was only one +noisy actor in the game, which was played for four solid weeks before +the crash came, and as many after, and that was Carlo, but, although +his feelings found relief in constant growlings and furious barkings, +I do believe even his nerves suffered under the constant strain, for +he became more and more irritable and restless as time went on. + +That dog gave a lot of trouble in those days and was a source of great +anxiety, as my reader will see presently. + +The fruit season was at its height. The garden, heavily laden with the +burden of luscious fruits and blooming flowers, was a scene of beauty +and riotous luxury impossible to describe; and as the different fruit +trees bloomed and bore their rich harvest in rapid succession, each +after its kind--apricots, figs, pears, plums, apples, peaches, and, +last but not least, the noble vine with its great bunches of purple +and white--Hansie and her mother revelled in the wealth of Nature's +extravagance from morn till eve. + +Mrs. van Warmelo, an energetic and tireless gardener, spent all her +time amongst the fruit, while indoors the task of putting up in jars +for winter use fell mainly on Hansie's shoulders. + +Nothing was allowed to run to waste, and that year was always +remembered as an exceptionally fine fruit season. + +It was nothing for Mrs. van Warmelo to have 100 lb. of grapes cut +before breakfast and have them conveyed to the early market, and even +then the vines bore no trace of having been robbed or tampered with. + +The soldiers, too, got their share, and the sergeant-major's small +basket was often filled--for were they not on the best of terms with +one another? + +But when the shades of night fell over the land, and silence settled +on the birds and beasts and flowers, the sense of careless freedom and +security deserted our heroines entirely. + +Unseen eyes watched them from behind the leaves, and they knew that +the very trees under which they sat had ears, straining to catch up +their every conversation. + +The Military Police--unknown to the women, as they thought--were +guarding them and their property from intruders, and this was known by +Carlo's incessant growlings and his furious, sudden fits of barking +whenever he came upon some midnight prowler hidden under the trees. + +I am sure the good dog never understood Hansie's apathy on this point. + +After all he did to warn her of foul play, to have his efforts +rewarded with a scolding or a careless "Do be quiet, Carlo. The kitty +is only catching moths," seemed unjust and quite unlike his mistress's +usual ready sympathy. + +In time he got used to finding strangers in the privacy of his domain +and only showed his dissatisfaction with an occasional low growl or a +vicious snarl. + +Perhaps "Gentleman Jim" was not so bad after all, or perhaps he was +only stupid, because a few days after the flight of our friends he +came to Mrs. van Warmelo with the information, given with an amused +smile and more drawl than usual, that "the officer had promised him +plenty money" if he ever caught a Boer on the premises or in the +garden, and that in future a strict watch would be held over the +property and an extra vigilance preserved whenever the dog barked. + +What more proof could be wanted after that? Now they knew exactly how +the land lay, and in their hearts they thanked their simple servant +and still more simple foe, for the confirmation of their suspicions. + +As the weeks went by and the time for the Captain's next visit drew +near, Mrs. van Warmelo again and again urged the necessity of putting +up the danger-signal (a small block of wood, which was kept ready with +a nail through it, lying hidden behind the post), only to be met with +an obstinate refusal from her daughter. + +"How can you be so reckless and foolhardy, Hansie?" her mother would +exclaim. "We know that the men may come in any night, and we know that +the house and grounds are being watched, and yet you want me to let +our friends run right into the trap, without lifting a finger to save +them! It would be an unpardonable thing, and I do believe you are only +longing to have the excitement of harbouring spies again!" + +Hansie laughed. + +"Perhaps that is it! But think of the disappointment of the men to be +turned back at our very doors after having come so far through untold +dangers! Depend upon it they will not come in again for nothing. They +went through too much last time, and there will be work of some +importance for us all to do if they come in again, you may be sure of +that. No, dear mother, let us risk it, I beg of you. We are still in +the house, and Naudé is no chicken. He will reach us in spite of +guards and fences, and----" + +"Be followed right up to the house and be taken here like a rat in a +trap," Mrs. van Warmelo continued gloomily. + +"I am not so sure," Hansie exclaimed, as cheerfully as her sinking +heart allowed, when this horrible picture rose before her. + +"You know what our experience has been of English vigilance and +English sagacity; now, if they had some of Carlo's intelligence we +would have some reason to be anxious." + +The danger-signal was not put up, but that things would have ended +exactly as Mrs. van Warmelo predicted I now have not a shadow of +doubt. + +The spies would have glided into the house in the false security +occasioned by the absence of the danger-signal, they would have been +watched and followed to the very doors by the hidden foe, the house +would have been surrounded and stormed by armed men, and a fierce, an +unspeakably horrible encounter would have ended in death and +destruction--_if they had come_. But they were prevented on commando +from keeping their appointment that month--and at the very time when +they expected to be safely housed under Harmony's hospitable roof, the +place was surrounded, an entry forced and every corner of the house +searched for spies. + +It happened "like so," and we must now turn our attention for a moment +to a matter of small importance in order to understand why Hansie was +from home at a critical time, and how she missed the keen enjoyment of +being present at the "raid." + +For some weeks the advisability of leaving home on a pleasure trip had +been discussed. While the moon was on the wane their friends from +commando would not be likely to pay them a visit, but Mrs. van +Warmelo, who never had much inclination to leave her little paradise, +persuaded Hansie to go to Johannesburg for a few days alone to a dear +young friend, newly wed, who had repeatedly begged her to come. + +They hoped that such an attitude of innocent pleasure-making on their +part would avert some of the suspicion which rested on their heads and +cause a part, at least, of the surveillance to be withdrawn from +Harmony. + +Hansie hoped to be back home before the appearance of the new moon, +the time appointed for Naudé's next visit, and it was red-tape, +nothing but red-tape, through which she was undone. + +So many difficulties were placed in the way of her obtaining the +necessary permits that by the time she got away she should have been +on her return journey. + +Let us see what her diary says. + + "January 10th, Friday. + + "My poor old diary! I begin to foresee that it is going to die a + natural death, simply because I am tired of recording lies and + rumours [this was the black-and-white diary, kept on purpose to + mislead the enemy, should it fall into their hands]. + + "I am now busy preparing for a little trip to Johannesburg, but + oh dear! the difficulty one has in getting permits! + + "The English have never been so strict before! + + "Major Hoskins (who could have helped me without further + reference had he wished) sent me to the Commissioner of Police, + who asked me to produce a note of recommendation from my 'ward + officer' in B. Ward. + + "My 'ward officer' refused to give me a permit without a + medical certificate that I required a change of air. + + "I told him shortly that I was going for pleasure and that I + would appeal to General Maxwell if he could not assist me. He + said 'that made all the difference!' (what did he mean?) and + asked me for the name and address of the people with whom I + would be staying in Johannesburg, so I gave him Pauline's box + number. + + "No, that was not sufficient, he must have the name of the + street and the number of the house. + + "'I do not remember the number, but I shall go home to look it + up and come back at once.' + + "'It will--er--be more convenient if you bring it to-morrow,' he + said." + +And Hansie understood that he was gaining time. + +After all the fuss that had been made, she was not surprised next day +when the Commissioner of Police asked her, very politely, while +closely inspecting the "note of recommendation," to call for her +permits on Monday (this was Thursday), as there would be some delay in +having them "approved" by the other officials. + +This was again done to gain time while the authorities were putting +their heads together, trying to find out "what the dickens" she could +want in Johannesburg. + +Hansie knew this well enough, although she filled her diary with +lamentations and wonderings. + +"Will you be all right alone, mother, at a time like this?" Hansie +asked, as, with her permits at last in her possession, she hugged her +mother in affectionate farewell. + +"Oh yes, I am well guarded, as you know," Mrs. van Warmelo answered, +laughing; "there is plenty of time, and you will be back before +anything can happen." + +Hansie looked doubtful. Was her mother play-acting? Did she mind being +left, and was she only eager to have her daughter out of danger's way? +Or did she intend putting up the danger-signal, after all? + +You see, Hansie was getting so used to plotting and scheming that she +could not help turning her newly acquired detective propensities on +her nearest and dearest when occasion offered, and she even misdoubted +the behaviour of her mother, tried as she had been, and never found +wanting, in many a crisis in the past. + +"You will wire for me, won't you?" she asked suspiciously. + +"Of course, of course--but there will be nothing to wire about, I am +quite sure." + +With a sigh and many anxious forebodings, Hansie drove to the station +on her way to her "pleasure trip." + +She was met in the Golden City, now more like a Dead City, by loving +friends and a magnificent St. Bernard dog, Nero, who soon made her +feel at home, although they could not altogether banish the cares, +dimly guessed at by them, with which she was oppressed. + +The most reassuring news from home continued to reach her until one +morning, on the sixth day after her arrival, a brief postcard from her +mother informed her in a few bald words that Harmony had been searched +on "Sunday morning the 19th inst." + +A few hours later Hansie was in the train, speeding, with remorse +tugging at her heart, to her mother's side. + +It was something of a disappointment to her, on arriving at Harmony, +to find everything exactly as she had left it. + +Carlo greeted her with his old extravagant demonstrations of affection +and delight, and when she looked searchingly into her mother's face +she was met with a beaming smile. There was no trace of the ordeal she +had faced alone, and Hansie's anxious heart gave a throb of relief. + +She was soon in full possession of the details of the adventure, and +it appeared that the "raid" had been made in the early hours of the +19th (Jan.), Sunday morning. + +It had been raining heavily all night, and the torrents were still +coming down drenchingly when Mrs. van Warmelo was aroused by a knock +at her bedroom window and "Gentleman Jim's" voice, with all the drawl +gone, calling out anxiously, "Missis, come, the police want you!" + +Mrs. van Warmelo dressed hurriedly, and on opening the front door was +met by an officer, who informed her that he had been ordered by the +Commissioner of Police to search her house. + +Armed soldiers were standing about, guarding the different entrances. + +Mrs. van Warmelo led the way, and the officer went through the house +with her alone, glancing under beds, opening wardrobes and moving +screens in his search "for men," as he said in reply to her +questions. + +"I am surprised that you should have been sent to search my house for +_men_," she said, with righteous indignation. + +"I was surprised to see _your_ name on the black list, Mrs. van +Warmelo," he answered. + +She watched him in puzzled silence. + +Evidently he knew her, or her name. Quite evidently he was no +Englishman--only a South African could pronounce her name like that. + +When they reached the passage leading to the kitchen the officer +suddenly started at the sight of Flippie's form lying curled up in +deep sleep. He bent over him, pulled his blanket down cautiously, and +said below his breath, "Oh, a boy!" + +The house having been thoroughly searched, he turned to Mrs. van +Warmelo and, courteously thanking her for having allowed him to do so, +asked permission to go through the out-buildings, which was instantly +granted. There was no one, of course, and the military, if they had +expected to make any sensational discoveries that morning, were +grievously disappointed. + + * * * * * + +"Well, I am glad it is over, mamma," Hansie said when the story came +to an end. + +"It is better to have the house searched _in vain_, than not to have +it searched at all, when one is on the black list. Perhaps the +surveillance on Harmony will now be removed, at least to some extent, +and the danger to Captain Naudé, when he comes in again, considerably +lessened." + +That this was the case we shall see in our next chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE WATCHWORD. OILING THE HINGES + + +Three weeks went uneventfully by. + +Visitors at Harmony were few and far between, for the story of the +"raid" went quickly through the town, and many people who had been in +the habit of visiting the van Warmelos, all unsuspecting of the cloud +under which they rested, took alarm at this first open hint of danger +and discreetly withdrew from the scene. + +When Hansie thought of them it was with some contempt and bitterness, +but her mind was, at the time, occupied with more important matters, +and her fair-weather friends soon passed from her life, never to +return again. + +Only about a dozen remained, mostly women, friends staunch and true, +upon whom one could depend through days of the most crushing +adversity. + +How close we came to one another in those days only those who have +been through similar experiences can ever realise. + +Those three uneventful weeks were by no means the least trying of the +long war. Sorely tested nervous systems were giving way, fine +constitutions were being broken down, and powers of resistance had +reached their limit. It needed but the acute anxiety and intense +strain of the last adventure which I am about to relate, to reduce our +heroines to a state bordering on the hysterical. + +The phases of the moon were watched in suspense, and when the time +drew near for the next visit from the spies, Mrs. van Warmelo took the +precaution of locking Carlo up in the kitchen before retiring for the +night. Although she let him out very early every morning in order not +to arouse the suspicions of the servants, "Gentleman Jim," ever on the +alert, soon found out that something unusual was taking place. + +"Why you lock up the dog every night, missis?" he inquired one +morning. + +Mrs. van Warmelo was completely taken by surprise, but answered with +great presence of mind: + +"Oh, because he barks so much that we cannot sleep. But I think I will +have to let him out again, because thieves will help themselves to the +fruit if there is no watch-dog about." + +The ruse had been found out and Carlo had to be released, although his +vigilance added greatly to the dangers of the situation. + +The grapes were ripe, great luxurious bunches of purple and golden +fruit were weighing down the sturdy old vines. + +"I wish Captain Naudé would come," Hansie sighed. "Harmony is at its +very best." + +"He won't come again, I am convinced of that," her mother answered +mournfully. "No more news from the field for us. The dangers are too +great, and nothing could be gained by coming into town now that our +friends have nearly all been sent away." + +"We shall see," Hansie said cheerfully. "I have a strong presentiment +that the men are coming in this very night. I am going to put +everything in readiness for them, and we must go to bed early, dear +mother. Perhaps we shall have very little rest to-night." + +This was Sunday night, February 9th. + +Hansie packed away various little articles lying about the bedrooms +and bathroom, and generally prepared herself for the midnight +adventure which she felt more than ever convinced would take place +within a few hours, while Mrs. van Warmelo went about with a feather +and an oil-can, oiling the hinges and locks. + +She was soon sound asleep in her mother's bedroom, for the two women +were not as brave as they had been during the first part of the war +and had got into the habit of sleeping together "for company." + +Suddenly at about 2 a.m. they both started up violently, at the sound +of Carlo's furious barking near their window, where he usually kept +guard. + +Mrs. van Warmelo sat up and panted "Here they are," but Hansie's heart +was beating so loudly in her throat that she was unable to reply. + +Mrs. van Warmelo went quickly to the window, and on cautiously raising +the blind saw the forms of two men close to the window, +undistinguishable in the darkness but quite evidently the cause of +Carlo's startled and furious barkings. She ran through the bathroom +and, opening the door leading to the garden, asked softly, "Who is +there?" + +"Appelkoos," the welcome answer came clearly and cautiously, and Mrs. +van Warmelo drew the men unceremoniously into the room, noiselessly +locking the door. + +"Not a word, not a sound," she commanded, "remove your boots--you have +never been in greater peril." + +"Hush! What was that? A man's voice outside! The sergeant-major? The +police? My God! then we are lost indeed!" + +But no! Only one moment of agonising suspense and the familiar voice +of "Gentleman Jim" could be heard, reprimanding the growling watchdog. + +"What for you make so much noise, Carlo? Go to sleep, bad dog--you +frighten everybody when you kick up so much row." + +Muttering discontentedly, he retired to his room, evidently reassured +by the dead silence which pervaded the house. + +For some time the four people inside stood close together without a +word. No lights were lit, no sound whatever made until Carlo's +restless growlings ceased and he had settled himself to sleep again. + +Then only were a few whispered words of welcome and greeting exchanged +and a breathless account given of the dangers with which Harmony was +surrounded. + +"How did you come in?" Mrs. van Warmelo asked. + +"Through the drift," Naudé replied. "There were no guards--in fact, we +did not see a soul from first to last, and the dog was the only one to +object to our midnight wanderings. We were nearly on top of him before +he woke." + +Nearly on top of the sensitive and alert watchdog before he became +aware of their proximity! No wonder, then, that the Boer spies +frequently glided up so close to the English outposts that they were +able to knock them down with a wooden stick or the butt end of a gun +before they could give the alarm or utter a sound! + +The men were tired and exhausted, and gladly stretched themselves on +the beds to get what sleep they could before morning, having first +divested themselves of their outward trappings, helmets, etc., which +they buried under the floor. As before, the Captain came in a khaki +uniform, while his orderly, Venter, was dressed like a soldier. + +As it was necessary for them to remain in Mrs. van Warmelo's bedroom +in order to be near their place of refuge under the floor, mother and +daughter retired to the dining-room, there to watch and wait for the +dawn of day. + +Would the long night _never_ end? + +Every time Carlo barked the two women started up from their couches +and listened with straining ears for sounds of commotion outside--but +in vain. Nothing disturbed the serenity of the night, and when the +rosy glow of dawn broke in the eastern sky and gradually spread its +glory over the hushed and expectant earth, Hansie fell into a fitful +slumber. + +Not so her mother. Mrs. van Warmelo had been quietly pondering over +"Gentleman Jim's" unexpected appearance at the first sign of commotion +in the night and had come to the conclusion that something should be +done to disarm his suspicions. + +That the guard of Military Police had been withdrawn from Harmony was +very evident, but it was quite possible that the task of maintaining +a vigilant watch had been transferred to Jim, with promises of a +liberal payment if he succeeded in getting information which might +lead to the arrest of Boer spies. + +Mrs. van Warmelo therefore cautiously rose, while the rest of the +household lay in sleep, plucked clusters of grapes from the vines and +strewed them about the garden paths. The ruse answered excellently. + +"Gentleman Jim" himself discovered the grapes lying about the garden +and was loud in his expressions of indignation. + +"Them thieves have been at the grapes again," he called out. + +"Look here, missis, here is a bunch--and another, and here is some +more." He shook his head in despair. + +The sergeant-major too was sent for and informed of the plundering +that had been carried on in the small hours of the morning. + +"What is to be done?" he asked. "Shall I put a guard here again?" + +Mrs. van Warmelo thanked him for his kind offer, but thought that very +little damage had been done, and was of opinion that Carlo's vigilance +would be sufficient to prevent the thieves, whoever they might be, +from returning on a second pilfering expedition. + +When Hansie woke it was past six o'clock, and the Captain was sitting +near her, drinking coffee and chatting with her mother in a +matter-of-fact way, evidently quite at home and glad to find himself +in such comfortable quarters again. + +The whole of that eventful February 10th was spent in writing +dispatches and procuring articles of clothing and small necessaries +for the men to take out with them; three pairs of riding-breeches, +shirts, brown felt hats, leggings, boots, soap, salt, cotton, etc., +etc. + +Fortunately, among the few remaining men in town who could be trusted +to carry out these commissions was the young man behind the counter in +_the_ store in Church Street. + +To him Hansie went with a small list, which she laid before him +without a word. + +He glanced over it and whistled softly. + +"Leggings? Riding-breeches? When must you have them?" + +"If possible this evening," she replied. + +"I'll do my best," he said, and she departed joyfully. + +"Now, I could never have got those things myself without rousing great +suspicion," she thought as she cycled rapidly to the next person whom +she had been instructed to see--van der Westhuizen with the bandaged +arm. + +"The Captain came last night with Venter," she whispered hurriedly. +"They are at Harmony, and Naudé wishes to see you as soon as possible +on a matter of great importance. No one must know of his presence in +town this time, not even our best friends, for he has a dangerous +mission to fulfil and you must help him." + +"I shall be there some time to-day," he said. + +Hansie thanked him and departed. + +Much writing work waited her at Harmony, and the rest of the day was +spent in drawing up dispatches at the Captain's dictation and making +notes of the condition of the various commandos. + +In the course of a long conversation with him he told her the object +of his visit and why he required van der Westhuizen's services. + +"My flying column of scouts is over sixty strong, picked men and +wonderfully brave," he said. "They are all in khaki and scour the +country, doing the enemy incalculable harm, but they would be of more +service to the commandos if they had better horses. Our horses are +worn-out and underfed, their life is very hard, and it is imperative +that we should have them reinforced. Now, we have heard that there are +many magnificent horses kept at Skinner's Court, remounts kept in good +condition for the special use of officers. Those horses we must have, +and we have come to get all the information we can about the strength +of the guards at Skinner's Court. For this I require van der +Westhuizen's assistance." + +Hansie felt a thrill of excitement. + +The adventure was very much to her taste, and she remembered with +delight that first successful raid on British stables. She wished she +could supply the desired information. To steal the enemy's best horses +seemed to her an enterprise worth toiling for, for there would +probably be little or no bloodshed connected with it and, if +successful, the reward would be very great. + +But she felt assured that the adventure could not be in more capable, +more trustworthy hands than in those of the silent van der Westhuizen. + +When van der Westhuizen arrived, he and the Captain were closeted +together in the bedroom for nearly an hour, and then he departed as +silently as he had come, but Hansie had observed the look of +steadfast determination on his face, and was satisfied. + +Very unlike the previous visit was this, the last sojourn of the +Secret Service men at Harmony. + +There was no entertaining of shoals of trusted friends, no lying about +under the trees, no sociable gathering of strawberries. + +The men were not allowed to leave their bedroom during the day, but +remained in safe proximity to the place of refuge under the floor, +where their belongings lay buried. + +Of the many plans devised by Mrs. van Warmelo for the safety of her +guests, the following was decided upon as being the most ingenious: + +A large bath was brought into her bedroom and half-filled with soapy +water, bath-towels, sponges, and other toilet requisites being placed +near by in readiness for use. In the event of a raid, Mrs. van Warmelo +(if she had time to do so) would rush into the room, locking the door +on the inside, while her daughter (if she had the presence of mind and +kept cool enough) informed the police that her mother was having a +bath. Thus time would be gained to enable the men to creep into their +hiding-place. + +The bath of soapy water, standing in readiness night and day, was a +constant source of amusement during that time of suspense. + +The men begged to be allowed to smoke, but Mrs. van Warmelo protested +strongly. In case of an unexpected search, how was she going to +account for the smell of smoke in her bedroom? + +Seeing, however, that this restriction was becoming a source of great +discomfort to them in the monotony of their imprisonment, she gave +them permission to smoke in the dining-room while she and Hansie kept +watch outside. + +Even with these precautions Mrs. van Warmelo seemed to feel very +uneasy, and Hansie coming into the kitchen unexpectedly one afternoon, +found the Captain standing beside the stove and blowing vigorous puffs +of smoke up the chimney! + +Volcanoes and earthquakes would have been a welcome change to every +one after those never-to-be-forgotten days of strain and tension; and +much as Hansie had longed to see some one from commando again, her +longing to see these men depart became a hundred times more intense. +There was no pleasure for any one during that visit of two days, for +the very air was charged with treachery, and not even the servants +could be trusted with the dread secret. + +The men were waited on stealthily, food was brought in unobserved and +the plates and dishes washed surreptitiously by the two watchful +women, who took turns in guarding the place and enjoyed what +conversation they could get in fragments from their guests. + +That night was spent in anxiety and unrest, and again the glorious day +was hailed with joy and relief. + +Van der Westhuizen was an early visitor that morning, and the report +of his investigations of the past night must have been highly +satisfactory to the men, to judge by their faces. The women were not +taken into their confidence, but Hansie watched and wondered, and +dared not even ask whether the attack on Skinner's Court was to be +made or not. + +It was better not to know. + +The long summer's day went slowly by, broken only once when Hansie +rushed into the bedroom with a breathless, "Danger, danger--hide +yourselves!" + +It was not at all funny at the time, but afterwards, when Hansie +thought it over, she laughed and laughed again at the recollection of +those two men, diving for the hole in the floor, and of their +resentful looks when they emerged, on hearing that the alarm had been +caused by the unexpected appearance of "Um-Ah." + +The departure that night was in dead silence. There was no hearty +"send-off" under the six willows, no escort through the bush, van der +Westhuizen alone going on ahead to see if the coast were clear. + +The events of that night are blurred and vague in the memory of the +two solitary women, and Hansie's diary contains but meagre information +on the subject--in fact, her war-diary practically ends here. + +Frail womanhood had reached the breaking-point. + +A period of dull suffering, of deadly indifference followed, broken +one day by the news, with which the whole town rang, that Skinner's +Court had been stormed by the Boers and that every horse had been +taken, fourteen in all, valuable remounts of the officers. + +Hansie just glanced at her mother and then asked hoarsely, "Was any +one hurt? Was any one taken?" + +"No," the answer came, with a curious look at her strained face; "the +attack was so wholly unexpected, and the Boers so evidently informed +of every detail of the place, that they were gone with all the horses +almost before a shot could be fired." + +This meant not only that the Captain had reached his men in safety, +but that the enterprising object of his visit had been successfully +carried out, beyond his most sanguine expectations. + + * * * * * + +And now we take our leave of the brave Captain whose name appears so +often and so honourably in this book, and in leaving him, we quote, at +his request, the tribute with which he closed his little book _In +Doodsgevaar_ ("In Danger of Death")--published in August 1903--a +tribute to the women who assisted him. + + "I feel it my duty, before closing this story of our personal + experiences of the war, to direct a word of thanks and + appreciation to those faithful South African mothers and sisters + who personally supported us during those difficult days and did + what they could in Pretoria to further our cause in the field. + But how can this be done? I have no adequate words at my + command, and I feel that the work of these women is above all + expression of appreciation." + + "When I look back on those days, there floats across my mind not + only the names, but also the personality of each of these worthy + women, and I remember to the minutest detail their + self-sacrifice and the zeal with which they stood by us during + our visits to Pretoria, while exposed to the danger of + themselves being plunged into the greatest difficulties. But for + this they had no thought, no care, as long as the sacred cause + could be advanced. I feel, however, that it would be out of + place to mention the names of a few where so _many_ risked their + all, willingly offering even the sacrifice of their lives, if + necessary, to further the interests of our cause." + + "How fervently I should have wished to see their great work + crowned with a well-deserved reward!" + + "He who rules the destinies of nations decreed it otherwise, + however, and we must bow in resignation to His will, but, + faithful women and girls of South Africa, rest assured that your + noble work and self-sacrifice have not been in vain. For myself + I find in that which was performed by you this great abiding + comfort, that so long as South Africa possesses women and girls + of your stamp, so long can we go forward to meet the future + hopefully and cheerfully; so long as the spirit, nourished by + you, still lives and thrives in our midst, so long may we pursue + our way fearlessly." + + "The struggle is over, brought to an end more than a year ago, + and some of us have already learnt to adapt ourselves to our + altered circumstances. We have been taught by those whose + position, as leaders of the people, gives them the fullest right + thereto, how to conduct ourselves, and we require no further + encouragement to follow that advice." + + "But we feel that we cannot lay sufficient emphasis on the + injunction to be true to one another as a nation, to be true to + our traditions of the past, true to the lessons we have learnt + in the recent conflict." + + "We have seen to what a pass one can be brought by infidelity." + + "Let us in future live in such a way that nothing may be lost of + the honour which is our inheritance from the battle-fields of + South Africa." + + "Farewell." + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +PEACE, PEACE--AND THERE IS NO PEACE! + + +If I may dare to hope that there are, among my readers who have +followed me with so much patience through this book, some sufficiently +interested in the heroine to desire information on what befell her in +her future lot, I should wish to give to them just a glimpse or two +into scenes as totally different from the events recorded in this +volume as night is from day. And to do this freely, unreservedly, I +must endeavour to forget my close connection with the heroine, a +connection the thought of which has hampered and restricted me, from +first to last, in choosing and rewriting the material from her diary. + +Her diary, as I have said before, had ended soon after her last +adventure with the spies, never to be resumed again. + +I do not, however, write from memory in this brief chapter on her +subsequent experiences, for I have before me for reference a pile of +letters from her to her mother. + +Almost her last word when she left her native land was an injunction +to her mother to preserve her letters for the future,--"for when I am +married, mother dear, _you_ will be my diary." + +Hansie's health gave way. + +Not in a week or a month, not in any way perceptible to those around +her, but stealthily, treacherously, and relentlessly the fine +constitution was undermined, the highly strung nervous system was +shattered. This had taken place chiefly during the desolate and dark +hours of the night, when, helpless in the grip of the fiend Insomnia, +the wretched girl abandoned herself to hopelessness and despair. + +And the time was soon to come when she feared those dreadful waking +hours even less than the brief moments of fitful slumber which +overcame her worn-out, shattered frame, for no sooner did she lose her +consciousness in sleep than she was overpowered by some hideous +nightmare, and found herself, shrieking, drowning in the black waters +of some raging torrent, or pursued by some infuriated lunatic or +murderer, or enveloped in the deadly coils of some hideous reptile. + +Shuddering from head to foot after each of these most awful realities +of the night, she was soothed and comforted by the tender hands of her +distressed and anxious mother. + +Something had to be done, of that there was no doubt. Not even the +strongest mind could have endured such a strain for any length of +time, and that Hansie's reason was preserved at all I put down to the +fact that she had never once throughout the war entertained the idea, +the possibility, of the loss of her country's independence. + +The blow, when it came, found her so far from the scenes of her recent +sufferings, as we shall see presently, that she was able to endure it, +as one, far removed from the death-bed of her best beloved, is spared +the crushing details, the cruel realities of that last parting scene. + +The thought of the strong heart across the seas, waiting to receive +her, would have been of more support to her in those days had she +known by experience what it _could_ mean to a woman, tried as she had +been, to place herself and all her grief in the protecting, +understanding love of a good and noble man. + +But even this comfort was denied to her; in fact, the thought of her +uncertain future, and her fear that the step she was about to take +might prove to be a great mistake in her abnormal condition, were an +added burden to our sorely tried and now completely broken-down +patriot. + +Plans were made to send her out of the country. + +Her sister, Mrs. Cloete, who had for some months been trying to +procure a permit to visit the Transvaal, was, after great trouble and +inconvenience, successful in her endeavours and arrived at Harmony on +Saturday, March 29th, 1902. + +What words from my poor pen can describe the emotions of _that_ +meeting? + +Even Hansie's diary has nothing to say except "let us draw the veil," +but memory is strong and the bands of love and kinship are +unbreakable, even under the adversities of long and bitter years--nay, +rather are they strengthened by the threads of common woe, woven into +their very fibre at such a time of bitter trial. + +The mother spent hours with her elder daughter, happy beyond power to +express, relating her experiences and adventures, comparing notes and +making plans for their future. + +All that month of April was filled with rumours of an early peace, and +hopes were buoyed up with the certainty that "peace with honour" would +and could be the only termination to the peace conferences. Incredible +as it may seem to some of my readers, the Boer opinion was that +England was about to end hostilities and that, under certain terms, +the independence of the two Republics would be assured. + +No reliable information reached our friends at Harmony, for the +activities of the Secret Service had ceased entirely--at least, as far +as the town was concerned. + +Uncertainty, excitement, expectation filled the air, reaching their +height on April 12th, when the news of the Boer leaders' arrival at +the capital spread like wild-fire through the town. + +Steyn, Botha, de Wet, de la Rey, Reitz, and a host of others were +amongst "their own" again, under circumstances of unique importance. +They were not allowed to mix freely with the crowd, but kept in a +state of highly honoured captivity in the beautiful double-storied +house known as "Parkzicht," opposite Burghers Park, well guarded night +and day by armed patrols, who kept the crowd at bay with a friendly +"Move on, please," when they touched the limit of their beat. + +Mrs. van Warmelo and her two daughters, like so many other +citizenesses, lost no opportunity of walking in the neighbourhood of +"Parkzicht," and they were fortunate beyond their wildest hopes in +being greeted by the Generals on more than one occasion. + +One day as they were passing they observed the familiar figure of +General Botha on the balcony. + +They waved their handkerchiefs and there was no doubt about his +recognition, for he took off his hat and waved it, kissing both his +hands to them. + +(General Botha it was who, after the war, said to Mrs. van Warmelo, +clasping her hand and looking earnestly into her eyes: + +"You have done and risked what even I would not have dared.") + +After six or seven days in Pretoria the Boer leaders left for their +commandos, to deliberate, with what result Hansie did not know until +nearly two months later in mid-ocean, where at a distant isle the news +of the declaration of peace was made known to her. + +The three women at Harmony now turned their thoughts into another +channel. + +The mother being far from well herself, arrangements had to be made to +leave her in the companionship of some suitable and congenial woman, +until her "boys" came home--one from the front, if he were still +alive, the other from captivity. A girl friend offered to take +Hansie's place at Harmony and promised not to leave Mrs. van Warmelo +until the country was in a settled state again. + +This was Hansie's only crumb of consolation during those last days at +home. + +Many difficulties were made about her permits when she applied for +leave to go to Holland, and many were the questions asked, her +interview with General Maxwell being the least unsatisfactory when she +told him of her approaching marriage. + +"You may go with pleasure," he had said; but a few days afterwards +Hansie received a letter from the Provost-Marshal, saying that "the +present regulations do not allow burghers or their families to leave +South Africa." + +Hansie wrote to Lord Kitchener, but received no reply, and it was +nearly the middle of May, after some weeks of uncertainty, harder far +to bear than trouble of a more decided character, when she and Mrs. +Cloete left the capital for Cape Colony. + +Hansie's last words in her diary are: + +"There is quite a history connected with the procuring of my permits, +which I shall relate another time. _I am too tired now._" + +Words significant of what the girl had endured in parting from her +mother and leaving her beloved country at a time so critical! + + * * * * * + +On an ocean-steamer she found herself at last--alone, for in that +crowd there was no face familiar to her to be seen. + +She mixed freely with the crowd; she sought, in the games with which +these voyages usually are passed, to forget--to forget; but the nights +of sleeplessness remained--her waking terror, with which she was +consumed. + +Two men there were who proved sympathetic, one a Scotchman, the other +an Englishman--both anti-Boer and sadly misinformed when first she met +them, both "converts" by the time they reached their native shores. + +Sitting at table she listened intently to the conversations on the +war--the war, the never-ending war. On no occasion did she breathe a +word of what _she_ knew, of what _she_ felt, until one day at dinner +a young English lieutenant, "covered with glory" and returning home a +hero of the war, enlarged on the services rendered by one brave +officer, well known by name to Hansie. + +"It is not only what he achieved with so much success in the field," +he continued. "I am thinking now of those two years he spent in the +Pretoria Forts _before_ the war, as a common labourer, doing menial +work with other men, and secretly making plans and drawing charts of +the Pretoria fortifications. Every detail was made known to our +military before we went to war." + +Exclamations of surprise, a murmur of admiration, ran along the table. + +Hansie waited until there was a lull, and then she asked: + +"The work carried out by him, was it done under oath of allegiance to +the Transvaal Government?" + +There was one moment's painful silence before the young lieutenant +answered, with a laugh: + +"Of course; it could not possibly have been done otherwise--but all is +fair in love and war." + +"War?" Hansie exclaimed--"I thought you said that this was done some +years _before_ the war." + +"Yes, but we all knew what things were leading to!" + +This incident was the first hint among the passengers that she was not +one of them. + +At first they looked at her askance, but as the days went on and the +girl steadfastly avoided every allusion to the war, refusing to +express her opinions to any one, except the two men mentioned above, +the feeling of discomfort passed, and she was once again included in +the pastimes of the ship's company. + +As they were nearing Teneriffe the longing for news, for the latest +cables from England and South Africa, possessed every soul on +board--and now I find that, search as I will, within the recesses of +my mind, for words with which to describe adequately such scenes, +brain and hand are powerless. + + * * * * * + +There was peace in South Africa--peace "with honour" for England, +peace _and defeat_ for the Boers! + + * * * * * + +In a moment the ship's crew went mad, as the wild cheering rolled over +the waves. + +Hansie stood stupefied until (and strange it is that at a time like +this an insignificant detail should stand out in sharp relief against +the background of her dulled sensibilities) an hysterical woman ran up +to her with outstretched hands, crying: + +"Oh, my dear, my dear, let me congratulate you! Let us shake hands!" + +The girl, thus taken by surprise in all that crowd, recoiled in +shuddering distress, while, with hands clasped convulsively behind, +she murmured: + +"Oh, I _could not_--I _could not_!" + +A wave of deep resentment passed over the ship's passengers, and +hostile eyes looked on her frowningly. + + * * * * * + +That night, as the good ship was ploughing the waters on her way once +more, a solitary figure stood on the deserted decks. + +In the saloons great bumpers of champagne were passing round, while +the strains of "God save the King" and "Rule Britannia" floated over +the ocean waves. + +A man in search of her, fearing perhaps, I know not what, approached +the drooping figure of the girl, and pressed her hand in silent +sympathy. + +"There is no peace!" she said. "Do you think I believe these lying +cables? The Boers will _never_ yield. If you knew what I know, you +would take these reports for what they are worth. I have been trying +to think what it all can mean, and this is the conclusion I have come +to. If it be true that peace has been proclaimed, then the Boers have +preserved their independence, and this last fact has been excluded +from the cables in view of the approaching Coronation. But my own +conviction is that there is no peace at all, but that these cables +have been sent to reassure the English public, and to make it possible +to celebrate the crowning of the King in a splendour unclouded by the +horrors of the South African war. Believe me, when the Coronation is +over you will hear of a mysterious renewal of hostilities." + +The man was silent, troubled. He had not the heart to argue with the +girl, perhaps he thought, and rightly thought, that this strange +illusion of the brain, this confident belief in her own convictions, +would help to tide her over the first days to follow. + +"I cannot understand," he said, "how Mrs. ---- could have asked you to +shake hands with her." + +"Oh, I was wrong," Hansie said. "She meant it kindly. How could _she_ +understand? I will apologise--to-morrow." + + * * * * * + +It had been arranged that Hansie should spend a few days in London to +see some friends before proceeding to Holland. + +She found the mighty metropolis in the throes of preparation for an +event of unparalleled magnificence. + +Every sign of splendour and rejoicing was a fresh sword through the +heart of our sorely tried young patriot. + +The people with whom she stayed, old Pretoria friends, had not an +inkling of what was passing in her mind. + +Their warm and loving greetings, their loud expressions of delight +that the war had come to an end at last, were so many pangs added to +her grief. + +"You will come with us to the Coronation?" her hostess said; "we have +splendid reserved seats, and this event will be unparalleled in the +history of England." + +Again the unfortunate girl found herself recoiling, taken by surprise; +again she said: + +"Oh, I _could not_! Not to save my life!" + +"Not go to see the Coronation! I am surprised at you. Very few South +African girls are lucky enough to benefit by such an opportunity. I +must say I think it very narrow-minded of you. You disappoint me. The +war is over now, and while we are all trying to promote a feeling of +good-fellowship you nourish such an unworthy and narrow-minded +spirit." + +Narrow-minded, unworthy! + +The iron entered deep into her soul; and when she looks back now and +takes a brief survey of what she suffered throughout those years, that +moment stands out as one into which all the fears, the hopes, the +agonies of one short lifetime had been crowded. + +Sometimes the human heart, when tried beyond endurance, will reach a +point where but a trifling incident, an unkind word, is needed to +break down life's stronghold. + +This point our heroine had reached. + +Something passed out of her soul, an undefinable something of which +the zest for life is made, and as she felt the black waters of despair +closing over her she almost gasped for breath. + +She turned away. + +"You will never understand. I think it very kind of you to make such +plans for my enjoyment, but--to the Coronation of the English King I +_will not go_. Leave me here--I have some writing to do--no need to be +distressed on my account. My one regret is that my presence here, at +such a time, should be a source of so much painfulness to us both." + +With cold courtesy the subject of the approaching Coronation was +dropped, until the next day, when the appalling, the stupefying news +of the postponement of the Coronation spread through the hushed +streets of the great metropolis. + +The King was dying, was perhaps already dead. The King had undergone a +critical operation and his life still hung in the balance. + +The King could not be crowned. + +Already the black wings of Death seemed to be stretched over the +mighty city, with its millions and millions of inhabitants. The +multitude was waiting in hushed expectancy, in breathless suspense. + +Hansie, walking through the streets with one of the men whose +sympathy on board had been of such unspeakable comfort to her, never +felt more unreal in her life. Her mind was in a maze, she groped about +for words with which to clothe her thoughts, but groped in vain, for +even the power of thought had been suspended for a time. + +Her companion, glancing at her face, asked suddenly, curiously: + +"Would you be glad if King Edward were to die?" + +There was a long pause, while the girl strove to analyse her feelings. + +At last she answered slowly, simply, truthfully: + +"No; I would be sorry." + +And in these words, good reader, when I think of them, I find a +certain solution to the problem of her behaviour on many occasions +when brought into close contact with her country's enemies. + +There was never anything personal in the most bitter feelings of +resentment and hatred of her country's foes, and never at any time did +she belong to the ranks of those among her fellow-patriots who deemed +it an unpardonable crime to recognise and appreciate the good +qualities possessed by them. + +A love of fair-play characterised her, even as a child, and it is +certain that the cruel circumstances of the war developed this sense +of justice to an abnormal extent, often bringing upon her, in later +years, misunderstanding and distrust from those who should have been +her friends. + + * * * * * + +It is June 28th, a glorious, cloudless summer's morn. + +Speeding swiftly, almost silently, cutting its way through the calm, +blue waters of the English Channel, a passenger-boat is fast +approaching Holland's shores. + +The hour is early, and of the few figures moving on the pier, one +stands apart, watching intently, as the ship draws near. + +He waves his hat, he has recognised the figure of the girl who stands +on deck and waves her handkerchief in response to his greeting. + +His strong hand clasps hers; and now the discreet reader need not +avert his eyes--no need here to "draw the veil"--for Hansie had +written from London to this tall, broad-shouldered man: + +"What is left of me is coming to you now, but we must meet as +_friendly acquaintances_, until we are both certain of ourselves." + +How long this "friendly acquaintance" lasted it is difficult to say, +for there is a difference of opinion on the point. + +_She_ says, not less than sixty minutes. + +_He_ asserts, not more than thirty-five! + + * * * * * + +The exquisite serenity of her father's native land, especially on such +a perfect day in midsummer, had never seemed to her so sweet. + +Here, indeed, she felt that peace _could_ come to her at last. + + * * * * * + +But not yet--not yet. + +Strong emotions of a different kind awaited her, the meeting of +beloved friends and relatives, after seemingly endless years of pain, +proving no less trying than the introduction to a large circle of +_future_ relatives and friends. + +Hansie had to be "lionised" as heroine of the war, and this was done +in a whole-hearted, generous way which was a constant source of wonder +to her. + +She was "carried on the hands," as the Dutch saying goes, by all who +had the remotest claim on her. + +Functions were arranged for her, receptions held, to which +white-haired women and stately venerable men came from far to shake +her hand, because she was a daughter of the Transvaal, nothing +more--not because of what she had done and endured, for this was known +to only one or two. + +Old friends from South Africa there were in scores, and for the time +the State of Holland was transformed into a colony of Boers, which +seemed complete when the Boer leaders, Botha, de Wet, and de la Rey, +arrived with their staffs. Then it seemed as if the people of Holland +lost their heads entirely, and scenes such as those which took place +daily in the streets are never to be forgotten by those who witnessed +them. + +All this, though wonderful, was not the best thing for our heroine, +who was "living on her nerves," though in a different way, as surely +as she did during those cruel years of war. + +Added to this she was frequently tried beyond endurance by the +questions: + +"Why did the Boers give in? How _could_ the Boers give in and lose +their independence?" + +One conversation in particular was burnt into her brain. + +"Was it the Concentration Camps?" + +"No," the answer came slowly, "no, it was not the Concentration Camps. +The high mortality was past, the weakest had been taken, and there +was no cause for anxiety for those remaining in the Camps. Their +rations had been increased and improved--there was no more of that +first awful suffering." + +"What was it, then? The arming of the natives?" + +The answer came more slowly: + +"No, it was not the arming of the natives. Their forces were more +scattered, for they were chiefly employed in guarding the railway +lines, in protecting stock and guarding block-houses. Though their +addition to the British ranks undoubtedly weakened our strength to +some extent, their inborn respect for the Boer would have prevented +them from ever rendering valuable services to the English. How we +laughed, my sister and I, when, on the railway journey from Pretoria +to Cape Town, we saw the line patrolled by hundreds of these natives, +with gun in hand, stark naked except for a loin-cloth and a bandolier! +So much waste of ammunition! No, the arming of the natives would have +been the last thing to induce the Boers to surrender." + +"Then it seems to me incomprehensible! surely death were preferable to +defeat!" + +"Yes, a thousand times; but you forget the National Scouts--the +Judas-Boers. _They_ broke our strength. Not by their skill in the use +of arms, not by their knowledge of our country and our methods--no!" + +"They broke our strength by breaking our ideals, by crushing our +enthusiasm, by robbing us of our inspiration, our faith, our hope----" + +With averted eyes, and seemingly groping for one last ray of light, +the man continued: + +"But where were your heroes--your heroes of Magersfontein, Spion Kop, +and Colenso?" + +"Where were our heroes?" the girl echoed bitterly. "In their +graves--in our hospitals--in captivity! Ever foremost in the +field--one--by one--they fell---- 'But the remnant that is escaped of +the house of Israel shall again take root downward and bear fruit +upward.' + +"Although, under the shadow of this great national calamity, we cannot +see it now, there is hope for our sad South Africa. It is too soon to +speak of a united race, but the time will surely come when, in the +inter-marriage of our children and our children's children, will be +formed a nation great and strong and purified." + +Through all those weeks our heroine never slept. It seems incredible +that the frail form of a girl should be endowed with so great a power +of endurance, and that the human mind can stand the strain of smiling +self-control by day, abandonment of grief by night. + +Those nearest to her, divining something of what she was passing +through, lavished countless proofs of tender sympathy on her, +innumerable acts of loving care for her personal comfort, and +well-thought-out plans for drawing her away from herself into the +charmed circle of the B---- Labouchere house. + +And when her marriage-day drew near she turned away with a superficial +glance at the array of costly presents, to devour once again the +cables from South Africa, the telegrams from her Generals, the letter +and the photograph of her beloved President, inscribed in his +illegible hand, "For services rendered during the late war." + +Last, but not least, there came to her official-looking documents +from Het Loo, the personal congratulations of the Queen, the Prince +Consort, and the Queen-mother--and the ancient blood of Holland +coursed more swiftly through her veins as she thought of Wilhelmina, +the dauntless young Queen of the Netherlands, now _her_ Queen. + +In all the ranks of the "Petticoat Commando" there was not one woman +who had dared more, risked more, than the brave Queen of Holland when +she dispatched her good man-of-war to bear away from the shores of +Africa the hunted President of the South African Republic, to the +refuge of her hospitable land. + + * * * * * + +Flowers, flowers everywhere, first in baskets, then in cartloads, then +in waggon-loads, they were deposited at the doors until they +overflowed from the reception-rooms into the halls and staircases, and +even the verandahs--chrysanthemums and roses in riotous profusion, +nestling violets, rarest orchids, bright carnations, heavy with the +richest perfume. + +Each flower had a separate message for the bride. They understood, and +they enveloped her with their unspoken sympathy. + +Some there were adorned with her beloved, her most tragic "Vierkleur," +and over them she lingered long, breathing a prayer to merciful Heaven +to still her beating heart for ever. + +Not in the wild beauty of the Swiss scenery did she find rest, not by +the calm lakes of sapphire blue in which she saw reflected the rugged +mountains, soul-satisfying in their majestic grandeur, not in the +soundless, the mysterious regions of the eternal snows--but in the +north of Holland, where she found herself when autumn fell, Hansie +slept. + +Languid and more languid she became; drooping visibly, she sank into +oblivion in that northern village home, conscious only in her waking +hours of the cold, the driving sleet, the howling wind, the ceaseless +drip, drip of the swaying trees. + +As the long winter months crept by, her sleep became more and more +profound, less haunted by the hideous nightmares of the past, and +though she at first rebelled, ashamed of her growing weakness, she was +soon forced to yield to the resistless demands of outraged nature. + +In this she was supported by her husband, who, unknown to her, was +acting on the advice of the famous nerve-specialist who had watched +her unobserved. + +"Let her sleep, if need be for a year, and in the end you will find +her normal and restored, of that I am convinced," he had said; and in +these words her husband found his greatest comfort, as he tucked his +little dormouse in and tip-toed from the darkened room. + +Hansie lost count of time, but there were two days in the week of +which she was quite sure--the day on which the South African mail +reached her and the day on which it was dispatched. In between she +slept, as we have seen, but when she woke she always knew that her +enfranchised spirit had been to her native land. + + * * * * * + +A full year had gone by, fifteen months, and when the first breath of +winter once more touched the land she gradually became aware of +voices calling to her, insistent, imperative voices from across the +seas. + +"I must go," she said. "What am I doing here? South Africa is calling. +My people want me there. You and I must go. There is a great work for +us both." And he, no less ardent and enthusiastic, yielded to her +prayers, bade farewell to home and fatherland, sailed away with her to +the unknown. + +"In all the world," she said, "there is no pain to be compared with +the pain of being born a patriot; but a patriot in _exile_--may Heaven +protect me from the tragedy of such a fate!" + + + + +CONCLUSION + + +The veil is lifted for one last brief glimpse. + +Ten years have gone by since the declaration of peace, ten years each +more wonderful than the last, full to overflowing of life's rich +experience of joy and grief. + +By some strange turn in the hand of Destiny, our heroine finds +herself, after many vicissitudes, an inhabitant of the Golden +City--that Golden City which had wrecked her youth and very nearly +wrecked her life. + +For years it has seemed incredible to her that she should have been +destined for the position she now holds, a position of so much trust, +so difficult, so critical. + +A plaything in the hand of Fate, she thought at first, when looking +from her balcony she saw the Golden City, with its extensive suburbs +stretched out at her feet, and heard the distant, never-ceasing roar +of the innumerable mine-batteries of the Rand. But the resistless hand +of Fate was drawing her into the sphere of work for which she longed +most ardently--woman's work, at home, abroad--and the glamour of +Johannesburg stole over her in time. + + * * * * * + +The terms of peace have been fulfilled, responsible government for the +Transvaal and Free State, and Hansie thinks with an intolerable pain +of that day at Teneriffe. Had she but known--had she but known--but +the cables (she had called them "lying cables" then, and she was not +far wrong) had spoken only of a glorious victory for the English and +unconditional surrender on the part of the Boers. No word about the +terms, the _only_ terms on which the Boers would ever have yielded +their independence. + +Responsible government has been followed by the Union of the South +African provinces. + +South Africa is united _in name_, if not yet in reality, but the time +will surely come, as we have said before, when, under the softening +influence of time, a great united race will be born. + + * * * * * + +Closely pressing around Hansie as she writes are eager little faces, +reverent little fingers touching the scattered pages before her, brave +eyes of blue and brown, looking wonderingly into hers. + +"Writing a book, mother? About the spies? And the lemon-juice? Oh, +mother, what will the English say?" + +And the accents falling on her ear are in the expressive sweetness of +the South African Dutch, in its most cultured form. + + * * * * * + +Hansie ought to be a happy woman. None of the joys of life have been +withheld from her, and yet--and yet---- + + + + + +_Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._ + + + + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 100: 'unkemp hair wast' replaced with | + | 'unkempt hair was' | + | Page 222: rovolver replaced with revolver | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PETTICOAT COMMANDO*** + + +******* This file should be named 20194-8.txt or 20194-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/9/20194 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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