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 travelbackwards 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.
Agreatlittle 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 into 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 townsearchlights 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.
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 mightwasright, 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 greatSouth 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 stepdownwards 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 existenceand 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, whencaptured 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.
[1]"Zak-patriotten."
[1]"Zak-patriotten."
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 ofcommunicating 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 washollowand 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 theweight, 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.
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 invisiblemark 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 nextmorning 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.
W.J. BOTHAW.J. BOTHAToList
W.J. BOTHAToList
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 justifythe 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 beingfollowed, 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 Iambeing 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: permissionto 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, "willnot 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, desertedvillage 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, withverbal 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.
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 knowthe 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 MightRightall 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 isnotright.Ourmotto, '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, aninspiredstrength."
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 notthinkso, 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.Hehas 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 onthe 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.