A BAND OF SCOUNDRELS
On sallying out Yorke was joined by Peter, as had been arranged. The native kept a short distance behind him, carrying a large basket which he had, at Yorke's orders, brought. Fortunately, they had no difficulty about cash, as Hans, who had not drawn any money from the time of his first enlistment, had obtained three months' pay before starting. Walking up the main street, which was comparatively deserted, they saw a group of people before one of the Government offices, and going up Yorke read a telegram from Pretoria, stating that a British officer had, during thenight, effected his escape from prison, and that he had been aided by one of the prison guards, who was also missing. All were enjoined to keep a look-out for them, and to arrest them when discovered. A description was given of their appearance.
"They will not get far," a Boer standing next to Yorke said; "the Rooinek is young, and certainly will not be able to speak our language."
"There can be no doubt about that," Yorke agreed. "He must be a sharp fellow, though, to have escaped, for, from what I heard from one who had seen the prison, it would be next to impossible for anyone to get away, as there were sentries night and day, and three lines of barbed-wire fencing outside the palisade."
"He will be caught, sure enough," another said. "No doubt they will shoot him. If I had had the management of things I would have shot them all as soon as they were taken."
"I don't know about that," Yorke replied. "They have not taken many of ours at present, but they may do, and if we shoot prisoners, they would do the same."
"They will never take any prisoners," the man said scornfully; "none of our men would ever surrender. Besides, as we always beat them, they would have no chance of taking prisoners."
"That is so," Yorke agreed; "still, I don't know that I agree with you that we should shoot prisoners. You see, the soldiers have to fight as they are told, and they are not to be blamed because their government makes them fight against us."
Yorke now edged out of the little crowd and joined Peter. He walked about the town for some hours, and at one went back and had dinner. He then went out again, and on leaving the hotel, saw Hans standing a short distance away, but paid no attention to him, as it had been agreed that they should not recognize each other as long as they were inJohannesburg. Hans, however, rather to his surprise and annoyance, followed him at a short distance down the street. After proceeding a little further, Yorke turned off from the main street and walked some distance towards the outskirts of the town. As Hans still followed, Yorke stopped at a quiet spot where no one was in sight.
"What is it, Hans?" he asked when the other came up. "I thought we had agreed that we were not to recognize each other so long as we stayed here."
"I understood that, Master Yorke, but there is something I wanted to tell you."
"Well, what is it, Hans?"
"You know there are a good many rough fellows here, chiefly Irishmen and Germans, who have managed under some excuse or other to avoid having to go to fight."
Yorke nodded.
"Well, as you told me, I went to a small drinking-shop. There were four or five fellows of this sort there. They stopped talking when I went in, and as soon as I sat down one of them came over to me and said in Dutch, 'Do you understand English?' I thought it best to shake my head, and he went back to the others and said in English, 'The fellow talks nothing but Taal, so we needn't disturb ourselves about him.' 'All right,' another said, 'he looks as stupid as most of these Dutchmen do; I suppose he has come in from some country farm. Still, we may as well make ourselves safe,' and he called to the landlord. 'We will go to that room behind,' he said; 'we have got some business that we want to talk over;' and getting up they left the room. The house was built of wood, and I heard their entry into the room behind me almost as plainly as if I had been there, and taking off my hat, and holding it in readiness if I should hear the landlord returning, I placed my ear against the partition, and listened intently. Relying alike upon my ignorance of English, my being half-drunk, and their being in another room, the men did not lower their voices, and Iwas able to catch nearly all they said. I don't know why I troubled about it, it was no business of mine; but they were a rough lot, and the fact that they were so anxious that I should not hear them made me want to do so, and I think it is lucky I did. What I heard was this:—
"'Well, Grunstein, go on with what you were saying.'
"'I was telling you about Chambers, the president of the Parfontein mine. I learned from one of my countrymen who was working there, that the last month before war began they pushed the mine for all it was worth—took men off the levels they were driving, and put every hand on to get the stuff down in the rich places, and kept all the stamps working on their best stuff. One of the men who works in the place where they run the gold into blocks told me that they must have got at least a quarter of a million pounds' worth of gold. It was taken up as usual every night to the president's house, but he declares that it was never sent to the bank, and that he is sure the whole, or at any rate by far the greater part of it, is there still. Chambers himself has not left. I suppose he bribed Kruger to let him stop without being interfered with. He has his wife and two daughters there, and three servants, two of them Germans and one an Irishman. We have already got at them, it was better to do so, although we could easily settle them. Anyhow, my plan is to get a score of men we can rely upon, and attack the house. It is near the mine, and far enough away from the town to prevent any firing being heard.
"'Anyhow, we need not bother about that, as Muller has squared the three men-servants. He has promised them an equal share in the plunder; and it is a good thing that it was arranged so, because we shall be able to carry out the affair, I hope, without a gun being fired. We are to be there at nine o'clock, and they have arranged to seize Chambers and tie him up; or, if he resists, to knock him on the head directly they hear our whistle. Besides, there is no doubt the gold is stored in some secret vault. Wemight have a difficulty in finding it, and even if we do find it, we may have to use powder to blow it open.'
"'Why get twenty?' another asked, 'when we four and Muller would be enough. The fewer the better.
"'No, Driscoll; we had better take a good force. I would rather take forty than twenty. A quarter of a million weighs a tremendous lot, I make it out roughly about two tons and a half. A man could not carry off more than fifty pounds weight—that is, he could not hide more than fifty pounds weight about him—so that it would take a hundred men to carry off that lot.'
"'Well, then, we must get some carts. There is John Blake, he has a cart, and picks up fares in the town, we could rely upon him; and Pat Maloney, he lets his cart out. Between them they could bring in two tons easily enough; and then we could get two others—all boys we could trust. Then, if there were twenty of us, we could take fifty pounds apiece, as you say.'
"'Yes,' the other said doubtfully, 'but there would be a big row over it. It would be guessed that the job had been done to get at gold, and Kruger's people would consider that they had been robbed of their rights, and there would be a big search.'
"'They can only guess,' the Irishman replied; 'you may be sure we shall leave no one in the house to blab about it.'
"They talked for some time and went through a lot of names, and then agreed that they would only take a dozen altogether, as they were not sure that they could trust any of the others they had named. And they were of opinion that each of them could carry a hundredweight, and perhaps even a hundredweight and a half. 'A man can carry a mighty lot of gold,' one of them said, 'and it takes up such a little space that it would not make much of a lump.' It was agreed that on leaving the house they should separate, all going different ways, each choosing such hiding-place as he liked for his gold. Then they would meet at the houses of the two men who were to take the carts, and bury the gold they had carried off in the yards.
"That is about what I have heard, Master Yorke. There were bits that I did not hear, for sometimes they talked so low that I could not catch the words. Then they called the wine-shop keeper to pay for what they had had, and went out in a body. I didn't move for half an hour. I thought that perhaps one of them might be watching me from outside the window, and if I had woke up too soon, they might suspect that I had not been really asleep, in which case I should not have gone far before I got a knife between my shoulders. But luckily the landlord came in, and after speaking to me twice, seized me by the collar and shook me. 'Now,' he said, 'you can't be sleeping here any longer. Wake up! You have a shilling to pay for what you have drunk.'
"I pretended to fumble about for some time trying to find the money, and then stumbled out of the room. Then I came along in hopes of finding you or Peter to tell you about it."
"You have done quite right, Hans. We must join in the game. In the first place, we must find out where the place is. It is seven o'clock now, and there is no time to be lost. Peter, you had better go and get your rifle at once; hide it under your clothes if you can, for it will be daylight for another half hour, and it would never do for you to walk through the streets with a rifle on your shoulder. Be as quick as you can and come back here. I will find out where the place is from the German at my hotel. You come back in half an hour, Hans; it will take Peter that time to get his rifle and return."
Then he walked back to his hotel, while the Kaffir went off at a run.
"Where about is the Parfontein mine? I forgot I hadto go there to see how many cattle he will want next week."
"I thought that the mine was shut down," the German said.
"No, not altogether. At any rate, he wants some cattle. I forgot all about it until now. But if it is not too far I will walk over."
"It is about three miles."
"Then I had better take my horse."
"It is Chambers's house that you want, I suppose?"
"Yes."
"Well, you cannot go very far wrong. Go out by the western road, and walk straight on about two miles. You will see a shaft and some tips half a mile away to the left. The house stands a quarter of a mile from there. You can hardly mistake it; it is a large house with a big garden round it. Chambers keeps it watered by a pipe from the engine that pumps the mine."
Hans was, as arranged, waiting a short distance away; it had been settled that he had better get a straw-hat instead of the one he was wearing, and walk on alone for a bit.
"Go straight along the road to the west, Hans. I shall overtake you before you reach the turning to the mine; and if I don't, wait where the road turns off to the left, two miles and a half away. The mine lies half a mile to the left. Of course, as you go along you will get your rifle and bandolier. You had better load them before you start. I don't think any of those fellows would know you again, for that hat quite changes your appearance. But I think it would be as well for you to go into the first store that is open, and buy a light-coloured coat. You would be quite safe from detection then. But if you should be attacked before I join you, you will, of course, shoot. Do you understand?"
"Quite."
Yorke went up to his room, slung his rifle and bandolierover his shoulder, and then went down and put the saddle on his horse. He would rather have walked, but he knew that no Boer would have dreamt of making a journey of three miles on foot, and to do so would have strongly excited suspicion in the mind of the German, that he was not what he said. He did not bring the horse out until Peter came up.
"Take the road to the west, Peter; you can't walk fast with that gun down your leg. I shall join you as soon as you are out of the town—you are not likely to meet anyone after that—and I will carry your rifle as well as mine. It would be more natural for me to have two guns than for you to have one—I might have left the second one in the town to be repaired the last time I was here, and be now taking it home."
Yorke waited ten minutes, and then took the horse out and mounted. It was now a quarter to eight, and there was no time to be lost. He overtook Peter half a mile outside the town, and the Kaffir at once handed him his rifle.
"Now, you must trot," he said, "or Hans will be there before us."
They went at a brisk trot, but did not overtake Hans on the road. They found him, however, sitting at the point where the other road turned off.
"Have you seen any of your friends, Hans?"
"No. At least, I did see two of them in the town, but they were talking together and did not notice me."
"Now I shall go up to the door and knock. Directly it is opened, I shall point my rifle at the man's head, and tell him he is a dead man if he utters a word. Then you will run in and bind him. I have brought the horses' picket ropes with me. You will take charge of him, Peter, while I go in with Hans. I don't want to alarm the family till I have got the other two fellows tied up. We will find out the way to the kitchen. There is no fear of their making any resistance when they see a couple of guns pointed atthem. You will take charge of them, Hans, while I go in and explain matters to Mr. Chambers."
It was quite dark when they arrived at the house. Yorke dismounted at the gate, and told Peter to take the horse round to the other side of the house and fasten it up at some quiet spot, and then to rejoin him. On his return Hans and Peter took up their places one on each side of the door, and Yorke went up the steps and knocked. It was some little time before he was answered. He thought it likely that the men would be consulting together as to whether they would let the visitor in or not. At last the door opened.
"Mr. Chambers is not in," the man said. "Whatever your business, you must come to-morrow."
"My business will not wait," Yorke said, and raised the gun which he held in his hand.
The man started back.
"You are before your time," he said. "Nine o'clock is the hour."
"This is your hour and minute, for if you make the slightest sound I will put a bullet through your brain. Neither speak nor move."
The man stood paralysed, altogether unable to understand the situation.
"Come in," Yorke said to his followers. "Tie this man up, and if he opens his lips put a knife into him."
In a minute the fellow was laid on the ground, and securely tied hand and foot.
"Don't take your eye off him, Peter. Put your knife into him if he moves. Now then, Hans."
Yorke moved along the hall to a door standing open leading to the kitchen. There was a passage with an open door at the other end.
"Who is the visitor, Mike?" a man's voice asked as he came along, Hans treading lightly behind him. "Of course you sent him away?"
"Not exactly," Yorke replied, as he and Hans walked into the kitchen with their rifles ready for action.
A girl gave a slight scream of alarm, while the men leapt to their feet, and then stood immovable as the rifles were pointed at their heads.
"You are my prisoners," Yorke said sternly to them, "and if either of you moves, he is a dead man. Hans, take the fellow on the right; put your rifle by my side."
"Turn round," he said to the man, "and put your hands behind you."
The fellow did as he was told, and after both were securely tied up, Yorke said:
"Now, take your rifle again, Hans, and shoot either of them if they try to unloose their ropes.
"Do not be afraid," he went on to the girl; "we are friends of your master. Which room is he in?"
"The drawing-room, sir."
"Then show me into another room, and go in and tell him that an English gentleman wishes to speak to him."
The girl obeyed the order tremblingly. She thought that Yorke would treat her master as he had treated the two men, but she dared not disobey. The room was in darkness, and Yorke handed her a matchbox, saying:
"Go and light the lamp or candles, whichever you have. I shall stand at the door while you deliver the message. Come out directly you have given it. I do not wish to alarm the ladies."
The terrified girl struck three or four matches before she could obtain a light. Then she went to a door opposite.
"An English gentleman wants to speak to you, sir."
"Show him into the dining-room."
Thinking it was one of the other Englishmen who had, like himself, stayed at the mines, Mr. Chambers came out. He started with a sudden exclamation as his eyes fell upon Peter, standing with a rifle in his hand by the side of his servant.
"If you will step inside, Mr. Chambers, I will explain matters," Yorke said, stepping forward. "There is no occasion for the slightest uneasiness, and I have taken the steps you see not to alarm the ladies of your family."
Mr. Chambers was still further surprised at this address by a stranger, who, in spite of his attire as a Dutch farmer, was evidently English.
"Who are you, sir?" he asked, "and what is the meaning of this extraordinary conduct?"
"My name is Harberton. I am a lieutenant in the 9th Lancers, and was, when I was captured by the Boers, acting as one of General Pole-Carew's aides-de-camp. You have, no doubt, heard to-day of my escape last night from one of the prisons at Pretoria. I think that is sufficient introduction."
"Quite," Mr. Chambers said, holding out his hand and shaking that of Yorke; "I congratulate you on your escape. And now, will you explain to me why you have thus fallen upon my servant?"
He walked into the dining-room and shut the door.
"Before you answer my question, Mr. Harberton, I must ask if you are in need of refreshments?"
"Not at all, sir. I will now give you an account of this business."
And he related how Hans had overheard the plot to capture the treasure with the aid of Mr. Chambers's own servants, and how they were at that moment already gathering round the house.
"Fools!" Mr. Chambers said. "They would have, no doubt, taken my life, and murdered my wife and daughters, but the gold they would never have got. I will explain that afterwards. You have indeed rendered me an inestimable service, and I thank you with all my heart, in my own name and in that of my family. So you have all these rascals of mine tied up safely?"
prisoners
"YOU ARE MY PRISONERS," YORKE SAID STERNLY.
"I think so, sir; but it would be as well to see to them alittle more closely, for I shall want my two men when these fellows arrive. In the first place, can they enter at any other point than at the front door?"
"No, I have iron shutters to all the windows. They are not closed at the present moment, for on such a hot evening one wants air. However, that will be the first step. I will turn this light out, and then we can shut the windows and close the shutters without being noticed outside. I will then go round with you to the other rooms and shut them up too, and bolt and bar the back door, which is lined with iron. In the drawing-room, I will ask one of the girls to shut the windows and draw down the blinds—even if the scoundrels are watching, that will seem a natural act—I will then shut the shutters there, and tell the ladies that there is a little trouble ahead, but that they need not fear or be in the slightest way uneasy, as I have plenty of assistance, and can easily dispose of some ruffians who have an idea of breaking in; I had better request them to go upstairs until the matter is over."
In a quarter of an hour all the preparations were made. The three servants had been more carefully bound, and were beyond any possibility of loosing their ropes unless by very prolonged exertions. They had just finished all the preparations when a whistle was heard outside.
"That was the signal for us to be seized," Mr. Chambers said grimly. "I suppose they will give their accomplices five minutes to carry that out. How had we better post ourselves, Mr. Harberton?"
"I should say two in each doorway. We shall all have our rifles ready, and I would let them get well into the hall; then we can step out when I say 'Now!' and let drive at them. Our three Mausers will give us fifteen shots, and you have one with your rifle and five with your revolver. As they will be taken wholly by surprise, it is hardly likely that they will be able to fire a single shot, and we ought to be able to account for almost all of them. I think we hadbetter turn out the lights in the drawing-room and lower the lamp in the hall, so that they will have an indistinct view of me as I open the door."
This was done. Two minutes later there was a light tapping on the door outside. Yorke stepped forward, and opened it a short distance.
"Is it you?" he asked.
"Of course it is. Is it all right?"
"Yes, everything is ready for you," and he quickly stepped back until level with the others.
The door was thrown open, and a number of men poured in.
"Turn up the light!" one said, with an oath. "What have you turned it down for? There, shut that door behind you; one of the women may have got a revolver, and we don't want the sound heard. Now, where are—"
"Here," Yorke replied.
He turned up the light, the other three instantly stepped out, and four rifles were fired almost simultaneously. Shrieks, oaths of fury, and heavy falls were heard as Yorke and his companions emptied the magazines of their rifles into the group, and the cracks of Mr. Chambers's revolver joined in the din. Not a shot was fired in return. When the last cartridge had been fired, most of the assailants lay dead in the hall; the men who had last entered, panic-stricken at the sudden outburst of fire, had tried to open the door they had just closed, but the backward rush of the others prevented them from doing so, and it was not until ten had fallen that the other two were able to open the door and fly. Hastily recharging the magazines, Yorke and his two followers ran out, but a moment later they heard the sounds of galloping horses and cracking whips, and knew that pursuit would be futile. However, as they had the names of the owners of the carts, this mattered little, and they returned to the house. Mr. Chambers had at once gone upstairs to assure the ladies that the affair was over, and that none of those in the house had been hurt.
Examining the bodies, they found that most of them had two bullet-wounds and some three, the Mauser bullets having at that short range passed through two or even more bodies. Several were hit in the head, but most of them in the chest.
"That is just as well," Yorke said, when he had ascertained that none of them were breathing. "It will save all further trouble."
At this moment there was a sound of steps outside, and a loud, continuous knocking at the door. Mr. Chambers threw open the window upstairs.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"We have just run down from the mine, sir; we heard the sound of firing here."
"Thank you, lads; it is all over now, but you may be of use," and he ran down and opened the door.
Six men were there all armed with guns.
"You see there has been a hard fight here, lads," he said, as an exclamation of surprise broke from the men at the scene in the hall. "Fortunately I had been warned just in time, and with the aid of this gentleman and his friends have, as you see, killed ten of them; only two got away. Now, I do not want any talk about it. Lend a hand, will you, to get the bodies outside; then I want a hole dug deep enough to hold them. Put it a hundred yards away from the house. It will be a heavy job, but I will put that right with you on Saturday."
"Shall we get the other five men up from below, sir?"
"No; I don't want the matter talked about, and the fewer that know of it the less chance there is of its getting about. I trust that you will all keep a silent tongue about the affair."
"You can trust us for that, sir. None of you are hurt, I hope?"
"Not in the slightest. There was not a shot fired on their side, we took them completely by surprise."
"I should say, sir, the best place to bury them would be to make a hole in the foot of one of the pit-heaps, then we can shovel the loose stuff down from above. It would be a much shorter job than digging a hole, and there is no chance of their ever being disturbed there."
"A very good plan, Simmonds. It will be an unpleasant job, anyhow. Wait a minute."
On going to the dining-room he returned with two bottles of whisky. Hans and Peter assisted in carrying the bodies outside, and then offered to bring pails of water and remove the blood-stains in the hall, and after that to assist in carrying the bodies away.
By this time the servant had come down and relighted the lamps in the drawing-room, and Yorke and Mr. Chambers went in there.
"I wonder, sir," Yorke said, "that you were not afraid to keep so large a sum in your house."
"I do not generally do so. As the gold is melted down, it is brought here for safety, and once a week it is sent to the bank, so that the amount seldom exceeds two thousand ounces. But this time it has been altogether different. When I saw that Kruger was bent upon war, I put all hands on to get the richest stuff in our reserves. The consequence was that the weekly output was five times as large as usual. I sent the ordinary amount to the bank, keeping the other by me, and intended to send it all down at once by rail in boxes with false marks on them, or if I could not do that, to keep it here till the war was over. Kruger's sudden ultimatum took me, as well as everyone else, by surprise. I was certain then that I could not get it down, and that if I sent it to the bank, Kruger and his people would lay hands upon it, as, in fact, they did with what I had sent in.
"It was only a few of the officials in the smelting-room who had any idea of the output, and even these could hardly have told what amount I sent into the bank. It is clear, however, that one of them must have carelessly mentionedit, and that these fellows who made this attack must have discovered, perhaps from my servants who used to help to load the van, or from one of the guards who had accompanied it to unload it at the bank, that as the amount sent in was about the same as usual, there must remain a very large sum indeed hidden. I had really very little fear of the house being broken into, but in order to prevent any suspicion of there being money here, I discharged the men who always kept watch round the house at night at the same time that I paid off all the other hands, except the engineers who kept the pumping-engine at work to keep down the water in the mines. Then I relied upon the fact that burglars getting into the house would have difficulty in finding the safe, and still more difficulty in opening it.
"I had no doubt as to the honesty of my servants, who alone knew its position; but they did not know the manner in which it was protected. It is situated under my study, which is at the back of this room. The safe is an extremely strong one, of alternate sheets of steel and iron, and was made specially for me. It opens at the top, and you get at it by taking up the carpet in the study and lifting a trap-door. The vault in which the safe stands is two feet each way wider than the safe, and as this stands in the centre, there is a foot of vacant space on each side of it. Round the upper part of the safe there is a sliding apparatus by which a stout steel case, like a bottomless box, can be drawn up to the level of the trap-door. This, however, is only done when the safe is to be opened.
"In the next place, I have a communication from what I may call the strong-room both with the pipe which brings water for the garden and with a large cistern upstairs. Thus, the strong-room is kept filled with water, and the safe is therefore surrounded above as well as on its four sides with water. When I want to open the safe, I go into the study by myself, lift the heavy trap-door, which is cased with an inch of steel, but is easily moved by means of a counter-poise, and then, with the aid of a lever in a secret closet, push up this box until it is level with the floor. I may say that the safe is three inches wider each way than the trap-door. The door of the safe itself being one inch narrower each way than the trap-door, opens through it.
"Having got this box, which is perfectly water-tight, into its place, I work another handle in a secret cupboard and pump out the water in the frame above the safe, and then open the door of the safe, and it is now ready for the men to come in and store the gold away. When they have left I close the door of the safe, lower the frame to its place, and the safe is at once covered with a foot of water. Thus, you see, burglars would have a succession of difficulties. They would, in the first place, be obliged to cut through the steel of the trap-door, then they would find, to their surprise, water immediately underneath them, and until this was removed it would be impossible for them to blow in the door of the safe. They would naturally try to bucket it out, but as it would come in again as fast as they did so, they would gain nothing by it. They might try to blow in the safe with waterproof cartridges, but I doubt whether they would succeed.
"The lid is of immense strength. If they did succeed in bursting it there is another equally strong a foot lower, and this also would have to be destroyed. Even then the holes made would not be sufficient to let them through, and the only way they could possibly get the gold out would be to try and fish out the boxes with a hook at the end of a pole—again an almost impossible task, as the boxes are square, very heavy, and packed tightly together, so that there would be nothing to get hold of. I may say that I got the idea from reading, in the time of the Commune of Paris, how the bank was able to protect the specie in its vaults by filling them with water from the mains. I worked out the details myself, and I think I improved on the original, though that was good enough—for it baffled all the efforts ofthe mechanics and engineers of the Commune to get at the money."
"That is a splendid plan certainly, sir," Yorke said.
"Yes, but though it would have saved the gold, it would not have saved our lives; and had I thought that the amount there is in the safe was known to anyone now in Johannesburg, I think I should have shut up the house and moved to the one I have in the town, contenting myself with keeping a couple of watchmen in this house, and seeing that all was right every day when I came to see that the men at the pumping-engine were doing their duty. That is what I shall most likely do now. Not that I think there is any probability of a renewal of the attempt; the lesson has been altogether too severe."
"What do you mean to do, sir, with your three rascals?"
"I shall go to-morrow to the head of the police and tell him that they had tried to rob the house, and ask him to send down half a dozen men to take them by the next train to Komati Poort. I could do nothing with them here, for your man Hans is the only witness against them, and he could not, of course, appear. Fortunately they do not know that, and I shall tell them that if I were to hand them over to the police and charge them with this crime they would certainly be hanged. However, I am willing to allow for the temptation they had, and shall only charge them with dishonesty, and have them then sent out of the Transvaal. As no doubt at present they expect nothing short of hanging, they will be glad enough to be let off so lightly."
"They certainly ought to be," Yorke said warmly, "for they are a great deal worse than the others. Whatever discharged men and the ruffians of the town might have done, your servants, who I have no doubt were well treated by you, ought to have been faithful."
"I quite agree with you, Mr. Harberton; but you see that it is of the greatest importance to me not to have the matter talked about. If there were an enquiry, it would of coursecome out that there is a large sum of money in the house, and you may be quite sure that Kruger would commandeer it. As it is, a bribe of a couple of hundred-pounds to the head of the police will ensure these fellows being sent out of the country without an opportunity being given them of saying a word to anyone. And you may be sure that I shall impress upon them that if they ever set foot in the Transvaal again I will have them arrested at once on this charge. In that way I have every hope that the affair will be kept altogether dark. You don't know, of course, whether the two men who brought the carts were included in the twelve?"
"I do not, sir, but I should think it very likely; they did not want to have to divide the spoil into more portions than necessary. I should think it most probable that they left their carts outside and came in with the others. Whether they were among those who were killed or not, of course I cannot say."
"Yes, I should think they would be sure to come in with the others," Mr. Chambers said; "and in that case there are only two men who know anything about this matter, and you may be sure that they will keep their mouths closed. Well, we have talked more than enough of my affairs. Now about yourself. If you and your two followers like to stay here, I think you might certainly do so with safety. I need not say how heartily welcome you would be."
"Thank you, sir. But though I will gladly stay till morning, I must then be off. I am anxious to get back as quickly as possible to rejoin Lord Methuen's force. I have now been nearly a month away. Then, too, I must put in an appearance at the hotel where I have been staying, for I was obliged to enquire the way to your house. The landlord will be expecting me back to-night, and I shall have to make some excuse for my absence. And if I do not appear in the morning, he might suspect that something was wrong, and give information, with a description of my appearance, to the authorities."
"That I could arrange," Mr. Chambers said. "I could look in there myself in the morning, and say that as it was so late and the night dark I had asked you to stay at my house till morning, and that you had gone off without returning to the town. Ah, there are my wife and daughters!"
CHAPTER XV
DOWN COUNTRY
"This is Mr. Harberton, to whom we all owe our lives," Mr. Chambers said as his wife, followed by her two daughters, girls of sixteen and eighteen, entered the room.
"I do not know how to thank you, sir," Mrs. Chambers said as she shook hands with Yorke, "for assuredly we should all have been murdered had it not been for your warning and assistance."
"It is rather to my man than to myself you are indebted, Mrs. Chambers, for it is he who overheard the conversation this afternoon at which the affair was finally arranged. He showed greater sharpness than I should have given him credit for. As an ordinary thing he would merely have taken a glass of liquor and left the place; but the fact that the men in the saloon stopped speaking when he went in, and asked him whether he spoke English, and were not satisfied that he could not, but went into another room to talk, excited his curiosity, and, sitting with his ear against the partition, he was able to make out what they were saying."
"That was very sharp of him," Mrs. Chambers said; "but it is pretty certain he would have taken no steps in the matter had it not been for your leading, especially as he was himself, as I understand from my husband, instrumental in aiding your escape from prison, and so dared not attract attention.
"Do not, I beg of you, try to minimize the service you have rendered us, for you certainly will not lessen the obligation that we are under to you. I shudder to think of the great danger we have escaped. I know it is not likely that another attack will be made yet, but I shall never feel comfortable here after this, and my husband has promised to take us into our town house to-morrow morning, to stop till the war is over. We hope you will go with us."
"Mr. Harberton says that he must be off at once, my dear. He wants to get back to the fighting again."
"I am sorry indeed for that. It seems unnatural, after what he has done for us, that we should let him go away so soon. Now, do tell us something about yourself—but first, where have you put those men, John?"
"One is locked up in the cellar, another in the stables, and the third in the wood-house, so that they cannot aid each other to get away."
"At any rate," she went on, "none of us will feel inclined for much sleep to-night; and we want to know all about Mr. Harberton and how his Dutch servant came to be at Pretoria, and all about what he has been doing since he landed, and the truth about the battles that have been fought. But before he begins, will you go into the kitchen, girls, and help Jane get some tea in the dining-room, with whatever there is in the house. It will do us all good, and we won't ask Mr. Harberton to tell his story till we have had what we may call supper."
"While they are away," Mr. Chambers said, "I may as well ask you as to whether you have any plans for getting down to the Modder?"
"No, I have no distinct plans, except that, as you see, I am dressed as a young Boer farmer, and as I talk the language sufficiently to pass muster, I can support the character well enough."
"But how is it that you talk Dutch, or rather I suppose I should say Taal, Mr. Harberton?"
"That I will tell you presently," Yorke laughed, "or I shall have to go over the same thing twice. My man Hans is my regimental servant, and has learnt to speak English very fairly, and of course knows Dutch. My Kaffir speaks Dutch and a little English, and as I speak a little Kaffir we get on very well together. He has just put up my horse in your stable. I had no time to lose when I first came here, and fastened him up behind the house, where he was not likely to be observed if any of those fellows went round there. As for getting to the Modder, it appeared to me that as a Dutch farmer, with one of his farm hands and a Kaffir labourer, I might get through without exciting much suspicion."
"You might, and you might not," Mr. Chambers said. "You see, almost all the able-bodied men are away with the commandos, and you would be likely to be closely questioned as to why you were not in the field. If you were going the other way it would be more easy, for you might then say that you were coming from Cape Colony, as thousands of others have done, to join the Boers. But even in that case it would seem strange that you were going away from the fighting instead of joining a commando at once; but it would be still more strange that you should have come up to Johannesburg. What did you say at the inn? what excuse did you make for enquiring where I lived?"
"I pretended that my people had all gone on commando, leaving me to look after the farm, and that I was going over to see you about some cattle that you wanted for the men still working on the mine. The man was a German, and did not, I think, see anything unlikely in my story."
"Yes, but though that might do very well here, it would hardly do elsewhere. Besides, these Boers are all related or connected with each other, and, ignorant as they are on other matters, can give the name of almost every family within fifty or sixty miles of where they live, and know more or less the name of every farmer in the Transvaal. The landdrosts of all the towns will have been warned to look out for a young English officer and a young Dutchman, who will no doubt be making for the frontier, and two of you at least answer to the personal description; your dress would not go for much, as they would be sure that the man who aided your escape would also procure a disguise for you. However, we must put our heads together to-morrow and see if we can hit on some plan."
After the meal was finished, Mr. Chambers asked Yorke to tell them something about himself and what he had seen of the war.
"It is of yourself that we principally want to know," he said. "After the services you have rendered us, we should like to know as much as possible about you and your people at home, and in fact anything that you may choose to tell us, especially, as to your prospects in the future. The longer you make your story, the better we shall be pleased. Certainly I shall not go to bed to-night, and I don't think either my wife or daughters will be anxious to do so for some time."
There was a general murmur of agreement.
Yorke accordingly told of his life at home, the reason why he had come out, how he had learnt Dutch and a little Kaffir on his cousin's farm, how his resolve to enlist in the war had been quickened by the quarrel with Dirck Jansen, and how, after scouting for a short time with twenty Kaffirs under his command, he had witnessed the four battles, and had gained a commission in the Lancers by carrying a message into Kimberley and back to the Modder. Then he told of his capture, how Hans had, with the Kaffir, journeyed up to Pretoria to rescue him, and how they had finally succeeded.
"Well, you have certainly managed to crowd a great deal of adventure into little more than a year, Mr. Harberton, and have done well all through, and deserved the commissionyou have won. So you say you saw Rhodes in Kimberley? Did you have much talk with him?"
"Yes, sir, he asked me a great many questions, and I told him, though not so fully, what I have told you. He asked if I intended to stop in the army after the war was over. I said that I had no idea of doing so, as I had come out with the intention of making money. He was good enough to speak flatteringly of my having learned to speak Dutch so soon, and said that if, when things were settled, I would go to him, he would have a berth for me and push me forward."
"You could not have a better patron. He is the biggest man out here by far, and is virtually king of Rhodesia. But you will please remember that I must have some say in the matter, and a very considerable one. None of us four would be alive now had it not been for you. And though I don't think those scoundrels would have got at the gold, they might have done so, for they would have had plenty of time; as, if any of the engineers had wanted to know anything, one of my servants would only have had to say that I was ill, or away for a few days, and before a week they might very well have found out how the strong-room was filled with water, cut off the supply, and then emptied it out far enough to allow them to work at the safe. I cannot assert that the gold is absolutely safe yet; there is no saying what may happen before the troops arrive here. The greed of Kruger and his gang is insatiable, and they may search every house belonging to the bank managers from top to bottom, and demand to inspect the safes."
"Why not bury some of it, sir, in one of the mine tips, just as they have hidden the bodies?"
"Because, although I have every reason to believe that the twelve white men who are still at work are all honest fellows, there is a point at which temptation may be too great, and I might find, when I came to examine the horde, that it was all gone. They are not aware of the existence of my storehere, and it is well they should not be. One has heard before now of ships laden with treasure being seized by their crews, who, until the temptation came in their way, may have been all honest fellows. No, I will take the chances. I shall tell the two head engineers to come down and take up their quarters here, and bring two good men out of each shift with them. In that way there will always be three men in the house. As for the police here, they are, as a whole, the biggest rogues in the place. I would rather shut up the house and leave it empty than have any of them here. Now, it is two o'clock, and, if we cannot sleep, I have no doubt you can. I will show you up to a bedroom. I had a mattress taken down to the kitchen, where you told me your men would keep watch by turns. The girls both look half-asleep, and you and I will wheel the two sofas up near the fire, and bring the one in the dining-room here for my wife. I dare say I shall get a nap in the arm-chair presently. We will say nine o'clock breakfast."
"Very well, sir, I will be here by that time. I shall ride over to the town early, pay my visit to the hotel, and then be back again to breakfast."
The events of the evening did not keep Yorke awake long. "I do think I am the luckiest fellow going," he said to himself as he turned into bed. "In the first place, I get a commission in the army; in the second, I obtain Mr. Rhodes's good-will; and now Mr. Chambers, one of the richest men in Johannesburg, is going to take me up, and all from a series of accidents. It began, certainly, by my learning Dutch, which enabled me to get through to Kimberley and get a commission, thanks to the accident of Peter getting away and sticking to me. Then there was my being captured. That did not seem a piece of good fortune, but, thanks to Hans's sharpness, it has turned out the best piece of luck of all, if I can but get safely back to the Modder. There is an old saying that luck is better than riches. I did not believe this formerly, but it has turned out so inmy case. Had not my father lost his money I should be grinding away at Rugby, and should have thought myself lucky four or five years hence to get a curacy of one hundred and twenty pounds a year."
Yorke was up at seven, and started at once on horseback for the town, taking Peter with him, but leaving Hans behind in charge of the prisoners.
"Where have you been all night?" the innkeeper asked. "I could not get to see Mr. Chambers till late, and after we had made our bargain, he gave me some supper, and then said I might as well stop there for the night. He put a mattress down by the kitchen fire, and I slept as well as I should have done here. I am off now, so if you will give me my bill I will pay it."
"Will you want breakfast?"
"No, I shall be off at once; last night's supper will do till I get back."
"Then, here is your bill," the German said, taking a piece of paper from his pocket. "I made it out last night, thinking you might be starting early. There it is; I added it up, you see, and should have put on the cost of breakfast had you taken it."
Yorke paid the bill without question, though it was as large as it would have been had he stopped at a first-class hotel in London. Then he rode back again to the mine.
"I have been thinking over matters," Mr. Chambers said, as they were sitting down to breakfast, "and it seems to me that to begin with, you would travel more satisfactorily and more safely in a Cape cart than you would on horseback. I have got one that is used for sending messages into the town and fetching things out. It has been a good cart in its time, and is so still, except that it wants repainting and so on. I can let you have a horse to go with yours; it is a good serviceable animal. I should be delighted to give you a pair of my own, but they would be sure to attract attention, for I rather pride myself on my stud. I have gotdouble harness for the cart, though when I go longer journeys I follow the Boer fashion and drive four horses."
"My own horse is used to being driven; my cousin generally had it out when he went in to Richmond. I am very much obliged to you for your offer. We should certainly attract less attention in a cart than if we all rode. I shall myself drive, as I enjoy it. I know that as a rule the Boers generally let the Kaffirs drive, and I should be content to do so myself; but a good many Boers do drive."
"There will be nothing unusual in that; indeed, about here most of the Boers drive, as they see the Uitlanders do it. I will put another saddle in the cart, for when you get near the frontier you will certainly find it easier to get through on horseback.
"I should advise you to take the direct road south to Bloemfontein. I have a friend there; he is a Dutchman, but a thorough believer in English rule, though, of course, at present he has to keep his opinions to himself. He broke his leg some years ago and has been lame ever since, and so has escaped being obliged to go on commando. I will write a letter to him after breakfast strongly recommending you to him. I shall not say who you are, or that you are an Englishman, because it is just possible that you may be searched. Anyway, it will be as well for you to conceal the letter in your clothes. I will write a second letter to him, saying that you have been employed at this mine, which is correct enough, and that, as I have no further occasion for your work, you are now going down to take your share in the fighting. I will also get you a pass from the head of the police, whom, as you know, I am going over to interview directly after breakfast with reference to our prisoners. I will get it made out in the name of Gert Meyring, of the Orange Free State. It is natural enough that you should be taking down with you a young Dutchman who has also been employed at the mine, and who is going with you to the front, and that you should have a Kaffirwith you also. The only fear is that your description might tally so closely with the warning that has been sent, that you may be suspected."
"I can get over that, sir; I had a wig made for me to wear as a disguise, if necessary. It is sewn up in the lining of this coat, and being so soft it altogether escaped attention when I was first searched. I am sure to have been described as having closely-cropped hair, whereas the wig comes down to my shoulders and entirely alters my appearance. I have never worn it yet, as I went into Kimberley, as I told you, in uniform, and in fact up till now have never given the thing a thought from the day when I sewed it up. That, and darkening my eyebrows to match, would so alter my appearance that I do not think that even those who know me well would recognize me."
"That is capital; I have been worrying over the point all morning. I wish we had one for your man too, for I know he also was described in the telegram yesterday as having closely-cropped hair."
"I extemporized a wig for myself once before, sir, and can do one for Hans, if you will allow me to cut some hair from two of your horses' tails."
"Certainly you can do that. Is there anything else you will want?"
"A needle and thread, sir, and if you have such a thing as a glue-pot in the house it will be all the better."
"Yes, I think I have one somewhere, I daresay the girl can tell you where it is."
"We will do any sewing that is necessary, Mr. Harberton," the elder of the two girls said. "I am afraid that we are useless in most respects, but at least we can both sew."
Mr. Chambers went out with Yorke to the stables and showed him the horses that he was willing to have despoiled of a portion of their tails, and this, with a pair of scissors that the girls had lent him, Yorke speedily accomplished. They then saddled Mr. Chambers's favourite horse, and heat once started. He was away an hour and a half, by which time, amid a good deal of laughter and merriment, the hair had been sewn and glued into Hans's straw-hat. Yorke had also got out his wig and put it on, and even Mrs. Chambers, shaken as she still was by the incidents of the night before, joined in her daughters' hearty laughter at the changed appearance of her two guests.
"The police will be here at twelve, Mr. Harberton, therefore, if you have now made up your mind to start to-day, it would be as well that you should be away before they arrive. You know I should be delighted if you would stop a few days, but as you said that you would very much rather be off this morning, I shall not try to persuade you to do so."
Half an hour later all was ready for the start. Mr. Chambers had taken Hans aside. "You have done me a great service," he said. "The present is not a time when it is safe to be travelling about with much money in your possession, especially when you are wanted by the authorities, and if you were searched, and found to have a sum of money that did not accord with your apparent position, you would not only lose the money, but your liberty as well. Therefore, I do not propose to make you a gift at the present time, but I engage myself to pay to you the sum of five hundred pounds whenever you may wish to buy a farm or otherwise settle down after the conclusion of the war."
Hans's eyes opened with surprise. "I only did what my master told me, sir."
"You did more. Your astuteness in listening to the conversation of the rascals who were talking in that drinking-shop was no doubt at first a mere matter of curiosity, but the fact that you communicated it at once to Mr. Harberton enabled him to take the steps which defeated the plot; and you bore your share in the fight itself. My name is well known, I think, throughout South Africa, and, as I may be away from the country when you wish to draw the money, here is a promissory note, undated, undertaking to pay threemonths after presentation the sum of five hundred pounds on the duly certified signature of Hans Bernard; and with it is this letter, saying that I have handed you this bill in consideration of the very great service that you rendered me in discovering and thwarting an attempt on my life. That letter can do you no harm if found upon you. When the war is over you can, at any time, hand that note to the bank here, or to any of its branches in Natal, or to its agents. They will require the signature of Mr. Harberton, or some other person known to them, and will then place the money at your disposal as soon as they have communicated with the bank here."
Without waiting for any thanks from Hans, who was too overwhelmed to find words for the purpose, he went across to the stables, where Peter was harnessing the horses. "Peter," he said, "your master tells me that you have been very faithful to him, and you have now rendered me a service by helping him to defeat the men who attacked this place last night. It would not be safe to give you money now, as you may be searched going down country, but I shall give him authority to pay you two hundred pounds for me at the end of the war. Don't spend it in folly at the Cape; go back to your own people, build a kraal, buy cattle, and settle down there."
Then he walked away, and in a few words told Yorke what he had done. "They have both proved themselves good men by their devotion to you," he said, "it will give them both a good start in life."
"Thank you most heartily, Mr. Chambers, I am certain that both of them will do justice to your kindness. I am sure of Hans being steady; and, as I have already persuaded the Kaffir to swear off liquor, he will, I feel certain, take your advice, which is indeed almost the same as I gave him when getting him to promise not to spend his earnings in drink. These native labourers with the army are all paid very high, indeed ridiculously high wages. He has promisedto hand over his pay, when he gets it, to me, and I have undertaken if he does so to keep him in tobacco, so he will, if the war lasts for a year, have over fifty pounds laid by, which will add to his sense of responsibility. I will not draw upon you for the money until he is ready to go straight away directly he gets it. Of course, I do not know what I shall be doing myself; if I can, I shall certainly accompany him and see him settled. As to Hans, I have no fear as to his doing well; he certainly was not a hard worker until I went to my cousin's farm, but since then he has quite woke up. He saw the advantage of irrigation there, and I shall strongly advise him not to go in for keeping cattle, but to take a small piece of good land near this town, or Kimberley, where water can be obtained at no great depth, and to go in for growing vegetables for sale in the town. I am convinced that it would pay splendidly."
"He certainly could not do better. The prices of vegetables are extravagantly high, and he can dispose of any quantity at rates that would pay him well. Well, there is the Kaffir with the cart. You had better come in and say good-bye to my wife and daughters."
Five minutes later they started, with strongly-expressed hopes that in two or three months they might meet again when the British army came up.
"You are sure to find me here," Mr. Chambers said, "unless, when it is found you are approaching, the Boers get mad and order all Uitlanders away. However, even then I fancy that the usual bribe will avail to purchase me an exemption, but if I do have to go I shall come back again directly you capture the place."
A basket containing wine, a ham, and a variety of eatables had been placed under the seat.
"What shall I do with the trap and horse, sir?"
"You can either sell the trap for what it will fetch and keep the horse, or, in fact, do as you like with it! Good-bye! and take care of yourself. Which he won't do," Mr.Chambers added as, with a wave of the hand, Yorke drove off.
With two good horses and a light load, they drove rapidly along. Mr. Chambers had before he started asked Yorke whether he had ample funds for the journey, and the latter was glad to be able to say that Hans had, before leaving the camp, drawn sufficient from the paymaster for anything that could be required.
"Whatever you do, Hans, keep your hat on. There is no fear of anyone who saw you in the prison recognizing you as you are; but if your hat should blow off, and anyone happened to be looking on at the time, the game would be up."
"I don't think it could blow off, master. The hair and the glue under the lining have made it so much smaller that I had to press it quite hard to get it on my head."
"Well, when we are once clear away from the town, you can lift it a bit, for if it blows off then it will not matter.
"It is two hundred and fifty miles to Bloemfontein. I suppose it will take us about a week. We shall see how the horses stand it, they both start fresh. I was looking at the map this morning, and it is evident that there is no good road by the direct line, I mean the route followed by the railway. So I am taking the main road that goes down through Potchefstroom. There is no place of any size before that. It is about sixty miles. We will camp out to-night ten miles before we get there. Then we can drive through the town without stopping, and get on as far as Reitzburg. We can settle to-morrow whether we will put up at the town, or camp just across the Vaal, about a mile this side of the place. From there it is a little over forty miles to Kroonstad.
"I think when we get as far as that, we shall be beyond the farthest points where there will be danger. They will be looking for us chiefly on the road to Mafeking, which is, of course, the nearest point to the border; or else on thatleading through Komati Poort, down to Delagoa Bay; and they will also, no doubt, search every train going south. In any case, they can have no idea that we are travelling by road at this pace, and if we were on foot we could not arrive at Kroonstad within two or three days of the time we shall get there. Besides, we have got the police pass; and certainly the description telegraphed on will in no way tally with our present appearance. So I do not think we shall be troubled, though it is as well to take every precaution."
They experienced, indeed, no difficulties whatever, and camped that night by a dam half a mile off the road, five miles out of Potchefstroom. As they had several water-bottles hung under the cart, and a bag of mealies, the horses fared as well as their masters. One of the first questions that Hans had asked after they started was, whether Mr. Chambers had actually promised him five hundred pounds.
"It seems impossible," he said, "but that is what I understood him to say."
"That is what he intends to give you, Hans."
"But it is too much; only for sitting and listening for half an hour, and firing five shots with a rifle."
"That is all that it was to you, Hans, but to him it meant saving his life, and the lives of the ladies of his family. As to the gold, he told me how it was concealed, and that the robbers could never have got at it. Still, he values his life and those of the ladies at a large sum; and as he is a very rich man, he does not think it out of the way to make you a handsome present. I told him that I should advise you to carry out what we were saying the other day would be the best-paying thing for a man of small capital—to buy a piece of land near Johannesburg or Kimberley, to sink a deep well, and to put up horse-gear and irrigate the land; and to employ half a dozen Kaffirs to grow vegetables and plant fruit-trees, just as my cousin did. Only, you woulddo a great deal better than Mr. Allnutt, because the Boer farmers would not pay much for their vegetables or fruit, while you would get splendid prices in either of these towns. The vegetables would begin to pay three months after you started, but of course you would have to wait a couple of years before you got any return for the fruit-trees."
Hans was silent for three or four minutes, lost in the contemplation of himself as the owner of such a place.
"We shall have plenty of time to talk it over before then, Hans," Yorke went on, after a long pause, "but I should advise you not to spend any money on building a house for yourself at first—any sort of a hut will do; and though five hundred pounds seems a very large sum to you, you will want it all for your work; the well and horse-gear will cost a good bit. Then you will have your water-courses to make, and your ground to irrigate, say five acres to begin with; and it is always a good plan to keep some money in hand in case of accidents, such as your well failing and your having to go deeper, or of your Kaffirs running away. Besides, you must have a horse and cart to take your goods to market. At any rate, Hans, if you want to get on you will have to bestir yourself. You know that young English gentlemen who come out don't think themselves above taking off their coats and working, and at first you will have to do the same. After a bit you will, as you extend your cultivated ground and carry the work further, take on more Kaffirs, and you will have to see that they do their work. That was how Mr. Allnutt did, and it is only in that way that you will get work out of them."
"It will be grand," Hans murmured; "but," he broke off suddenly, "you will not be with me, Master Yorke, and I had hoped that, whatever you were doing, you would always keep me with you."
"So I should like to do, Hans, but it would not be good for you; it is always better that a man should depend uponhimself, and not upon another. Some day you will want to marry, and then you will see how much better it is to have a nice home and a business than to be merely working for wages. It was just the same way with myself. I did not like leaving my father and mother, and going to start in a strange country. But I hoped that I might some day make a home for myself here, and do well; whereas, I had no chance of earning much in England."
"Well, Master Yorke, it was a lucky day for me when you came to Mr. Allnutt's, and took me to go out riding and shooting with you."
"It has turned out quite as fortunate for me, Hans."
Peter, who was not given to speaking unless addressed, said but little. Occasionally, as he looked at Yorke and Hans, he shook with silent laughter at their changed appearance, and indeed the transformation effected by their long hair was striking to one accustomed to their closely-cropped heads. By the way, however, he went about his work—taking the horses out of the cart, supplying them with their water and grain, and rubbing them down—it was evident that he already, in imagination, considered himself to be a far more important person than he was before, and that he was preparing himself for the change from the humble position of a casual labourer in some small town to that of a man of position and influence among his tribe. Occasionally he would break into bursts of apparently unprovoked laughter, as if the change appeared to himself ludicrous in the extreme.
They were on the move at the first sign of daylight, and Potchefstroom was still asleep when they drove through. At eight o'clock they crossed the Vaal and drove into Reitzburg. A couple of Boers came up and asked them where they came from, but were quite satisfied with the answer, "From Potchefstroom," as they considered that if they had been allowed to pass through there, their journey must be a legitimate one.
boers
ONE OF THE BOERS THEY HAD SPOKEN TO SAUNTERED IN.
"We have a pass from the chief of the police at Johannesburg, if you would like to see it."
"No," one of the men replied. "If it is good enough for them in the Transvaal, it is good enough for us. I suppose you are going down to the army?"
"Yes, we want to do our share of the fighting."
"Quite right. You must lose no time or you will be too late."
"So I suppose, by all they say," Yorke replied.
They thought it as well to wait for an hour to feed the horses and take a meal. Leaving Peter to look after the horses, and see that nobody touched the guns and other articles in the cart, they went into a small inn. While they were eating their meal one of the Boers they had spoken to sauntered in.
"Was there any news at Johannesburg?"
"No, not particular. Things are very quiet there."
"You did not hear, did you, of any escaped prisoners being caught?"
"We did hear that one of the English officers had got away from the jail."
"Yes, that is what I mean. They telegraphed to us here from Pretoria; but of course he would never come down this way. Still, we had to obey orders and keep a sharp look-out. If he had come this way he would have been caught. I expect, however, he went east; but he could not get far. They say he was quite a young chap, with close-cropped hair."
"Well, their young officers cannot have learned to talk Dutch, so there ought to be no difficulty in catching him," Yorke said.
"But he has got a Dutchman with him, and I suppose he himself won't open his lips, but the Dutchman will do his talking for him."
"Hans, you had better say something," Yorke laughed, "or possibly you may be taken for this British officer."
"I don't look much like a British officer with a cropped head," Hans said, "and I talk my own language better than I do English by a long way."
"Oh! I knew you could not be the man," the Boer said. "Still, I am glad to see that you are Dutch as well as your master. There might be questions asked, and now I can swear that you are both Africanders. It will satisfy anyone questioning me as to who has been along. I don't see myself what occasion there is for making a fuss about one officer getting away when we shall soon have all their army prisoners. It gives everyone a lot of trouble."