t the best
thing to do was to put quantities of food before them and then leave
them; and, beyond a few passing words as she went in and out of the
room, I did not make out that they went in for entertaining each other.
So they sat for hours, saying nothing, doing nothing. When Mrs. Keeley
wanted me to have lunch, she asked them to remove to the stoep, and in
this request they seemed to find nothing strange. Finally, about five
o'clock they went away, much to the relief of their hostess; not,
however, before the latter had shrewdly guessed the real object of their
visit, which was to find out about myself. Report had reached them that
Mafeking was in the hands of the Dutch, that the only survivor of the
garrison had escaped in woman's clothes, had been wandering on the veldt
for days, and had finally been taken in here. "Ach!" said the old
_vrow_, "I would be afraid to meet him. Is he really here?" This remark
she made to Mrs. Keeley's brother, who could hardly conceal his
amusement, but, to reassure her, displayed the cart and mules by which I
had come. If in England we had heard of the arrival of a "unicorn" in an
aeroplane, we should not have shown more anxiety or taken more trouble
to hear about the strange creature than did they concerning myself.
Their curiosity did not end here. What was Mr. Keeley doing in Mafeking?
Was he fighting for the English? How many head of cattle had they on
the farm? And so on _ad libitum_. Mrs. Keeley, however, knew her friends
well, and was quite capable of dealing with them, so they probably spent
an unprofitable day.

On another occasion an English farmer named Leipner looked in, and gave
us some information about Vryburg. This town was absolutely undefended,
and was occupied by the Boers without a shot being fired. The ceremony
of the hoisting of the _Vierkleur_[27] had been attended by the whole
countryside, and had taken place with much psalm-singing and praying,
interlarded with bragging and boasting. He told me also that some of the
rumours current in the town, and firmly credited, reported that Oom Paul
had annexed Bechuanaland, that he was then about to take Cape Colony,
after which he would allow no troops to land, and the "Roineks" would
have been pushed into the sea. His next step would be to take England.
Mr. Leipner assured me the more ignorant Boers had not an idea where
England was situated, nor did they know that a great ocean rolled
between it and this continent. In