ands and join them in a
cordial union, swearing that nothing should part them but death, till
the country they loved had regained her paramountry.

Then, with flushed face and quickened breathing he had sprung from his
chair, and was now striding up and down the verandah with a stem,
determined look upon his face, while his cigar was firmly gripped
between his teeth and his hands were thrust deeply into his trouser
pockets.

Against the shady wall, lounging full-length in big cane chairs, Jack
and Wilfred stared thoughtfully over the verandah rail, and away over
the rolling veldt which stretched between Mr Hunter's house and his
neighbour's. They had both listened without an interruption to the
details of the rise and origin of the Boers, and of their subsequent
fortunes, and now they sat moodily wondering whether the conspiracy
spoken of could really be a fact, or whether, after all, it was not some
delusion with which Mr Hunter was frightening himself.

"Don't imagine I am romancing or inventing a tale with which to alarm
you," repeated Mr Hunter at this moment, with marked emphasis, stopping
suddenly in front of the two lads, and fixing them with his eyes as
though he had guessed their thoughts and was replying to them. "What I
have said is strictly true. A day of trial and tribulation is fast
coming for the British Empire, and you will see that her sons will
answer the call `To arms!' with the enthusiasm that I have predicted.

"Very soon, I fear, the Transvaal will be an unsafe country for
Englishmen, and if we, together with the foreigners of all nationalities
who make up the Uitlander population, are compelled to fly over the
borders, it will mean ruin for us all. Take my own case, for example.
When I had served my time with the British army I determined to settle
out here, having heard rumours of the hidden wealth of the country.
First I obtained employment at Kimberley. Then, when I had saved a
little pile, I came up here and invested the money in an old shanty,
built for the most part of biscuit-boxes, with a presentable plank here
and there to hold them together. Fortunately I had a friend in Durban,
a cousin as a matter of fact, and from him I obtained consignments of
useful articles, food and other matters, of which spades and picks of
best English manufacture formed a large proportion. There was a growing
demand for all sorts of things. Prices ruled high, and in the first
year I had more busine