the rioters. But they are few. Discipline and
want of means buoy them at least upon a surface of virtue. Yet, be it
said to the credit of these roysterers in town, the man who drinks
the hardest in the afternoon will follow you the straightest in the
morning!

The Intelligence officer and the Tiger had arrived at a little cottage
on the outskirts of the town. A primitive yet pretty dwelling--a toy
villa of tin.

"Go in," said the Tiger.

The Intelligence officer knocked and entered. He was met with a smile
by the pretty Dutch girl with the great blue eyes, who had so played
upon his feelings at Richmond Road.

"Miss Pretorius!"

FOOTNOTES:

[17] Water dam or pool.

[18] When out with a column men were often weeks before they knew what
the Gazette had given them.

[19] Colloquial Hindustani--bullock hackney carriage.

[20] Boer method of assessing distances.

[21] Sitting-room.

[22] Village.

V.

A NEW CAST.

For the moment the Intelligence officer could ill disguise his
astonishment. Here, standing in front of him, was the girl who had
taught him his first lesson in staff jurisprudence. The memory of the
incidents at the farmhouse, her petulance with the Tiger, her tears
for her lover, had been almost effaced by the vicissitudes of the last
forty-eight hours. If he had ever thought of the girl at all, it had
been in the same spirit as a mariner recalls a passing ship, whose
shapely lines were barely distinguishable in the night. His surprise
was such that he could only marvel that while, travel-stained and
dishevelled, he had arrived at Britstown with an effort, she had
already reached that goal, and, to judge from the studied neatness of
her attire, had reached it with consummate ease. Her smile and
attitude as she held out her hand to her visitor expressed
satisfaction at the meeting--a satisfaction tempered with a
determination to show a front which should declare a full measure of
resistance. Taking advantage of his officer's surprise, the Tiger
discreetly withdrew.

_Intelligence Officer._ "Miss Pretorius,--how did you get here?"

_Miss Pretorius._ "Quite simply. Partly on horseback, partly in a Cape
cart."

_I. O._ (_recovering somewhat_) "Naturally; I did not anticipate that
you had walked. But with what object?"

_Miss P._ (_the corners of her pretty mouth sinking in defiance_) "I
might easily have walked, and arrived before a British column. As to
my object in coming here