r 1, 1900, the Orange Free {188} State and the Transvaal had
been formally proclaimed by Lord Roberts, "Colonies of the British
Empire."

This was the beginning of the end, and when the victorious commander
(December 2, 1900) arrived in England amid the plaudits of a grateful
nation, the victory was practically won, and the time was at hand when
not far from twenty thousand British soldiers would be lying under the
sod six thousand miles away, in a land, which no longer disputed the
sovereignty of England!

We have yet to see whether the South African colonial possessions have
been paid for too dearly, with nine fierce Kaffir wars (another
threatening as this is written), and the blood of princes, peers, and
commoners poured as if it were water into the African soil. Is England
richer or poorer for this outpouring of blood and treasure? Has she
risen or fallen in the estimation of the world, as she uncovers her
stores of gold and diamonds among those valiant but defeated Boers,
sullenly {189} brooding over the past, with no love in their hearts.

Not the least pitiful incident in the whole story was the voluntary
exile of the man who had been the brain and soul of the South African
Republics. Indeed, the life of Paul Kruger, from the day when he
trudged beside the bullocks at the time of the great northward trek,
until he died a disappointed, embittered old man, a fugitive and an
exile, seems an epitome of the cause to which his life was devoted.

No story of this war, however brief, can omit the name of De Wet, the
most distinguished of the Boer generals, and perhaps the one genius,
certainly the most romantic figure in the whole drama. It was De Wet's
faculty for disappearing and reappearing at unexpected place and moment
which prolonged the war even after the end was inevitable, thus
justifying the title "Three Years' War," which he gave to a subsequent
history of the conflict.

The dedication to this book bears pathetic testimony to the character
of the {190} man: "_This work is dedicated to my fellow-subjects of the
British Empire_." When one reflects what these words meant for De Wet,
one is inclined to believe that his highest heroism was not attained on
the battle field!

{191}

CHAPTER XV

In less than three weeks after the return of Lord Roberts, and the
agitating interview for which she had been impatiently waiting,
England's beloved Queen succumbed to a brief illness, and died January
2