will be very sad for you and Bessie."

"Oh! So you have heard of our engagement?" he said.

"Yes, I read Bessie's letter about a couple of hours ago, and I
congratulate you both very much. I think that you will have the sweetest
and loveliest wife in South Africa, Captain Niel; and I think that
Bessie will have a husband any woman might be proud of;" and she half
bowed and half curtseyed to him as she said it, with a graceful little
air of dignity that was very taking.

"Thank you," he answered simply; "yes, I think I am a very lucky
fellow."

"And now," she said, "we had better go and see about the cart. You will
have to find a stand for it in that wretched laager. You must be very
tired and hungry."

A few minutes' walk brought them to the cart, which Mouti had outspanned
close to Mrs. Neville's waggon, where Jess and her friends were living,
and the first person they saw was Mrs. Neville herself. She was a good,
motherly colonial woman, accustomed to a rough life, and one not easily
disturbed by emergencies.

"My goodness, Captain Niel!" she cried, as soon as Jess had introduced
him. "Well, you are plucky to have forced your way through all those
horrid Boers! I am sure I wonder that they did not shoot you or beat
you to death with _sjambocks_, the brutes. Not that there is much use
in your coming, for you will never be able to take Jess back till Sir
George Colley relieves us, and that can't be for two months, they say.
Well, there is one thing; Jess will be able to sleep in the cart now,
and you can have one of the patrol-tents and camp alongside. It won't
be quite proper, perhaps, but in these times we can't stop to consider
propriety. There, there, you go off to the Governor. He will be glad
enough to see you, I'll be bound; I saw him at the other end of the camp
five minutes ago. We will have the cart unpacked and arrange about the
horses."

Thus adjured, John departed, and when he returned half an hour
afterwards, having told his eventful tale, which did not, however,
convey any information of general value, he was rejoiced to find that
the process of "getting things straight" was almost complete. What was
better still, Jess had fried him a beefsteak over the camp fire, and was
now employed in serving it on a little table by the waggon. He sat down
on a stool and ate his meal heartily enough, while Jess waited on him
and Mrs. Neville chattered incessantly.

"By the way," she said, "Jess tells me that