must have been doomed to
disaster from the very outset. It was begun an hour late, and all
things seemed to conspire to hinder them. After many halts, the
breaking of an engine-piston rendered them helpless, and the heat
of the day found them in a desolate place among _kopjes_ that
seemed to crowd them in, cutting off every current of air, while
the sun blazed mercilessly overhead and the sand-flies ceaselessly
buzzed and tormented. It was the longest day that Sylvia had ever
known, and she thought that the smell of Kaffirs would haunt her
all her life. Of the few white men on the train she knew not one,
and the desolation of despair entered into her.

By the afternoon, when she had hoped to be on her way back, tardy
help arrived, and they crawled into Brennerstadt station, parched
and dusty and half-starved, some three hours later.

Hope revived in her as at length she left the train. Anything was
better than the awful inactivity of that well-nigh interminable
journey. There was yet a chance--a slender one--that by an early
start or possibly travelling by a night train she and Guy might yet
be back at Blue Hill Farm by the following evening in time to meet
Burke on his return.

Yes, the chance was there, and still she could not think that all
this desperate effort of hers could be doomed to failure. If she
could only find Guy quickly--oh, quickly! She almost ran out of
the station in her haste.

She turned her steps instinctively towards the hotel in which she
had stayed for her marriage, It was not far from the station, and
it was the first place that occurred to her. The town was full of
people, men for the most part, men it seemed to her, of all
nationalities and colours. She heard Dutch and broken English all
around her.

She went through the crowds, shrinking a little now and then from
any especially coarse type, nervously intent upon avoiding contact
with any. She found the hotel without difficulty, but when she
found it she checked her progress for the first time. For she was
afraid to enter.

The evening was drawing on. She felt the welcome chill of it on
her burning face, and it kept her from yielding to the faintness
that oppressed her. But still she could not enter, till a great,
square-built Boer lounging near the doorway came up to her and
looked into her eyes with an evil leer.

Then she summoned her strength, drew herself up, and passed him
with open disgust.

She had to push