caused great excitement. He had dined with Mary
Seacole's brother, and on returning home was taken ill and suddenly
died. Suspicion fell upon Mary Seacole's brother, and it was said
openly that he had poisoned the man. Mary Seacole, indignant at the
accusation brought against her brother, went to see the body, and knew
at once that the man had died from cholera. No one believed her, but
the following morning a friend of the dead man was taken ill with the
same disorder, and the people who had scoffed at her became
terror-stricken.

There was no doctor at Cruces, and Mary Seacole set herself to battle
single-handed with the plague. Fortunately, she never travelled
without her medicine-chest, and taking from it the remedies which had
been used in Jamaica with great success she hurried to the sick man's
bedside, and by her promptitude was able, under God, to save his life.
Two more men were stricken down and successfully treated, and Mary
Seacole was beginning to hope that the plague would not spread, when a
score of cases broke out in one day. The people were now helpless from
terror, and Mary Seacole was the only person who did not lose her
presence of mind. Day and night she was attending patients, and for
days she never had more than a hour's rest at a time. Whenever a
person was stricken, the demand was for 'the yellow woman from
Jamaica,' and it was never made in vain.

When the cholera had been raging for some days, Mary Seacole despatched
a messenger to bring a medical man to the place; but the Spaniard who
arrived in response to the summons was horror-stricken at the terrible
scenes, and incapable of rendering any assistance. Mary Seacole was
compelled, therefore, to continue her noble work unaided.

One evening she had just settled down to a brief rest when a mule-owner
came and implored her to come at once to his kraal, as several of his
men had been attacked with cholera. Now Mary Seacole had been visiting
patients throughout the day and the previous night, but without the
slightest hesitation she went out into the rain and made her way to the
sick muleteers, whom she found in a veritable plague-spot. Men and
mules were all in one room, and the stench was so great that a feeling
of sickness came over her as she stood at the door. But with an effort
she overcame the feeling, and entering flung open the windows, doors
and shutters. Then, as the much-needed fresh air poured in, she looked
around.