glishman will explain."

"Certainly I will, mynheer," I said. "Is it your pleasure that I should
speak now?"

The commandant hesitated. Then, having called Henri Marais apart and
talked to him for a little while, he replied:

"No, not now, I think; the matter is too serious. After we have eaten we
will listen to your story, Mynheer Quatermain, and meanwhile I command
you not to leave this place."

"Do you mean that I am a prisoner, commandant?" I asked.

"If you put it so--yes, Mynheer Quatermain--a prisoner who has to
explain how some sixty of our brothers, who were your companions, came
to be butchered like beasts in Zululand, while you escaped. Now, no
more words; by and by doubtless there will be plenty of them. Here you,
Carolus and Johannes, keep watch upon this Englishman, of whom I hear
strange stories, with your guns loaded, please, and when we send to you,
lead him before us."

"As usual, your cousin Hernan brings evil gifts," I said to Marie
bitterly. "Well, let us also eat our dinner, which perhaps the Heeren
Carolus and Johannes will do us the honour to share--bringing their
loaded guns with them."

Carolus and Johannes accepted the invitation, and from them we heard
much news, all of it terrible enough to learn, especially the details of
the massacre in that district, which, because of this fearful event is
now and always will be known as Weenen, or The Place of Weeping. Suffice
it to say that they were quite enough to take away all our appetite,
although Carolus and Johannes, who by this time had recovered somewhat
from the shock of that night of blood and terror, ate in a fashion which
might have filled Hans himself with envy.

Shortly after we had finished our meal, Hans, who, by the way, seemed
to have quite recovered from his fatigues, came to remove the dishes. He
informed us that all the Boers were having a great "talk," and that they
were about to send for me. Sure enough, a few minutes later two armed
men arrived and ordered me to follow them. I turned to say some words of
farewell to Marie, but she said:

"I go where you do, husband," and, as no objection was made by the
guard, she came.

About two hundred yards away, sitting under the shade of one of the
wagons, we found the Boers. Six of them were seated in a semicircle upon
stools or whatever they could find, the black-browed commandant being
in the centre and having in front of him a rough table on which were
writing materials.