welcome.

Mrs. van Warmelo looked at her visitor with her keen and searching
eyes.

He was short of stature and carried a little walking-stick for
support, and his eyes, when they looked into yours, were shrewd,
humorous, and true as steel.

A _great_ little man he was, and is to-day, God bless him!

I stretch out my hands to him across these pages and clasp his in the
sympathy and understanding of what we went through together. True as
steel! Yes, that describes him well, for in all his dealings he was a
noble friend, an honourable foe.

Fate had been hard on him in leaving him a helpless prisoner in the
hands of his enemies when his whole heart was with his brothers in the
field, but Providence was kind in giving him the power and opportunity
he required for serving land and people under circumstances as unique
as they were dangerous and difficult.

From him Mrs. van Warmelo learnt of the existence of the Secret
Committee.

No names were mentioned to her, but the general outline of their work
was described, and her assistance was invited in that branch of the
work which included the sending of dispatches to the President.

Her fame as an exceedingly clever "smuggler" had evidently spread, and
if the plan of the White Envelope had been known to her visitor at the
time, he would no doubt have been even more satisfied with the result
of the visit.

* * * * *

That the Committee in Pretoria formed only a very small part of the
scheme of espionage all over South Africa I am well aware, but it is
with this particular Committee that we have to do, and a detailed
account of the work carried out by them will give the reader some idea
of the system generally employed by the Boers.

Not with the foolhardy young spy who came into the capital to buy a
pound of sweets or a box of cigarettes, not with the reckless youth
who came in to spend a few days with his friend and to escort his
sweetheart to church on Sunday night, thereby increasing the
difficulties and danger of detection for his more earnest
fellow-countrymen, are we concerned in this book.

These escapades were of such frequent occurrence, and were so well
known to many people in town, that it would have been dangerous in the
extreme to use them for serious purposes.

From the earliest days of the occupation Pretoria was always full of
spies, and the English were aware of it, but, do what they would, they
could not prevent