ations, to take up
arms against their fellow countrymen, a policy which he had often
employed in other countries and to which he owed much of his success.
This may or may not have been the case in previous wars in which he
had taken a leading part, but in the great South African war this
policy was crowned with undoubted success, in the formation of the
National Scouts Corps.

The thought has occurred to me that the words "National Scout" may
convey nothing to my English reader.

Would to God that it conveyed nothing to us either!

It will be necessary to explain. The first downward step to becoming a
National Scout was the voluntary surrendering of arms to the enemy, to
become a "handsupper," as the burghers were called, who laid down
their arms while the Boer leaders were still in the field.

There were three kinds of handsuppers; first, men who, through a
mistaken sense of duty, surrendered themselves to the enemy, in order
to bring the war to a speedy termination and so to save the women and
children from further suffering; second, the men who, wearied of the
strife, became hopeless and despondent and only longed for peace,
indifferent as to who should prove to be the victor in the field; and
third, the men who, through their lust for gain, fell an easy prey to
the temptations offered them in gold and spoil by the enemy,
surrendering their trusty Mausers in exchange for the Lee Metfords of
the enemy, with whom they thereafter stood, side by side, in infernal
warfare against kith and kin. To the latter class of handsuppers the
National Scouts, better known throughout the war as "Judas-Boers,"
belonged. In most cases they were first employed by the enemy as
"Cattle Rangers," to gather in the livestock from the farms and
protect them from recapture by the Boer commandos. The next step
downwards followed as a matter of course, active service against their
brother burghers.

A few months after the occupation of Pretoria the first public meeting
was held in the Rex Bar, now known as the Lyceum Theatre, on Church
Square ("under the Oaks"), for the purpose of recruiting National
Scouts from the ranks of the burghers in Pretoria. Many prominent men
attended this meeting, which, it will be remembered, was presided over
by a distinguished British officer. These men went, not to become
members of the National Scouts Corps, but to ask a certain question
when the right moment arrived--and then they rose with one accord.
"W