tment of the Secret Committee did not at
any time bear an official character.

Although the Boer leaders knew of its existence and made use of
information conveyed through the members, they did not approve of the
work of espionage being carried on in the towns, because of the great
danger to which it exposed the women and the needless risks incurred
by the men.

The Secret Service of the Boers was not confined to the burghers. In
every department of importance there were British subjects in the
employment of the Boers, especially in that part connected with the
registration of names of the men who joined the National Scouts.

From every part of the Transvaal the names and addresses of Boers
joining the English were sent to British head-quarters in Pretoria,
these lists being again conveyed to Captain Naude, who passed them on
to Boer head-quarters in the field.

There was no break in this part of the Boer espionage until the war
came to an end.

In the Burgher Camps Department, as the head-quarters of the
Concentration Camps in Pretoria were called, there were men at work
for us too, men who by smuggling through statistics of the high
mortality and other facts connected with the Camps, strengthened the
hands of the pro-Boers in England and acquainted the world with the
real state of affairs even before the Blue books could appear.

Towards the latter end of the war thousands of burghers had succumbed
to their temptations, and the appalling increase of the Scouts Corps
preyed on the minds of the Boer leaders more than any other calamity.
Everything that ingenuity could devise was tried to stop the burghers
from sinking deeper into degradation, members of the Scouts Corps,
when captured by the Boers, being executed without mercy and their
fate made known far and wide.

Hell was indeed let loose in South Africa and every man's hand was
turned against his brother. The worst passions of mankind rose to the
surface, were deliberately played upon, making havoc of every
tradition of country and race.

In the towns, where the renegades felt themselves comparatively safe
under the protection of the British troops, their work was carried on
quite openly. It would not be possible to describe the feelings of the
faithful Boers when they contemplated this hideous aspect of the war.

Many futile efforts were made to stem the tide of crime, but it was a
woman in Pretoria who devised a plan which would undoubtedly have
struc