where he
sat as still as a mouse, until he went back to commando. Not very
cheerful for him, but a good lesson for the future!

* * * * *

Five or six men who tried to escape from town were captured near the
Magaliesbergen and placed in the Rest Camp, so Dame Rumour said at the
time, but the truth of the story, briefly related, ran thus:

I have mentioned the nest of the spies in the Skurvebergen not far
from Pretoria in the western direction.

This "nest" had been surprised and taken possession of by the English
while five of the spies were in Pretoria, and they, cut off from their
own people as they were, were unable to escape.

One or two attempts were made, but the men were fired on and they had
to abandon the idea for the present.

The curious part of this story is that these men (one can hardly call
them spies) were Pretoria men who had escaped to the Skurvebergen for
the first time only three weeks previously, and had gone backwards and
forwards several times with small necessaries. One of the five, a man
whose name I cannot mention here, for the sake of what is to follow,
had been so often, and was so much at home both in Pretoria and the
Skurvebergen, that his dearest friends did not know to which part of
the country he really belonged!

Well, he was in a nice predicament now!

The house in which he was being harboured, with one of his friends,
was unfortunately suspect. He could not remain there, neither could he
escape from town.

Some one came to Harmony in great distress. What was to be done with
those two men? To what place of refuge could they be moved that night?
The visitor looked imploringly at Mrs. van Warmelo as if he expected
her to offer Harmony, but she, mindful of Mr. Botha's warning, did
nothing of the kind.

"Death is staring them in the face," the visitor continued. "I don't
know what to do!"

Hansie, who knew the visitor well and trusted him implicitly, then
pleaded with her mother--to no avail, Mrs. van Warmelo remaining
firmly obdurate, and saying distinctly, for the edification of her
visitor, "I have never harboured a spy, and I hope I never shall."

When the good man had departed, in sore disappointment, Hansie
grumbled a good deal and said it was all very fine to assist these
Secret Service men when there was no danger in doing so, but her
mother took no notice of her for the rest of the day, and subsequent
events proved that she had acted