wisely in refusing to harbour men
unknown to her.

What became of them at the time she did not know, and a few weeks
elapsed before the crushing sequel to this escapade became known.

CHAPTER XXI

FLIPPIE AND CO.

"Was there no fear of betrayal through the servants at Harmony?" I
have often been asked since the war, and this reminds me that a short
introduction to the other inmates of the property will be necessary
for the reader's benefit and understanding.

The lower portion of Harmony, through which the Aapies river runs, was
occupied by Italian gardeners, who employed a varying number of Kaffir
labourers in the extensive fruit and vegetable gardens.

The upper part, on which the house stood, was entirely under Mrs. van
Warmelo's management. No white servants were kept, the domestic staff
consisting of native gardeners, a stable-boy, and a house-boy, neither
was there a single female domestic, either white or black, on the
place.

One day a small white son of the soil presented himself and asked for
work.

Mrs. van Warmelo looked him up and down and said she did not farm with
children.

"What is your name?" Hansie asked.

There was no answer, and then she noticed that the little stranger was
staring straight in front of him, while two great tears rolled slowly
down his cheeks.

This touched her, and she repeated her question persuasively.

"Flippie," he answered brokenly.

"Where is your mother?"

"Dead."

"And your father?"

"Fighting, with five sons."

Then Hansie felt inclined to take him in her arms and kiss him for his
dead mother and brave father and brothers.

She turned to her mother and whispered:

"Let Flippie stay. Make some agreement with him and let us try him as
errand-boy or general help in the house and garden."

Mrs. van Warmelo nodded and turned again to him. The conversation
which passed between them is not recorded in Hansie's diary, but
Flippie stayed, and within a week the Harmonites wondered how they had
managed to exist without him for so long.

He was as sharp as a needle, and, though only thirteen years of age,
he proved to be a perfect "man" of business, rising early every day to
go to the morning market and gardening with surprising energy and
ambition.

This pleased Mrs. van Warmelo so much that she gave him a plot of
ground to cultivate for himself, and he immediately set to work to
plant vegetables, spending every spare moment of the day in _his_