erected some little distance to
the south of Harmony on Avondale, on the property of Mr. Christian
Joubert, on the way to the "Fountains."

These tents were largely occupied by "handsuppers" and their families,
amongst whom were found a few Judas-Boers--Boers of the most dangerous
type. That the life of the loyal Boers in their midst was anything but
a bed of roses can very well be imagined, and we know that bitterness
and strife reigned supreme, for it was an open secret that renegades,
hirelings of the enemy, held their dreaded sway over the inmates of
that small colony.

Flippie and his grandmother did not belong to that degraded set, but
the one was a thoughtless child and the other an exceedingly
suspicious and inquisitive old woman, and that they were both used as
unsuspecting tools by their more designing fellows I have not a shadow
of doubt.

Mrs. van Warmelo and Hansie soon gave the old granny the name of
"Um-Ah," for her tongue had been paralysed by a "stroke" twenty years
back, and "Um-Ah," was all she was ever heard to say. It stood for yes
and no and for every imaginable question, being only varied by the
tone of voice in which it was said. Sometimes, when she became excited
or impatient, it was fired off four or five times in quick succession.

This formidable old dame ruled Flippie with a rod of iron,
appropriating the whole of his small salary every month and refusing
to give him so much as a sixpence. When Mrs. van Warmelo found this
out she stealthily added half a crown to his earnings for his own use,
and this the generous lad regularly spent on sweets, cakes, and
gingerbeer for his granny!

Even the chocolates and other good things to which kind-hearted
soldiers treated him were laid as "trophies of the war" at his
granny's feet, after he had vainly tried to induce Hansie to partake
of them.

"Um-Ah" had an inconvenient way of dropping in at Harmony at all hours
of the day, ostensibly to see if Flippie was doing his work well, but
in reality to keep a watchful eye on the other inmates. She seemed to
be always looking for something, and the time was soon to come when
this unpleasant propensity should become a source of real danger to
the van Warmelos.

* * * * *

Besides Flippie, there were two other permanent members on the
domestic staff--a gigantic native named Paulus, and a young Zulu who
went by the name of "Gentleman Jim" on account of his dandified
app