e purpose of
protecting the mines, had the effect of inducing the "Destroyers" to
mature their scheme in secret.

The probable fate of the mines was openly and freely discussed in the
capital, and I have a faint recollection of a debating society having
taken for its subject, at this time, the question, "Would the result
of blowing up the mines be beneficial or detrimental to the Boer
cause?" Many were the pros and cons, and what conclusion was arrived
at I do not know.

At Harmony, mother and daughter followed the subject with the keenest
interest and anxiety, realising the important effect which the
destruction of the mines would have on the later development of the
war.

There were several weighty considerations which the "Destroyers," in
their thirst for revenge, seemed to have overlooked entirely.

In the first place, the blowing up of the mines would have failed in
its object of punishing the mining magnates against whom the
resentment of the Republicans was specially directed, and the chief
sufferers would be innocent shareholders in every part of the world,
members of the middle-classes who had invested their little all in the
fabulously rich gold mines of the Rand. Another very important
consideration which was discussed by the more thoughtful section of
the community was the probable destruction of the farms by the British
forces by way of retaliation for the fate of the mines. Could the
burghers have foreseen that the entire country would be laid waste in
any case as the war proceeded, nothing could have saved the mines. But
the devastation of Boer homesteads was not to begin until a much later
period, and to this fact the "Destroyers" no doubt owed the
frustration of their schemes.

I have to thank friends who were principally concerned in the matter
for the following account of how the mines were saved and for the
interesting description of the surrender of the Golden City, appearing
in Chapter III.

* * * * *

At this time the British troops were advancing rapidly. The Boers were
panic-stricken, and had it not been for the determined efforts of the
administration in Johannesburg, chaos would have resulted.

About ten days before the surrender of the town, the scheme of the
"Destroyers" was unwittingly disclosed through the foolishness of the
man who had been apparently chosen to carry it out. Judge Kock, who
was a friend of Dr. Krause's, came over to Johannesburg f