he stores sold them only to the military and blacksmiths, and the
latter were curious to know why he did not bring his horses to them to
be shod.

Mother and daughter were there at 5.30 p.m., with their parcels, and
at 6 p.m. the spies were to leave, Mrs. Malan and van der Westhuizen
driving out with them as far as they could.

That was a real danger, compared with which all other risks were as
nothing, to drive through the streets of Pretoria with spies, at a
time when everyone was liable to be stopped to produce residential
passes and to show permits for horses and carriages.

But, indeed, those women were not to be intimidated by anything!

We have now come to a morning into which many events of disastrous
importance were crowded, the fateful September 9th. Before breakfast,
an agitated girl, unknown at Harmony, arrived with the intelligence
that Mr. Willem Botha had been arrested at 8 o'clock the night before.

No other names were mentioned then, but it was felt instinctively that
the entire Secret Committee had been betrayed and arrested, and the
news, when it reached Harmony during the course of the day, found
mother and daughter to some extent prepared. The shock, nevertheless,
was so great, so crushing, that it took them some time to recover
sufficiently to form a plan of action.

Hansie hastily swallowed some food and was preparing to go to town,
when her mother asked her what she meant to do, whether she had
thought of anything, or if it was advisable to show herself at all
just then.

"I don't know what I am going to do _afterwards_, mother," she said,
"but I am going straight to Mrs. Botha now."

"Hansie!" exclaimed Mrs. van Warmelo in consternation, "you will do
nothing of the kind. Their house will be watched, and you will be
followed home. You can do nothing to help that poor woman now, and to
be seen with her would be an unpardonable and unnecessary risk."

But Hansie had made up her mind, and nothing could persuade her that
it was not her duty to stand by her friend in her hour of need. There
was good reason, too, for her anxiety.

After thirteen years of happy, though childless married life, Mr. and
Mrs. Botha's home was about to be blessed with an infant child, and
it was the thought of the expectant mother's anguish and despair that
took Hansie to her side.

"Well" (Mrs. van Warmelo was secretly pleased with her daughter's
behaviour), "if you are determined to expose yourself to this dan