bloom, bringing back to one's
senses the remembrance of past suffering, and the full realisation of
present horror and unrest.

The great weeping-willows were showing their first mysterious tinge of
pale yellowish green, and Hansie, watching them, wondered what
developments would have taken place before those overhanging branches
would be crowned with the full beauty of midsummer. September 1901 was
a month of proclamations and peace negotiations, all of which "ended
in smoke."

After General Botha's visit to Pretoria the Boers concentrated their
forces around the capital, strong commandos under General Botha, de la
Rey, Beyers, and Viljoen. It was said that there were quite 6,000
troops in town awaiting developments, and Hansie coming home one
evening, surprised her mother by saying that "Khaki was in the deuce
of a funk!"

Her mother remonstrated with her, expressing her strong disapproval of
such language, but Hansie only laughed.

"I was told so in town, mother. The enemy seems to expect our people
to sweep through the town, if only to release our prisoners. How I
wish they would come and carry off some of our splendid men in the
jail and Rest Camp!"

The fate of the Committee men had not yet been decided.

As they were kept in solitary confinement and naturally not allowed to
hold communication with any of their friends, nothing was known at the
time of the troubles undergone by them, and it was some years after
the war before Hansie came into full possession of the facts.

Ten men in all had been taken that night, the five members of the
Committee and five other men in their service, and they were kept
separate, not being allowed to see one another during the sixteen days
of their imprisonment in the Pretoria jail.

Now, the remarkable part about this story is, that though nothing had
been arranged between these men in the event of an arrest, no line of
action agreed upon by them by which they could safely guard themselves
and their friends, they one and all adopted the same policy under the
severe cross-questioning to which they were subjected in their cells.

My readers must understand that trials under martial law are not
necessarily conducted with the ordinary formalities of a court of
justice; in fact, in the case of these men it cannot be said that
there was a trial at all, for they were cross-questioned in their
cells apart, and without witnesses.

They never saw the light of day except for a