of
the elements, I think I suffer more than the women under canvas, for
_their_ sakes....

"The letter I have before me must be answered now. He asks me to bind
myself to him definitely....

"I have decided to do so. It is a weighty step, and God knows....

"But I have long prayed for guidance, and it seems to me clear enough
that we are destined for one another.

"So to-night, in this raging storm, with a heart filled with the
desolation of land and people, the blackness of the present, the
hopeless misery of the future, I am going to write the words which
will bind me for ever to L.E.B.

"Strange betrothal! Strange sequel to a stormy life!

"But perhaps--perhaps, the future holds something for me of calm and
peace...."

With throbbing brow she went out into the night to watch the storm,
from a sheltered corner under the verandah.

Nothing fascinated her so much.

Suddenly a blinding flash, accompanied by a sound like the sharp
cracking of a whip and instantly followed by a deafening roar of
thunder, drove her to her mother's side.

"Are you all right, mother? That bolt fell very near. I thought it
struck the house."

"It was frightfully close," Mrs. van Warmelo answered.

"Come and sit beside me here. I am quite sure one of our big trees has
been struck."

She was right, for walking through the demolished garden next morning,
they came upon the spot where the bolt had fallen and found one of the
gigantic willow trees furrowed from top to bottom, with the outer bark
scorched and curled up like paper and the white bark showing
underneath.

Jim was breaking down his little kitchen with all the speed he could.

"What are you doing, Jim?" Hansie asked.

"Jim's shifting," was the answer, soberly and sadly made.

"But the storm is over. All the danger is past. You can safely stay on
now."

"No fear, little missie. The Big Baas was very cross last night, and
when Him cross He don't care what He do. Jim want to live a little
longer."

Hansie laughed.

"I wonder where Mauser could have been with her kittens last night!"
she exclaimed, putting her hand into the deep hollow of the tree. "The
nest is empty. Do you know, Jim?"

"No, little Missie. I 'spose Mauser's time had not come yet," he said,
with stolid philosophy.

"I suppose not."

But alas, alas! Mauser's time was soon to come, for the soldiers,
setting a strong trap to catch a wild cat which was nightly plundering
them of their meat rati