en if this had happened yesterday
while Naude was in the house!"

But poor Mrs. van Warmelo could not shake off her gloom, and Hansie,
who, strange to say, was usually most hopeful and strong in the
presence of depressed folk, but pessimistic and downhearted when
others were most bright, sighed for once and allowed herself to be
cast down by her mother's forebodings.

They realised that an anxious time was before them, their worst fear
being that Naude and his companions had been captured the previous
night and that some time would probably elapse before they knew with
any certainty what his fate had been.

That they were safe in his hands they never doubted for a moment, but
there were too many others, practically unknown to them, concerned in
this enterprise, and every conspirator more added to the list made
their own position less secure.

"I think I must go to Mrs. Joubert this afternoon, mother, to see if I
can get hold of van der Westhuizen. Perhaps he can throw some light on
the subject. At any rate he will be able to tell us whether he parted
from Naude under favourable conditions last night."

"Do that," Mrs. van Warmelo answered, "if you can make sure beforehand
of not being watched. Don't go to that house if you have any reason to
think you are being followed. We are on the black list now, but that
makes it all the more necessary for us to protect our friends."

"Yes, mother; but the Jouberts have been under suspicion so long and
have so successfully escaped detection that I am sure their names have
long since been removed from the black list."

"Don't be too sure. Jannie's transportation was not a sign of the
cessation of hostilities. The enemy is not asleep, but merely
slumbering, as far as they are concerned--that is, if this thing"
(waving her hand over Harmony) "has not roused him completely."

All day long, and in fact for many days after, an unusual commotion
was apparent in the Military Camp.

Detectives could be seen coming and going, little groups of soldiers
clustered together, and even "Judas-Boers" made their appearance on
the lower portion of Harmony, examining the ground and following the
tracks made by the spies in their escape from the town.

Beyond that the van Warmelos could not follow their investigations,
and whether they found conclusive evidence in the marks made by the
men at the closely barbed and netted drift, under the railway bridge,
will never be known, but there was r