r best friends, for he has a dangerous
mission to fulfil and you must help him."

"I shall be there some time to-day," he said.

Hansie thanked him and departed.

Much writing work waited her at Harmony, and the rest of the day was
spent in drawing up dispatches at the Captain's dictation and making
notes of the condition of the various commandos.

In the course of a long conversation with him he told her the object
of his visit and why he required van der Westhuizen's services.

"My flying column of scouts is over sixty strong, picked men and
wonderfully brave," he said. "They are all in khaki and scour the
country, doing the enemy incalculable harm, but they would be of more
service to the commandos if they had better horses. Our horses are
worn-out and underfed, their life is very hard, and it is imperative
that we should have them reinforced. Now, we have heard that there are
many magnificent horses kept at Skinner's Court, remounts kept in good
condition for the special use of officers. Those horses we must have,
and we have come to get all the information we can about the strength
of the guards at Skinner's Court. For this I require van der
Westhuizen's assistance."

Hansie felt a thrill of excitement.

The adventure was very much to her taste, and she remembered with
delight that first successful raid on British stables. She wished she
could supply the desired information. To steal the enemy's best horses
seemed to her an enterprise worth toiling for, for there would
probably be little or no bloodshed connected with it and, if
successful, the reward would be very great.

But she felt assured that the adventure could not be in more capable,
more trustworthy hands than in those of the silent van der Westhuizen.

When van der Westhuizen arrived, he and the Captain were closeted
together in the bedroom for nearly an hour, and then he departed as
silently as he had come, but Hansie had observed the look of
steadfast determination on his face, and was satisfied.

Very unlike the previous visit was this, the last sojourn of the
Secret Service men at Harmony.

There was no entertaining of shoals of trusted friends, no lying about
under the trees, no sociable gathering of strawberries.

The men were not allowed to leave their bedroom during the day, but
remained in safe proximity to the place of refuge under the floor,
where their belongings lay buried.

Of the many plans devised by Mrs. van Warmelo for th