of being on the scenes before him, ready to receive him when he
came.

She had only been in the garden a few moments when she saw some one,
in a stooping posture, running swiftly towards the fowl-run. A moment
later and he had seen her. He turned and ran in the opposite
direction, Mrs. van Warmelo following closely on his heels, loading
her revolver as she ran and calling out, "Stand, or I fire." On being
warned a second time he stopped and turned round. Mrs. van Warmelo
demanded what he was doing on her property, and he answered in good
English that he had lost his way, upon which Mrs. van Warmelo offered
to show him the way, and ordered him to march on ahead. With the
loaded revolver between his shoulders, the culprit was forced to obey,
and Mrs. van Warmelo had the satisfaction of handing him over to the
sergeant-major "all by herself."

To save himself, the wily thief turned Queen's evidence and offered to
conduct the police to a place where drink for natives was brewed and
sold, but the soldiers, not relishing the idea of his escaping
scot-free, first gave him a good thrashing before handing him over to
be further dealt with by the Provost-Marshal.

CHAPTER VII

POSTAGE BY STRATEGY

Life at Pretoria was at this time far from pleasant for the Boers who
remained loyal to their cause.

Most people who had the means, or were not bound to the country by the
closest ties, let their houses and went to Europe until the war was
over. Many of those who did not leave of their own free will were sent
away to the coast, where they were considered safe from plotting
against the British, and the few remaining Boer families were
apparently on their best behaviour, above all dreading the fate of
their fellow-countrymen.

The inmates of Harmony, perhaps more than any other Boers, feared
being sent away, because they knew that watching events from afar
would be a thousand times worse than enduring the restrictions of
English martial law, and that banishment would make it impossible for
them to render their fighting men any services. But they found the
time of inactivity terribly trying, so much so that they began to cast
about in their minds for work, for mischief--for anything, in fact, to
relieve the daily, deadening suspense and the dread, of what they knew
not, with which they were consumed.

Very galling was the severe censorship of their letters. Mrs. van
Warmelo's high spirit rebelled against the continued