Part 27 (1/2)

CHAPTER XX

THANKSGIVING AND HUMILIATION

The doc.u.ments sent out to General Botha, and referred to in Chapter XV, were connected with the report of the Consuls, but the very first thing sent to the commandos by Mrs. van Warmelo was a copy of the first pet.i.tion, tightly packed in a walnut, one of a handful which she gave the spy, with instructions not to eat any of them on the road.

He also took a verbal message to the effect that though the condition of the Camps was bad, everything was being done in town to bring about the necessary improvements. Influential people were at work to make everything public in Europe, and the men in the field were urged to be brave and steadfast and of good cheer.

On July 29th Harmony was visited again by Mr. Willem Botha, bringing with him information of a disquieting nature.

In some mysterious way he had received a piece of paper from Mr.

Gordon Fraser, brother-in-law to President Steyn, and prisoner of war in the Rest Camp in Pretoria, on which, in a disguised hand, was written a message imploring the Secret Service men to warn President Steyn and General de Wet that a certain man amongst them, a prominent official, was a traitor in their midst, paid by the enemy to betray their plans before they could be carried out.

This information made the conspirators very anxious, for it being full moon, there was no prospect of spies coming into town, and in the meantime incalculable mischief could be done. Neither was it possible to send any one out who had not been before and was ignorant of the route. The matter had therefore to be left until the next suitable opportunity came and Mr. Botha went home with a heavy heart.

Unlike his usual prudent self, Mr. Botha did not immediately destroy the slip of paper on which the warning was written, but folded it carefully and placed it between the tattered leaves of an old hymn-book.

How he paid for this small indiscretion, the only one of which he was guilty, with days of anxiety and despair, and very nearly with his life, we shall see as our story develops!

In the early days of August the troops encamped around Harmony could, if they had used their sixth sense, have divined an air of suppressed excitement about the place.

Expectation of some sort evidently charged the atmosphere. Visitors were, in fact, expected, for Captain Naude and his secretary had arranged to come in for the report of the Consul, just before the new moon made its appearance, and now a faint crescent of silver in the heavens warned our heroines that their time was at hand.

Harmony had been chosen as a place of refuge, as the safest spot in all Pretoria, with so many troops around it!

For several nights in succession a fire was kept going in the kitchen until a late hour, and a plentiful supply of hot water kept in readiness for the warm baths which the visitors would so sorely need after their difficult and perilous journey.

Still they did not come, but on the morning of August 4th Mr. Botha paid an early visit, bringing with him the news that on the previous night five spies had reached the town in safety.

He did not tell where they were being harboured, it being one of the laws of the Secret Committee that names were not to be used needlessly, and that the people working for the Committee were not even to know about one another.

So rigorously was this law enforced that from beginning to end the van Warmelos had dealings with Mr. Botha only, and did not see the four other members of the Committee, nor even hear their names until----

The five spies had not come in as easily as usual. They had persistently been followed by the searchlights as they neared the town, but they were able to get through the barbed-wire enclosure in safety and had then separated and gone to their various homes, un.o.bserved as they thought.

But one of them, a young man whom we shall call Harry, who was destined to play such a terrible part in the history of the Boer Secret Service, was followed home by three detectives, two of whom stationed themselves at the front door and the third at the back.

Fortunately when Harry became aware of his danger, he rushed out at the back.

The detective, whose name was Moodie, shouted, ”Hands up, or I fire,”

but the young man drew his revolver with lightning-like rapidity and, firing twice, escaped from town under cover of the darkness.

The reported death of the detective caused a great sensation in the town next day, and it was not until many months after that we learned of the fate of the unfortunate man, not death, but mutilation worse than death--a ghastly wound below the heart and an amputated leg.

This event caused the British to enforce a stricter vigilance, and many houses were searched for the other spies, but without success.