Part 27 (2/2)
”What has happened to Father I do not know For o, but each one of these Boers has instructions to shoot me on suspicion of such an attempt, and they watch me constantly It is awful, Somerton! If we meet the British troops these fiends will stand behind ht”
”Good heavens, you don't say so!” Jack exclaiainst his own flesh and blood is simply monstrous!”
”It's true all the same,” replied Guy Richardson dejectedly ”There are hosts lishmen, who know that this war has been wilfully forced on the empire by the Boers, and who are deterht for the queen But we are all carefully watched, and I fear that more than one of the poor fellows have lost their lives Only a few days ago I heard that they have been forced to fight in the most exposed positions, and these men here have threatened that I shall have such a post If a bullet finds rumble, but if I am to be struck down by my own people, would rather shoot un for these brutes, and I will stick to that determination”
”Tell me where you have been,” said Jack ”Froine there are none of our troops near at hand I was riding up to meet Plumer's force”
”We have been on a visit to the natives, Soh I have not been told the uess that the Boers wish to stir the to Pretoria I am thankful that I have broken my arm, for now they will not be able to send h, I could find out what has happened to Father”
”I suppose they will put us in hospital e reach the end of our journey, Richardson,” Jack said thoughtfully ”If so, and you are ready to come with me, ill make an attempt at escape I have been in difficulties in the Transvaal once before, and got out safely”
”I'll stand by you and make the atte to get out of the hands of these Boers!”
”Then we'll take it as settled that ill have a try to get away at the first opportunity,” Jack replied ”We shall have lots of ti has occurred to me We must make believe that we are worse than we really are That will ive us a better chance”
That evening Jack's wound was dressed again with the greatest tenderness by the Boer doctor, and on the followingthe oxen were inspanned, and the s with them as a trophy the skin of the African lion
A week later they reached the seat of the Boer Government, and, much to Jack's pleasure, he was placed in hospital side by side with Guy Richardson, hom he had already struck up a first the English prisoners, of whoh he would have been glad to be with them, his plans for escape would have become all the more difficult As it was, he was surrounded by Boers, and still under the care of the same doctor, who seemed to have taken quite a fancy to hi, and was able to see what Pretoria was like during these days of struggle Once, too, the President passed close to hiht have been ination, Jack fancied that his heavy face bore traces of ever-growing sorrow, and that the broad, stooping shoulders were bowed a little more than usual under a load of anxious care, and under the bitter disappoint ambition which had been cherished and nurtured for a lifetime Nor was the President the only one who felt the anxiety of these ti prepared for their work, had not swooped down and driven the hated British into the sea The Dutch population of South Africa had not risen as was expected, and joined their kith and kin to shake off English rule But instead, Joubert and his hordes of burghers had invaded Natal only to a point a few miles south of Colenso, while in Cape Colony the Free Staters had barely passed the borders, and Mafeking and Ki forces It was not a brilliant prospect, when the Boers had hoped to crush the British in three weeks
They had now done all the invading they were ever likely to do, and though successes h in carefully-prepared trenches and defences they -forces nowtowards Ladysmith and Kimberley, yet they knew that those reinforcements would eventually invade the two republics and appear before Bloemfontein and Pretoria just as surely as the earth would continue to revolve
No wonder, then, that they looked downcast and harassed, while ed for a peaceful terle, and a life of freedom under British rule
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
WOUNDED AND A PRISONER
A month after he reached Pretoria, Jack's wound was almost healed, and he really had no need to keep his ar But, for the first ti weak, and still walked slowly, as if he were feeble after his adventurous encounter with the lion
Guy Richardson, too, was now quite strong again His broken ar it slung in a scarf, and thus escaped being sent to the front
They were both in, but had now, like hosts of others, been turned into shelters for the wounded Of these, despite the sed by the Boers, there were now hundreds--so many indeed that the staff of doctors and attendants was taxed severely
The building in which Jack and Guy had been placed had large s, and as they were the only Englishmen there, no sentries were placed over them There were about twenty other patients in the hospital, ere constantly changing, those ere sufficiently well being sent elsewhere to make room for more severe cases Consequently there was little to fear fro now sufficiently strong to stand the fatigues of a long journey, decided to -talked-of atte to be settled is which frontier we shallthe h Kouese territory, and on to Lorenzo Marques We could get a steaoa Bay to Durban, and so should be able to join the British troops The difficulty about the matter is that all trains to the coast will be closely watched, for there areto slip away”
”Yes, Lorenzo Marques appears to be the best place to aihtfully; ”but the whole of the frontier is certain to be strongly patrolled Supposing it were out of the question for us to atteh on the east, what direction do you think we ought to take?”
”I should say that Natal, by way of Harrismith, would be the best, Guy
I have es