Arriving at Bloemfontein in the evening, they first went to an hotel, and having engaged rooms, and seen their horses put up, Yorke proceeded to the house of the Dutch gentleman to whom the letters Mr. Chambers had given him were addressed. On sending one in he was shown into the sitting-room, where Mr. von Rensburg presently joined him. "You are the bearer of this letter, Mr. Meyring, from my friend, Mr. Chambers?"
"Yes, sir, and of this also, which I did not care to give into any hands but your own."
Mr. von Rensburg took it a little surprised. The first had been so simple and matter-of-fact that he had not suspected for a moment that Yorke was not, as it stated, an employé at the mine. He looked scrutinizingly at Yorke when he had read the second letter.
"I will not ask who you are, Mr. Meyring, or whether that is your real name. It is just as well not to know more than I can help. I understand you want to cross into Cape Colony, and may be glad of my advice as to the best road to take. In the first place, may I ask how you came here—by rail?"
"No, sir, we drove. I have a friend with me, and it is open to us either to drive from this point, or, as we have two horses, to ride, or to go on foot, though naturally we would rather not adopt the last plan if it could be helped."
"That I can well understand," the other said with a smile; "and indeed it would be the worst method; it would be far more natural for you to be driving or riding than going on foot. Now, tell me exactly how you stand. You,[Pg 282] I see, are dressed as a young farmer in comfortable circumstances. How about your friend?"
"He is dressed as a farm-hand, sir; and I have also a Kaffir with me to look after the horses."
"Is your companion Dutch?"
"Yes, sir."
"You are not, I think. You speak Taal very well, but I fancy I can detect that it is not your own language."
"That is so," Yorke agreed; "but I am glad to say that you are the first person who has noticed it."
"I am not surprised at that, for you really speak it very well; it is more the tone of your voice than anything wrong in the language—or I may call it the dialect—that is noticeable."
"I have learned it partly from books, sir, but chiefly from conversing in it almost entirely for six months."
"You must have the knack of learning languages if you have picked it up so well in so short a time. You have only arrived here to-day, I suppose?"
"Yes, sir, half an hour ago."
"From Johannesburg?"
Yorke made a gesture of assent.
"You were, I suppose, intimate with Mr. Chambers?"
"I can scarcely say that I was intimate with him, but my man—for he is my servant as well as my friend—happened to overhear a plot to murder Mr. Chambers and loot his house, and he, with my Kaffir, Mr. Chambers and myself, gave the ruffians so warm a reception that there is not likely to be a repetition of the attempt."
"Were they a strong party?"
"There were twelve of them, and only two got away alive. The really dangerous part of the affair was that the three men in the house were also in the plot; but we had tied them up before the others arrived."
"That was a very thorough piece of business indeed," Mr. von Rensburg said, more warmly than he had spoken[Pg 283] before; "and I can well understand now that my friend Chambers should be anxious to aid you in any way. Will you tell me a little more about it? You are not, I suppose, pressed for time."
"Not at all, sir;" and Yorke related more fully the incidents connected with the affair.
"It was a fortunate escape for Mr. Chambers. No doubt those scoundrels thought that he had money in the house. They would hardly have gone in such numbers if it had only been a question of ordinary robbery. And was your employment at the mine confined to this exploit?"
"Entirely, sir; but as the house stands on the mine property, Mr. Chambers said when he wrote the letter that he could say with a good conscience that I had been employed there."
"I have one question to ask: Are you personally known to anyone here? I mean, is there anyone whom you would be likely to meet who would recognize you?"
"No, sir, I don't think there is anyone here likely to have seen me before. And if there should be anyone, I am sure he would not know me in my present disguise."
"I asked the question," Mr. von Rensburg went on, "as in that case there is no occasion for me to make any instant decision as to the route you had better take. If there had been any danger of your being recognized I should say you had better start to-morrow morning early, but as it is, we can take our time about it."
"I am in no very pressing hurry, though I should be glad to be on the other side of the Orange River as soon as I can. I have already been away nearly seven weeks."
"I can guess pretty well who you are, Mr. Meyring," the other said with a smile, "though I don't want to know. I should certainly be glad if you would take up your residence here while you remain, but I think it is better that you should not. I am not very popular here at present, because I opposed the Free State taking part with the Transvaal. I[Pg 284] can call upon you at your hotel very well; because then, should there be any question, I can simply show the letter you first sent me in, and say that I know nothing more than that. I don't think it at all likely that any question will arise, and my coming to see you will be an advantage to you rather than otherwise, for it will show that you are not altogether an unknown person. I will this evening think over what people I know on the different roads, where parties of our men are stationed, and how you had best proceed."
"Thank you very much, sir. At what hour are you likely to call?"
"We will say ten o'clock. I will bring a good map I have with me—or, no, I had better merely call and ask for you, and then bring you here. It would look strange if you were to ask for a private room, and we certainly cannot talk that over in the public room. They will not know that you have been here to-night, and you had better send your man with this letter again in the morning. Tell him before the landlord, or anyone else, that he is to take the letter to me, and say that you have arrived, and will call upon me at any hour that is convenient in reference to the business."
This programme was carried out, and at ten o'clock Yorke was standing at the door of the hotel when Mr. von Rensburg came up. He went into the hotel without noticing Yorke, and said to the landlord: "You have a Mr. Meyring staying here, have you not?"
"Yes, sir; he was outside just now." He went to the door. "There he is, sir," he said, pointing to Yorke.
Mr. von Rensburg went up to him. "My name is von Rensburg, Mr. Meyring. I did not know when I should be disengaged, so did not send an answer to the letter you brought, but I am free now, and if you will come with me to my house, we will talk over the business you mentioned, and see which commando you had better join."
"Thank you, sir! I am naturally anxious to lose no time.[Pg 285] I should certainly prefer joining the force which is likely to be engaged soonest." The innkeeper and two other men lounging near heard what he said, and paid no further attention to them as they walked off.
Once in Mr. von Rensburg's parlour the latter said: "It will not be an easy matter to get through. The drifts are all guarded, both on the Orange River and the Riet. Of course the nearest way is through Petrusburg and Jacobsdal, but I put that out of the question. Then there is the road through Fauresmith and across the Orange at Zoutpans Drift, but that also is a long way round. I believe that as good a way as any would be to take the Boshof road across the Modder at Truters Drift. From there a road keeps along for three miles north of the Modder, and leads finally to Kimberley; it cuts the road from Boshof to Jacobsdal. But at that point there are strong forces to prevent the British from trying to make a detour that way. These are the names of the various commandos there, and at Jacobsdal, and at the drifts across the Orange.
"The safest way, though longer in miles, would be to go south to Bethulie, as if you were going to join the commando at Steynsburg, or better still, Colesberg. Once past Colesberg you would find no difficulty in making your way to De Aar. I could help you more that way than any other, because I could get a pass for you, and your horses, your servant, and the Kaffir, direct by rail to Colesberg; so that really you would not lose so much time as you might think, for from Colesberg to De Aar is not much more than half the distance that it is from here to Jacobsdal. The Philippolis commando is there."
"I know the country on the other side of the Seacow River," Yorke said, "and once past Colesberg could make my way easily enough. I would much rather choose that line. Once at De Aar I should not have much more than a hundred miles to ride to the Modder, even if I could not get up by train."
[Pg 286]
"Then I will see the officer in charge of the railway arrangements, and find out when a train is going down to Colesberg with ammunition and supplies, and if he is not taking any horses down, will get him to put on a truck for your animals. What do you mean to do with your cart?"
"Mr. Chambers said I could do anything I liked with it. It would only be in my way now, for the tracks beyond Colesberg west are as much as horses can manage. Besides, I should find it more difficult to get away from the town in a vehicle than on horseback."
"Well, if I were you I would speak to the innkeeper; he would be likely to know someone who would want to buy it. If not, you had better leave it with him, and tell him that you are so anxious to get to the front that you do not care about wasting time here looking about for a purchaser; and ask him to sell it for you, and to keep the money until you return for it. You must appear careful about it, for no Dutch farmer, however well off, would throw away the value of a good cart. You had therefore better ask him to write to you at the post-office, Colesberg, telling you what sum he has sold it for."
"As he knows that I have come here, sir, I might ask him to hand the money over to you, as you have kindly offered to remit it to me."
"Yes, it would be as well to seem as anxious as possible. When I come round this afternoon to tell you the result of my enquiries about the trains, I will look at the cart."
"It is a very good one, sir, of Cape Colony make, and it only wants repainting to appear quite new."
"In that case I will tell the innkeeper that if he does not know of anyone who will buy it at once, I will give you the sum he and I may value it at, and if at the end of a week he doesn't find a purchaser at that price, I will take it myself. A cart more or less makes but little difference, and you may as well have the money as let the innkeeper put it in his pocket."
[Pg 287]
"But the money ought to go back to Mr. Chambers, sir."
"It will be much more useful in your pocket than in his. He gave you the thing to do as you liked with, and certainly will not expect to be paid for it, and would be hurt rather than pleased at the money being sent to him. No doubt you will find uses for it."
The innkeeper, however, knew of a trader in the town who wanted a good cart, and the matter was arranged in a few minutes. There was a train going that evening, and with an order signed by the military secretary at Bloemfontein for Gert Meyring and Hans Bernard, both going to join the Philippolis commando at Colesberg, accompanied by a Kaffir boy, to travel by military train, they started that evening. It was an open truck, but as they had brought blankets and horse-rugs in the cart, for sleeping on the veldt, they preferred the night journey to being exposed to the scorching rays of the sun all day. It took some fifteen hours to cover the distance between Bloemfontein and Colesberg. After getting the horses out of the truck, they saddled them, slung their rifles and bandoliers over their shoulders, strapped the blankets behind the saddles, and then rode into the town, which was little more than a long single street extending along the bottom of a very narrow valley.
Peter had been most reluctant to leave his rifle behind him at Bloemfontein, and had been allowed to bring it, saying that if he were questioned he could say that it was a spare rifle belonging to Yorke. As it was notorious that in the battles of Graspan and Belmont many of the richer Boers had been attended by servants, who loaded spare rifles, and so enabled them to keep up a steady fire, Yorke had consented, as at the worst it could but be taken away for the use of some Boer with an inferior weapon, and he felt that the time might come when it would be well that Peter should be able to give efficient aid. A good many armed men were in the street, but they paid no attention to the new-comers. Yorke avoided the principal inn, where the field cornet of[Pg 288] the commando would probably have taken up his quarters, and alighted at another of less pretension.
"Have you a room disengaged?" he asked the landlord on entering.
The landlord looked doubtful.
"I don't want to commandeer a room," Yorke went on; "I pay for what I have."
The landlord's face brightened. "Yes, I have a double-bedded room vacant."
"That will do, though I should have liked two single ones. My native boy will of course sleep in the stable with the horses. If you will show me my room he will carry up my spare rifle and blankets there. We shall want a meal at once, for we have but just arrived by train from Bloemfontein."
The meal was a good one, and after it was eaten Yorke went to the bar; the landlord was standing behind it. "I will pay for our meals as we have them," Yorke said, "and for the room for to-night. I don't know when I may be off, and I may be sent suddenly away, so that it is as well to keep things squared up. So please add the charge for the stable and food for the horses."
The landlord made out the bill, and when he had paid it Yorke said, "I should like to have a talk with you. It is difficult to get news at Bloemfontein as to what is going on down here, and as I have only just arrived, I am altogether ignorant as to the situation."
"If you will come into my parlour behind the bar I will tell you what I know."
"I dare say you have some good cigars?" Yorke asked when they were seated.
"Yes, but I don't sell many of them at present."
He took a box out of a cupboard, where it was hidden under some corks and dusters. Yorke took out two, handed one to the landlord and lighted the other himself.
"You are English, I see."
[Pg 289]
"Yes, we are mostly English here—worse luck just at present."
"I am English too," Yorke said, speaking for the first time in his own language.
The landlord looked at him in astonishment. "I should never have thought it," he said. "You speak Dutch ever so much better than I do, and you look like a Boer all over."
"Yes, I am disguised. I have made my way down from Johannesburg, and I want to get through the Boer lines. That is what I want to talk to you about. Where are they now? First, tell me what has been done here."
"Well, on the 1st of November the Boers came in here, and had their own way for two months. Then on the 1st of January General French came up and surrounded the place, and there was fighting in the hills for two or three days; but the Boers captured a company of the Suffolks who attacked a hill outside the town, and they were afterwards reinforced so strongly that, after repulsing one attack, French retired, and things have been quiet since. The English hold Molteno. A good many men have gone down that way."
"Do you know what commandos are here now?"
"They are principally Colonial rebels, some from the west and some from the south."
"You have the Philippolis commando here, have you not?"
"We had till yesterday, and then they were summoned to go to Steynsburg, for they say that one of our columns is advancing against Dordrecht."
"That is lucky, for my railway pass says that I am going to join that commando. Now that I find they are gone I cannot report myself, and therefore escape questioning. How many Boers are there in and around here?"
"From a thousand to twelve hundred."
"How have they been behaving?"
[Pg 290]
The landlord shrugged his shoulders. "They take pretty well what they want, and give bits of paper which they say will be paid when the war is over; they mean, out of the money they expect to get from our government as an indemnity. Of course we don't look at it in that light, and only keep them in the hope that they will be a proof of the losses that we have suffered, and that our government will take them up when they finally thrash the Boers."
"And where are these twelve hundred men?"
"There are three or four hundred of them on the hills round the town. They have got some guns there, to keep us in order, as they say. Most of the others are wandering about in bands, and plundering the farms of the loyal settlers. I fancy they have some small parties out towards the west, keeping a sharp look-out lest a force should come this way from De Aar; but I think they trust chiefly to their getting news from the Dutch farmers between Hanover and the railway there."
"Then my best way, undoubtedly, would be to cross the Seacow River either by the road leading north-west to Hopetown, or from that to Philipstown, or by the third road to Hanover. The north road is least likely to be watched, as any force from De Aar would certainly come either through Philipstown or through Hanover."
"You seem to know the country well," the landlord said in surprise.
"I do not know it on this side of the river; I know it pretty well on the other; and once across, I have little fear of being captured. Who is the field cornet in command?"
"Moens; he is in command of the party on the hi............