e of her wounded husband.
Van Heerden was carried out, tied to a chair placed beside a stone wall,
and seven Lee-Metford bullets penetrated the brain of the man who was
wounded, perhaps mortally, _in the service of the British army_! That
was his reward. Even that did not satisfy those who thirsted for blood,
for the house of the unfortunate man was forthwith looted, and his widow
and orphans robbed of everything. A few days after this sad event had
occurred our commando arrived at the same farm. The spot where the
victim sat was pointed out to me; the marks of the bullets, the blood
and the brain against the wall were still distinctly discernible, and
seemed to cry to heaven for revenge. And there was the family of the
departed--stripped of everything. The burghers contributed from their
scanty means what they could in support of the widow and orphans.

No wonder that the brothers of this unfortunate man took up arms and
became the most pronounced, the most bitter enemies of those who
ruthlessly slew, if not murdered, their brother. One of them--Jacobus
van Heerden--whenever he spoke of his brother's death, would bite his
lips, his face would flush, and one could hear him mutter: "My brother's
blood shall be avenged." In the whole commando there was not a more
dauntless man than he. But, alas! he too passed away. A bullet was
destined to pierce his skull. At a farm, Leeuwfontein, in the district
of Murraysburg, he was shot by a Kaffir.

On another occasion four Colonists were arrested; two of these were shot
in cold blood, while the other two were imprisoned, _because_ the
railway line was blown up and a train derailed by the Boers near their
home. They were accused of having known all about the Boers, who had
destroyed the railway line _during the night_--an accusation which, on
later investigation, proved false.

When such crimes were perpetrated in the name of Martial Law, we are
rather surprised that all the Colonists did not rise to a man. What
would the English have done if subjected to such treatment? The Dutchman
is naturally slow to move, and very patient. He seems born to suffer and
endure. But Martial Law imposed such heavy burdens upon him that he
could not but resent them. Where the Boers were too lax in enforcing
their Martial Law regulations, the English went to the other extreme in
applying theirs too strenuously.

Well may we ask whether it was a wise policy which converted so many
Colonists into b