he town
commonage. But it boasted no natural beauty to speak of, just dumped
down, as it were, on a wide, flat plain. Some few of the houses had an
_erf_ or two of garden ground attached, which in the spring constituted
by contrast a pleasing spot of green amid the prevailing red dust, but
for the rest the impression conveyed was that of a sun-baked,
wind-swept, utterly depressing sort of place.

Nicholas Andrew Jelf was seated at his office table amid a pile of
papers, and his countenance wore a very worried expression indeed. The
post had just been delivered, and the contents of the bag had consisted
of a greater crop than usual of Government circulars, eke requests for
returns, as it seemed, upon every subject under heaven. Moreover, the
newspapers, through which he had glanced hurriedly, were mainly
remarkable for the number and conspicuousness of their scare headlines.
Sensation was the order of the day, and out of the chances of a rupture
with the two Republics the canny editor managed to suck no small
advantage. But poor Mr Jelf could lay to himself no such consolation.
His thoughts were for his already large and still increasing family, and
the ruinous hole it would make in the by no means extravagant pay of a
Civil servant were he obliged to send it away to a safer locality, as he
greatly feared he ought to lose no time in doing.

He turned to his correspondence. The Government desired to be informed
of this--or the member for Slaapdorp had moved for a return of that--or
Civil Commissioners were requested to obtain the opinion of the leading
farmers of their divisions as to how far rinderpest microbes were likely
to affect donkeys, given certain conditions of temperature and
climate... and nearly a dozen more of like practical utility. Mr Jelf
threw down the papers with a grunt of disgust and swore mildly to
himself.

"They seem to think a Civil Commissioner must be a whole damned walking
`Encyclopaedia Britannica,'" he growled. "What's this? More of the
same stuff, I suppose."

But, as he read, his attention became more riveted and his face anxious
and graver. For the official communication, marked "Confidential," was
one urgently requesting information as to the tone and disposition of
the Dutch farmers in his division as bearing upon the present state of
affairs, and desiring a full and circumstantial report at the very
earliest opportunity. The effect of this was to deepen the worried look
u