be sent to Delagoa Bay. It was
very foolish of you to come here."

I explained that I had come in ignorance, not knowing where my guide
would lead me; that I had come to look for a wounded man, and under the
protection of a flag of truce; that the whole thing was an unfortunate
accident, and that he should treat it as such.

Much to my surprise he seemed to waver. "If I were to let you go"--and
he looked at me sideways--"would you undertake to give no information?"

I suggested that the question was an unfair one. "You know how you would
answer it yourself, sir."

"Yes" (he was melting), "we are honourable also, and to our own side
first of all. I have spoken of you with the doctor," he said, looking at
me kindly for the first time, "and I shall let you go. By rights you
ought to go to Pretoria. Of course your general may come and attack us
here, and your information will be useful, but we are strong enough for
all the English. Bring his horse," he shouted to someone standing by,
and to me, "You may go. No, you may not!" he added sharply; and then,
with a smile, "not until you have had a cup of coffee."

Upon this civility we parted, but it was not until I had rejoined my
anxious friends with the ambulance that I began to suspect Commandant
Cronje of a piece of pleasantry. Major Pollock, it appeared, had
interceded on my behalf so effectually that my fate had been decided and
my safe return promised long before I had met the Commandant. He
afterwards entertained himself by playing upon my anxiety, which, I have
no doubt, was apparent enough.

But now the ambulance was slowly returning from the place whither it had
been sent to receive the dead bodies. A place for the grave was chosen
where a thorn tree spread shadows on the ground. There were stony hills
all round, encircling a wide and green basin just within the Boer lines,
and it was beside one of these that the grave was dug. The ground was
very hard and the labour severe; it was at least two hours before the
fatigue-party, working in short shifts, had excavated a resting-place
for the two bodies. While they were working the Boers gathered round us
to the number of a couple of hundred. They were very silent, eyeing us
with an absorbed interest that embraced every article of our equipment.
Men of the humblest peasant class, poorly--in many respects
wretchedly--clad, they presented, in their ragged and shabby apparel, a
sharp contrast to our Yeomanry soldiers,