"Back again, Jack! Why, we did not expect you till to-morrow morning!"
exclaimed Mr Hunter, shaking him by the hand. "Your bag and the
leather goods turned up early this morning, and as you didn't arrive we
naturally thought you had decided to stay a day longer and would return
by to-night's mail."

"No; I ought to have been back early this morning with the baggage, Mr
Hunter," Jack answered; "but as it was, I was delayed just on this side
of the Transvaal border, and have had to come on by a local train. I'm
afraid it's likely to be rather a serious matter, and as soon as
possible I should like you to give me some advice."

"My dear Jack, whatever are you talking about?" exclaimed Mr Hunter in
astonishment. "Was there an accident at Volksrust? But no, I know
there was not, for I went to meet the train this morning. Whatever made
you break your journey? You have no friends in that part of the country
that I have heard of."

"I'll tell you all about it if you'll come out on the verandah, Mr
Hunter," Jack answered. "I've been on my legs, tramping over the veldt,
all night, and I'm feeling a bit done-up and tired. Let us get a couple
of chairs out there, and then you can hear all I've got to tell."

A few minutes later Wilfred joined them, and the three settled
themselves comfortably on the verandah, where Tom Thumb, Mr Hunter's
Zulu "boy", who was the biggest native ever seen in Johannesburg,
supplied them with long glasses of deliciously cold lemon-squash.

CHAPTER FIVE.

RISE OF THE BOER POWER.

"And so you've discovered a secret magazine of our friend Paul Kruger,
have you, Jack?" exclaimed Mr Hunter when the adventure of the previous
night had been narrated to him. "Well, the existence of arms in that
part of the country is more than I or any one of us had guessed. That
ammunition and guns of all description are pouring into the Transvaal,
and have been pouring in for the past three years, there is no doubt.
They come openly from Delagoa Bay, and from the south under cover of
some other name. Yes, we all know what is going on; but now the fact of
there being a big magazine close to the Natal border opens my eyes. I
have often heard it said that the Boers are ready to fight for their
independence, but would not attack their neighbours till they were
compelled to do so. Then I have heard it rumoured, and very often too,
that the government at Pretoria has bigger schemes in view.

"Cecil Rho