irst suggested taking him
with me!"

_Miss P._ "Did I? It was not the truth, then; it was only an addition
to the part I was then playing."

_I. O._ "How do I know that you are not still playing a part?"

_Miss P._ "If I am, then it is a very sad one. No; you may trust me
now. I have played my part, and if anything that I could do for you
would stop this dreadful war, I would gladly help you!"

_I. O._ "You can help me, if you will; but after what you have said
about my want of manners, I am afraid to ask you a question."

_Miss P._ "I have forgiven you that; and now that you do not claim the
right to question me, I do not mind answering you if I can!"

_I. O._ "How, if your object was to save your father, did it happen
that Lotter was informed of our presence at Richmond Road?"

_Miss P._ "I expected that you would ask that. I did not tell him
personally, nor would I in any circumstances have done so. But the
fact that I arrived in great haste in the small hours of the morning
had a peculiar meaning to the commando, and it was not necessary for
me to open my mouth. I daresay to-night there will be one hundred
Africander girls in the saddle in different parts of the Colony. When
the urgency is great, a girl is more reliable than a Kaffir. It is one
of our means of communication. There; is not that an admission worthy
of a loyal Africander?"

_I. O._ (_holding out his hand_) "Good-bye, Miss Pretorius."

* * * * *

It would have been difficult to analyse the Intelligence officer's
feelings as he strode back along the Britstown main street to keep his
appointment with his brigadier. He was at a loss to understand two
things,--the anomalism of his second meeting with the Pretorius girl,
and the latter's attitude towards the Tiger. He could not divest
himself of a feeling of suspicion that all was not quite as it
appeared. There is no walk in life which breeds distrust in one's
fellows so rapidly as that of military Intelligence. And although the
Intelligence officer had only formed an atom in this great structure
of British incompetency in South Africa for two days, yet sufficient
had been borne in upon him during this period to cause him uneasiness
as to the sincerity of motive in those that moved round him. It is
said that the only person that a race-horse trainer will trust is his
wife, and that as long as he trusts her he remains an unsuccessful
man. We cannot say what truth th