e
incidences were amusing, as was the polite borrowing and making use of
Mr. King's carriage--he being one of the Reformers--for conveyance of
the prisoners to the gaol. At the Rand Club there was so large a
collection of Reformers, that the carriages, even over-crowded, could
not carry them all. Lieuts. de Korte and Pietersen, the officers in
charge, said in the most friendly manner, 'Very well, gentlemen, some
of you must wait until we can come back for you.' And they _did_ wait.
Colonel Rhodes was taken from his own home; roused from his bed, he
stood brushing his hair with martial precision, and expressing to the
officer his regret at putting him to the trouble of waiting while he
dressed, Mr. Seymour Fort meanwhile packing his valise. 'Fort, old
man, put in some books,' said the Colonel, who is a great reader; 'all
the books you can find;' and Mr. Fort threw in book after book--big
ones and little ones; and for this lavish provision the poor Colonel
paid dearly some hours later, in company with several husbands, whose
wives in excess of tenderness had provided them with every known
toilette luxury filled into silver-topped cut crystal bottles. The
sight of these afflicted men carrying their heavy burdens from the
station to the prison at Pretoria was both amusing and dramatic. At
times their speech reached the epic.

The sad side was poor Sam Jameson, crippled and broken with
rheumatism--a seriously ill man--accompanied to the very prison gates
by his ever-faithful wife; and the second lot of Reformers, sent to
Pretoria the following morning, met with an experience which some of
them have never since been able to speak of without turning white. By
the hour of their arrival the whole country round about Pretoria knew
of their coming, and a large and violent mob was gathered at the
railroad station to receive them. Through some misadventure, an
inadequate guard was detailed to march them to the gaol. The prisoners
were set upon by the mob, reviled, stoned, and spat upon, the officers
in charge trampling them under their horses' hoofs, in their vain and
excited endeavours to protect them. The poor prisoners reached the
jail in a full run, bruised and breathless, but thankful for the
asylum the prison door afforded them from their merciless pursuers.
They were quickly locked into cells. For many hours they had not
tasted food. The first Reformers imprisoned slipped in to them a part
of their own provisions, but as it