of the house to-morrow morning until you are
quite sure. And now let us eat some supper, for we shall not make
matters better by going hungry. Hans, bring the food."

So we ate, or made pretence to eat, and I, being thirsty, drank two cups
of the black coffee dashed with spirit to serve as milk. After this I
grew strangely sleepy. The last thing I remember was Marie looking at me
with her beautiful eyes, that were full--ah! so full of tender love, and
kissing me again and again upon the lips.

I dreamed all sorts of dreams, rather pleasant dreams on the whole.
Then I woke up by degrees to find myself in an earthen pit shaped like a
bottle and having the remains of polished sides to it. It made me think
of Joseph who was let down by his brethren into a well in the desert.
Now, who on earth could have let me down into a well, especially as I
had no brethren? Perhaps I was not really in a well. Perhaps this was
a nightmare. Or I might be dead. I began to remember that there were
certain good reasons why I should be dead. Only, only--why should they
have buried me in woman's clothes as I seemed to wear?

And what was that noise that had wakened me?

It could not be the trump of doom, unless the trumping of doom went off
like a double-barrelled gun.

I began to try to climb out of my hole, but as it was nine feet deep and
bottle-shaped, which the light flowing in from the neck showed, I found
this impossible. Just as I was giving up the attempt, a yellow face
appeared in that neck, which looked to me like the face of Hans, and an
arm was projected downwards.

"Jump, if you are awake, baas," said a voice--surely it was the voice of
Hans--"and I will pull you out."

So I jumped, and caught the arm above the wrist. Then the owner of
the arm pulled desperately, and the end of it was that I succeeded in
gripping the edge of the bottle-like hole, and, with the help of the
arm, in dragging myself out.

"Now, baas," said Hans, for it _was_ Hans, "run, run before the Boers
catch you."

"What Boers?" I asked, sleepily; "and how can I run with these things
flapping about my legs?"

Then I looked about me, and, although the dawn was only just breaking,
began to recognise my surroundings. Surely this was the Prinsloos' house
to my right, and that, faintly seen through the mist about a hundred
paces away, was Marie's and my own. There seemed to be something going
on yonder which excited my awakening curiosity. I could see f