barefoot and in rags. His
trousers were so tattered that he might as well have been without, and
Mr. Greyling had provided him with another pair. With unkempt beard
and long hair he seemed to justify the jest about a "gorilla" war
with which some of our enemies amused themselves.

When the merriment occasioned by this description of the young warrior
had subsided, the conversation turned on more serious matters.

The Captain had with him a full report of the last conference held by
the generals, and a copy of the resolution passed by them and
President Steyn, a unanimous determination to stand together until
their independence had been secured. What the ultimate destination of
these documents was I am not at liberty to say, but copies of them
were despatched, smuggled through in one way or another to President
Kruger.

Captain Naude also brought greetings from General Botha and told Mrs.
van Warmelo how pleased the General had been with the news she had
sent him on a previous occasion.

In order to explain the nature of the business which had brought the
Captain into Pretoria again, it will be necessary to turn our
attention for a moment to the matters referred to in the previous
chapter in connection with which he had once more risked the dangers
of a visit to the capital.

"Yes," in answer to his inquiries, "the dynamite has arrived and is at
Delagoa Bay. A sample will be brought to this house to-day, with
instructions for mixing it."

This was glad news for the two men, and Hansie soon after took her
leave, promising to come back in the course of the morning with the
dynamite.

Her manner was rather mysterious, and she took some unnecessary turns,
to make sure of not being followed, before she reached the house
where the dangerous article had been hidden. There a brown-paper
parcel was handed to her with a brief, "Read the instructions and
destroy them," and she was left alone in a quiet drawing-room.

On opening the parcel she found a small bottle of yellowish powder,
ostensibly a remedy for colic, to be used in the way prescribed, and a
pot of paste purporting to be an excellent salve for chapped hands.
The two, when mixed together in a certain way, made up one pound of
dynamite and had passed safely through the hands of the inspector of
goods on the frontier.

As Hansie was cycling back to Mrs. Joubert's house with her precious
parcel, she had to pass the Military Governor's offices on Church
Square,