A BAND OF SCOUNDRELS
On sallying out Yorke was joined by Peter, as had been arranged. The
native kept a short distance behind him, carrying a large basket which
he had, at Yorke's orders, brought. Fortunately, they had no difficulty
about cash, as Hans, who had not drawn any money from the time of his
first enlistment, had obtained three months' pay before starting.
Walking up the main street, which was comparatively deserted, they saw
a group of people before one of the Government offices, and going up
Yorke read a telegram from Pretoria, stating that a British officer
had, during the night, effected his escape from prison, and that he
had been aided by one of the prison guards, who was also missing. All
were enjoined to keep a look-out for them, and to arrest them when
discovered. A description was given of their appearance.
"They will not get far," a Boer standing next to Yorke said; "the
Rooinek is young, and certainly will not be able to speak our language."
"There can be no doubt about that," Yorke agreed. "He must be a sharp
fellow, though, to have escaped, for, from what I heard from one who
had seen the prison, it would be next to impossible for anyone to
get away, as there were sentries night and day, and three lines of
barbed-wire fencing outside the palisade."
"He will be caught, sure enough," another said. "No doubt they will
shoot him. If I had had the management of things I would have shot them
all as soon as they were taken."
"I don't know about that," Yorke replied. "They have not taken many of
ours at present, but they may do, and if we shoot prisoners, they would
do the same."
"They will never take any prisoners," the man said scornfully; "none
of our men would ever surrender. Besides, as we always beat them, they
would have no chance of taking prisoners."
"That is so," Yorke agreed; "still, I don't know that I agree with you
that we should shoot prisoners. You see, the soldiers have to fight as
they are told, and they are not to be blamed because their government
makes them fight against us."
Yorke now edged out of the little crowd and joined Peter. He walked
about the town for some hours, and at one went back and had dinner.
He then went out again, and on leaving the hotel, saw Hans standing
a short distance away, but paid no attention to him, as it had been
agreed that they should not recognize each other as long as they were
in Johannesburg. Hans, however, rather to his surprise and annoyance,
followed him at a short distance down the street. After proceeding a
little further, Yorke turned off from the main street and walked some
distance towards the outskirts of the town. As Hans still followed,
Yorke stopped at a quiet spot where no one was in sight.
"What is it, Hans?" he asked when the other came up. "I thought we had
agreed that we were not to recognize each other so long as we stayed
here."
"I understood that, Master Yorke, but there is something I wanted to
tell you."
"Well, what is it, Hans?"
"You know there are a good many rough fellows here, chiefly Irishmen
and Germans, who have managed under some excuse or other to avoid
having to go to fight."
Yorke nodded.
"Well, as you told me, I went to a small drinking-shop. There were four
or five fellows of this sort there. They stopped talking when I went
in, and as soon as I sat down one of them came over to me and said in
Dutch, 'Do you understand English?' I thought it best to shake my head,
and he went back to the others and said in English, 'The fellow talks
nothing but Taal, so we needn't disturb ourselves about him.' 'All
right,' another said, 'he looks as stupid as most of these Dutchmen
do; I suppose he has come in from some country farm. Still, we may as
well make ourselves safe,' and he called to the landlord. 'We will go
to that room behind,' he said; 'we have got some business that we want
to talk over;' and getting up they left the room. The house was built
of wood, and I heard their entry into the room behind me almost as
plainly as if I had been there, and taking off my hat, and holding it
in readiness if I should hear the landlord returning, I placed my ear
against the partition, and listened intently. Relying alike upon my
ignorance of English, my being half-drunk, and their being in another
room, the men did not lower their voices, and I was able to catch
nearly all they said. I don't know why I troubled about it, it was no
business of mine; but they were a rough lot, and the fact that they
were so anxious that I should not hear them made me want to do so, and
I think it is lucky I did. What I heard was this:--
"'Well, Grunstein, go on with what you were saying.'
"'I was telling you about Chambers, the president of the Parfontein
mine. I learned from one of my countrymen who was working there, that
the last month before war began they pushed the mine for all it was
worth--took men off the levels they were driving, and put every hand
on to get the stuff down in the rich places, and kept all the stamps
working on their best stuff. One of the men who works in the place
where they run the gold into blocks told me that they must have got at
least a quarter of a million pounds' worth of gold. It was taken up as
usual every night to the president's house, but he declares that it
was never sent to the bank, and that he is sure the whole, or at any
rate by far the greater part of it, is there still. Chambers himself
has not left. I suppose he bribed Kruger to let him stop without being
interfered with. He has his wife and two daughters there, and three
servants, two of them Germans and one an Irishman. We have already got
at them, it was better to do so, although we could easily settle them.
Anyhow, my plan is to get a score of men we can rely upon, and attack
the house. It is near the mine, and far enough away from the town to
prevent any firing being heard.
"'Anyhow, we need not bother about that, as Muller has squared the
three men-servants. He has promised them an equal share in the plunder;
and it is a good thing that it was arranged so, because we shall be
able to carry out the affair, I hope, without a gun being fired. We are
to be there at nine o'clock, and they have arranged to seize Chambers
and tie him up; or, if he resists, to knock him on the head directly
they hear our whistle. Besides, there is no doubt the gold is stored in
some secret vault. We might have a difficulty in finding it, and even
if we do find it, we may have to use powder to blow it open.'
"'Why get twenty?' another asked, 'when we four and Muller would be
enough. The fewer the better.
"'No, Driscoll; we had better take a good force. I would rather take
forty than twenty. A quarter of a million weighs a tremendous lot, I
make it out roughly about two tons and a half. A man could not carry
off more than fifty pounds weight--that is, he could not hide more than
fifty pounds weight about him--so that it would take a hundred men to
carry off that lot.'
"'Well, then, we must get some carts. There is John Blake, he has a
cart, and picks up fares in the town, we could rely upon him; and Pat
Maloney, he lets his cart out. Between them they could bring in two
tons easily enough; and then we could get two others--all boys we could
trust. Then, if there were twenty of us, we could take fifty pounds
apiece, as you say.'
"'Yes,' the other said doubtfully, 'but there would be a big row over
it. It would be guessed that the job had been done to get at gold,
and Kruger's people would consider that they had been robbed of their
rights, and there would be a big search.'
"'They can only guess,' the Irishman replied; 'you may be sure we shall
leave no one in the house to blab about it.'
"They talked for some time and went through a lot of names, and then
agreed that they would only take a dozen altogether, as they were not
sure that they could trust any of the others they had named. And they
were of opinion that each of them could carry a hundredweight, and
perhaps even a hundredweight and a half. 'A man can carry a mighty lot
of gold,' one of them said, 'and it takes up such a little space that
it would not make much of a lump.' It was agreed that on leaving the
house they should separate, all going different ways, each choosing
such hiding-place as he liked for his gold. Then they would meet at
the houses of the two men who were to take the carts, and bury the gold
they had carried off in the yards.
"That is about what I have heard, Master Yorke. There were bits that I
did not hear, for sometimes they talked so low that I could not catch
the words. Then they called the wine-shop keeper to pay for what they
had had, and went out in a body. I didn't move for half an hour. I
thought that perhaps one of them might be watching me from outside the
window, and if I had woke up too soon, they might suspect that I had
not been really asleep, in which case I should not have gone far before
I got a knife between my shoulders. But luckily the landlord came in,
and after speaking to me twice, seized me by the collar and shook me.
'Now,' he said, 'you can't be sleeping here any longer. Wake up! You
have a shilling to pay for what you have drunk.'
"I pretended to fumble about for some time trying to find the money,
and then stumbled out of the room. Then I came along in hopes of
finding you or Peter to tell you about it."
"You have done quite right, Hans. We must join in the game. In the
first place, we must find out where the place is. It is seven o'clock
now, and there is no time to be lost. Peter, you had better go and get
your rifle at once; hide it under your clothes if you can, for it will
be daylight for another half hour, and it would never do for you to
walk through the streets with a rifle on your shoulder. Be as quick as
you can and come back here. I will find out where the place is from the
German at my hotel. You come back in half an hour, Hans; it will take
Peter that time to get his rifle and return."
Then he walked back to his hotel, while the Kaffir went off at a run.
"Where about is the Parfontein mine? I forgot I had to go there to see
how many cattle he will want next week."
"I thought that the mine was shut down," the German said.
"No, not altogether. At any rate, he wants some cattle. I forgot all
about it until now. But if it is not too far I will walk over."
"It is about three miles."
"Then I had better take my horse."
"It is Chambers's house that you want, I suppose?"
"Yes."
"Well, you cannot go very far wrong. Go out by the western road, and
walk straight on about two miles. You will see a shaft and some tips
half a mile away to the left. The house stands a quarter of a mile from
there. You can hardly mistake it; it is a large house with a big garden
round it. Chambers keeps it watered by a pipe from the engine that
pumps the mine."
Hans was, as arranged, waiting a short distance away; it had been
settled that he had better get a straw-hat instead of the one he was
wearing, and walk on alone for a bit.
"Go straight along the road to the west, Hans. I shall overtake you
before you reach the turning to the mine; and if I don't, wait where
the road turns off to the left, two miles and a half away. The mine
lies half a mile to the left. Of course, as you go along you will get
your rifle and bandolier. You had better load them before you start.
I don't think any of those fellows would know you again, for that hat
quite changes your appearance. But I think it would be as well for
you to go into the first store that is open, and buy a light-coloured
coat. You would be quite safe from detection then. But if you should
be attacked before I join you, you will, of course, shoot. Do you
understand?"
"Quite."
Yorke went up to his room, slung his rifle and bandolier over his
shoulder, and then went down and put the saddle on his horse. He
would rather have walked, but he knew that no Boer would have dreamt
of making a journey of three miles on foot, and to do so would have
strongly excited suspicion in the mind of the German, that he was not
what he said. He did not bring the horse out until Peter came up.
"Take the road to the west, Peter; you can't walk fast with that gun
down your leg. I shall join you as soon as you are out of the town--you
are not likely to meet anyone after that--and I will carry your rifle
as well as mine. It would be more natural for me to have two guns than
for you to have one--I might have left the second one in the town to be
repaired the last time I was here, and be now taking it home."
Yorke waited ten minutes, and then took the horse out and mounted.
It was now a quarter to eight, and there was no time to be lost. He
overtook Peter half a mile outside the town, and the Kaffir at once
handed him his rifle.
"Now, you must trot," he said, "or Hans will be there before us."
They went at a brisk trot, but did not overtake Hans on the road. They
found him, however, sitting at the point where the other road turned
off.
"Have you seen any of your friends, Hans?"
"No. At least, I did see two of them in the town, but they were talking
together and did not notice me."
"Now I shall go up to the door and knock. Directly it is opened, I
shall point my rifle at the man's head, and tell him he is a dead man
if he utters a word. Then you will run in and bind him. I have brought
the horses' picket ropes with me. You will take charge of him, Peter,
while I go in with Hans. I don't want to alarm the family till I have
got the other two fellows tied up. We will find out the way to the
kitchen. There is no fear of their making any resistance when they see
a couple of guns pointed at them. You will take charge of them, Hans,
while I go in and explain matters to Mr. Chambers."
It was quite dark when they arrived at the house. Yorke dismounted at
the gate, and told Peter to take the horse round to the other side of
the house and fasten it up at some quiet spot, and then to rejoin him.
On his return Hans and Peter took up their places one on each side of
the door, and Yorke went up the steps and knocked. It was some little
time before he was answered. He thought it likely that the men would be
consulting together as to whether they would let the visitor in or not.
At last the door opened.
"Mr. Chambers is not in," the man said. "Whatever your business, you
must come to-morrow."
"My business will not wait," Yorke said, and raised the gun which he
held in his hand.
The man started back.
"You are before your time," he said. "Nine o'clock is the hour."
"This is your hour and minute, for if you make the slightest sound I
will put a bullet through your brain. Neither speak nor move."
The man stood paralysed, altogether unable to understand the situation.
"Come in," Yorke said to his followers. "Tie this man up, and if he
opens his lips put a knife into him."
In a minute the fellow was laid on the ground, and securely tied hand
and foot.
"Don't take your eye off him, Peter. Put your knife into him if he
moves. Now then, Hans."
Yorke moved along the hall to a door standing open leading to the
kitchen. There was a passage with an open door at the other end.
"Who is the visitor, Mike?" a man's voice asked as he came along, Hans
treading lightly behind him. "Of course you sent him away?"
"Not exactly," Yorke replied, as he and Hans walked into the kitchen
with their rifles ready for action.
A girl gave a slight scream of alarm, while the men leapt to their
feet, and then stood immovable as the rifles were pointed at their
heads.
"You are my prisoners," Yorke said sternly to them, "and if either of
you moves, he is a dead man. Hans, take the fellow on the right; put
your rifle by my side."
"Turn round," he said to the man, "and put your hands behind you."
The fellow did as he was told, and after both were securely tied up,
Yorke said:
"Now, take your rifle again, Hans, and shoot either of them if they try
to unloose their ropes.
"Do not be afraid," he went on to the girl; "we are friends of your
master. Which room is he in?"
"The drawing-room, sir."
"Then show me into another room, and go in and tell him that an English
gentleman wishes to speak to him."
The girl obeyed the order tremblingly. She thought that Yorke would
treat her master as he had treated the two men, but she dared not
disobey. The room was in darkness, and Yorke handed her a matchbox,
saying:
"Go and light the lamp or candles, whichever you have. I shall stand
at the door while you deliver the message. Come out directly you have
given it. I do not wish to alarm the ladies."
The terrified girl struck three or four matches before she could obtain
a light. Then she went to a door opposite.
"An English gentleman wants to speak to you, sir."
"Show him into the dining-room."
Thinking it was one of the other Englishmen who had, like himself,
stayed at the mines, Mr. Chambers came out. He started with a sudden
exclamation as his eyes fell upon Peter, standing with a rifle in his
hand by the side of his servant.
"If you will step inside, Mr. Chambers, I will explain matters,"
Yorke said, stepping forward. "There is no occasion for the slightest
uneasiness, and I have taken the steps you see not to alarm the ladies
of your family."
Mr. Chambers was still further surprised at this address by a stranger,
who, in spite of his attire as a Dutch farmer, was evidently English.
"Who are you, sir?" he asked, "and what is the meaning of this
extraordinary conduct?"
"My name is Harberton. I am a lieutenant in the 9th Lancers, and was,
when I was captured by the Boers, acting as one of General Pole-Carew's
aides-de-camp. You have, no doubt, heard to-day of my escape last
night from one of the prisons at Pretoria. I think that is sufficient
introduction."
"Quite," Mr. Chambers said, holding out his hand and shaking that of
Yorke; "I congratulate you on your escape. And now, will you explain to
me why you have thus fallen upon my servant?"
He walked into the dining-room and shut the door.
"Before you answer my question, Mr. Harberton, I must ask if you are in
need of refreshments?"
"Not at all, sir. I will now give you an account of this business."
And he related how Hans had overheard the plot to capture the treasure
with the aid of Mr. Chambers's own servants, and how they were at that
moment already gathering round the house.
"Fools!" Mr. Chambers said. "They would have, no doubt, taken my life,
and murdered my wife and daughters, but the gold they would never have
got. I will explain that afterwards. You have indeed rendered me an
inestimable service, and I thank you with all my heart, in my own name
and in that of my family. So you have all these rascals of mine tied up
safely?"
[Illustration: "YOU ARE MY PRISONERS," YORKE SAID STERNLY.]
"I think so, sir; but it would be as well to see to them a little
more closely, for I shall want my two men when these fellows arrive. In
the first place, can they enter at any other point than at the front
door?"
"No, I have iron shutters to all the windows. They are not closed at
the present moment, for on such a hot evening one wants air. However,
that will be the first step. I will turn this light out, and then we
can shut the windows and close the shutters without being noticed
outside. I will then go round with you to the other rooms and shut them
up too, and bolt and bar the back door, which is lined with iron. In
the drawing-room, I will ask one of the girls to shut the windows and
draw down the blinds--even if the scoundrels are watching, that will
seem a natural act--I will then shut the shutters there, and tell the
ladies that there is a little trouble ahead, but that they need not
fear or be in the slightest way uneasy, as I have plenty of assistance,
and can easily dispose of some ruffians who have an idea of breaking
in; I had better request them to go upstairs until the matter is over."
In a quarter of an hour all the preparations were made. The three
servants had been more carefully bound, and were beyond any possibility
of loosing their ropes unless by very prolonged exertions. They had
just finished all the preparations when a whistle was heard outside.
"That was the signal for us to be seized," Mr. Chambers said grimly.
"I suppose they will give their accomplices five minutes to carry that
out. How had we better post ourselves, Mr. Harberton?"
"I should say two in each doorway. We shall all have our rifles ready,
and I would let them get well into the hall; then we can step out
when I say 'Now!' and let drive at them. Our three Mausers will give
us fifteen shots, and you have one with your rifle and five with your
revolver. As they will be taken wholly by surprise, it is hardly likely
that they will be able to fire a single shot, and we ought to be able
to account for almost all of them. I think we had better turn out the
lights in the drawing-room and lower the lamp in the hall, so that they
will have an indistinct view of me as I open the door."
This was done. Two minutes later there was a light tapping on the door
outside. Yorke stepped forward, and opened it a short distance.
"Is it you?" he asked.
"Of course it is. Is it all right?"
"Yes, everything is ready for you," and he quickly stepped back until
level with the others.
The door was thrown open, and a number of men poured in.
"Turn up the light!" one said, with an oath. "What have you turned it
down for? There, shut that door behind you; one of the women may have
got a revolver, and we don't want the sound heard. Now, where are--"
"Here," Yorke replied.
He turned up the light, the other three instantly stepped out, and
four rifles were fired almost simultaneously. Shrieks, oaths of
fury, and heavy falls were heard as Yorke and his companions emptied
the magazines of their rifles into the group, and the cracks of Mr.
Chambers's revolver joined in the din. Not a shot was fired in return.
When the last cartridge had been fired, most of the assailants lay
dead in the hall; the men who had last entered, panic-stricken at the
sudden outburst of fire, had tried to open the door they had just
closed, but the backward rush of the others prevented them from doing
so, and it was not until ten had fallen that the other two were able
to open the door and fly. Hastily recharging the magazines, Yorke and
his two followers ran out, but a moment later they heard the sounds of
galloping horses and cracking whips, and knew that pursuit would be
futile. However, as they had the names of the owners of the carts, this
mattered little, and they returned to the house. Mr. Chambers had at
once gone upstairs to assure the ladies that the affair was over, and
that none of those in the house had been hurt.
Examining the bodies, they found that most of them had two
bullet-wounds and some three, the Mauser bullets having at that short
range passed through two or even more bodies. Several were hit in the
head, but most of them in the chest.
"That is just as well," Yorke said, when he had ascertained that none
of them were breathing. "It will save all further trouble."
At this moment there was a sound of steps outside, and a loud,
continuous knocking at the door. Mr. Chambers threw open the window
upstairs.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"We have just run down from the mine, sir; we heard the sound of firing
here."
"Thank you, lads; it is all over now, but you may be of use," and he
ran down and opened the door.
Six men were there all armed with guns.
"You see there has been a hard fight here, lads," he said, as an
exclamation of surprise broke from the men at the scene in the hall.
"Fortunately I had been warned just in time, and with the aid of this
gentleman and his friends have, as you see, killed ten of them; only
two got away. Now, I do not want any talk about it. Lend a hand, will
you, to get the bodies outside; then I want a hole dug deep enough to
hold them. Put it a hundred yards away from the house. It will be a
heavy job, but I will put that right with you on Saturday."
"Shall we get the other five men up from below, sir?"
"No; I don't want the matter talked about, and the fewer that know of
it the less chance there is of its getting about. I trust that you will
all keep a silent tongue about the affair."
"You can trust us for that, sir. None of you are hurt, I hope?"
"Not in the slightest. There was not a shot fired on their side, we
took them completely by surprise."
"I should say, sir, the best place to bury them would be to make a hole
in the foot of one of the pit-heaps, then we can shovel the loose stuff
down from above. It would be a much shorter job than digging a hole,
and there is no chance of their ever being disturbed there."
"A very good plan, Simmonds. It will be an unpleasant job, anyhow. Wait
a minute."
On going to the dining-room he returned with two bottles of whisky.
Hans and Peter assisted in carrying the bodies outside, and then
offered to bring pails of water and remove the blood-stains in the
hall, and after that to assist in carrying the bodies away.
By this time the servant had come down and relighted the lamps in the
drawing-room, and Yorke and Mr. Chambers went in there.
"I wonder, sir," Yorke said, "that you were not afraid to keep so large
a sum in your house."
"I do not generally do so. As the gold is melted down, it is brought
here for safety, and once a week it is sent to the bank, so that the
amount seldom exceeds two thousand ounces. But this time it has been
altogether different. When I saw that Kruger was bent upon war, I put
all hands on to get the richest stuff in our reserves. The consequence
was that the weekly output was five times as large as usual. I sent the
ordinary amount to the bank, keeping the other by me, and intended to
send it all down at once by rail in boxes with false marks on them, or
if I could not do that, to keep it here till the war was over. Kruger's
sudden ultimatum took me, as well as everyone else, by surprise. I was
certain then that I could not get it down, and that if I sent it to the
bank, Kruger and his people would lay hands upon it, as, in fact, they
did with what I had sent in.
"It was only a few of the officials in the smelting-room who had any
idea of the output, and even these could hardly have told what amount
I sent into the bank. It is clear, however, that one of them must have
carelessly mentioned it, and that these fellows who made this attack
must have discovered, perhaps from my servants who used to help to load
the van, or from one of the guards who had accompanied it to unload it
at the bank, that as the amount sent in was about the same as usual,
there must remain a very large sum indeed hidden. I had really very
little fear of the house being broken into, but in order to prevent any
suspicion of there being money here, I discharged the men who always
kept watch round the house at night at the same time that I paid off
all the other hands, except the engineers who kept the pumping-engine
at work to keep down the water in the mines. Then I relied upon the
fact that burglars getting into the house would have difficulty in
finding the safe, and still more difficulty in opening it.
"I had no doubt as to the honesty of my servants, who alone knew its
position; but they did not know the manner in which it was protected.
It is situated under my study, which is at the back of this room. The
safe is an extremely strong one, of alternate sheets of steel and iron,
and was made specially for me. It opens at the top, and you get at it
by taking up the carpet in the study and lifting a trap-door. The vault
in which the safe stands is two feet each way wider than the safe,
and as this stands in the centre, there is a foot of vacant space on
each side of it. Round the upper part of the safe there is a sliding
apparatus by which a stout steel case, like a bottomless box, can be
drawn up to the level of the trap-door. This, however, is only done
when the safe is to be opened.
"In the next place, I have a communication from what I may call the
strong-room both with the pipe which brings water for the garden and
with a large cistern upstairs. Thus, the strong-room is kept filled
with water, and the safe is therefore surrounded above as well as on
its four sides with water. When I want to open the safe, I go into the
study by myself, lift the heavy trap-door, which is cased with an inch
of steel, but is easily moved by means of a counter-poise, and then,
with the aid of a lever in a secret closet, push up this box until it
is level with the floor. I may say that the safe is three inches wider
each way than the trap-door. The door of the safe itself being one inch
narrower each way than the trap-door, opens through it.
"Having got this box, which is perfectly water-tight, into its place,
I work another handle in a secret cupboard and pump out the water in
the frame above the safe, and then open the door of the safe, and it
is now ready for the men to come in and store the gold away. When they
have left I close the door of the safe, lower the frame to its place,
and the safe is at once covered with a foot of water. Thus, you see,
burglars would have a succession of difficulties. They would, in the
first place, be obliged to cut through the steel of the trap-door, then
they would find, to their surprise, water immediately underneath them,
and until this was removed it would be impossible for them to blow in
the door of the safe. They would naturally try to bucket it out, but as
it would come in again as fast as they did so, they would gain nothing
by it. They might try to blow in the safe with waterproof cartridges,
but I doubt whether they would succeed.
"The lid is of immense strength. If they did succeed in bursting it
there is another equally strong a foot lower, and this also would have
to be destroyed. Even then the holes made would not be sufficient to
let them through, and the only way they could possibly get the gold
out would be to try and fish out the boxes with a hook at the end of a
pole--again an almost impossible task, as the boxes are square, very
heavy, and packed tightly together, so that there would be nothing to
get hold of. I may say that I got the idea from reading, in the time
of the Commune of Paris, how the bank was able to protect the specie
in its vaults by filling them with water from the mains. I worked out
the details myself, and I think I improved on the original, though that
was good enough--for it baffled all the efforts of the mechanics and
engineers of the Commune to get at the money."
"That is a splendid plan certainly, sir," Yorke said.
"Yes, but though it would have saved the gold, it would not have saved
our lives; and had I thought that the amount there is in the safe was
known to anyone now in Johannesburg, I think I should have shut up the
house and moved to the one I have in the town, contenting myself with
keeping a couple of watchmen in this house, and seeing that all was
right every day when I came to see that the men at the pumping-engine
were doing their duty. That is what I shall most likely do now. Not
that I think there is any probability of a renewal of the attempt; the
lesson has been altogether too severe."
"What do you mean to do, sir, with your three rascals?"
"I shall go to-morrow to the head of the police and tell him that they
had tried to rob the house, and ask him to send down half a dozen men
to take them by the next train to Komati Poort. I could do nothing with
them here, for your man Hans is the only witness against them, and he
could not, of course, appear. Fortunately they do not know that, and
I shall tell them that if I were to hand them over to the police and
charge them with this crime they would certainly be hanged. However, I
am willing to allow for the temptation they had, and shall only charge
them with dishonesty, and have them then sent out of the Transvaal. As
no doubt at present they expect nothing short of hanging, they will be
glad enough to be let off so lightly."
"They certainly ought to be," Yorke said warmly, "for they are a great
deal worse than the others. Whatever discharged men and the ruffians of
the town might have done, your servants, who I have no doubt were well
treated by you, ought to have been faithful."
"I quite agree with you, Mr. Harberton; but you see that it is of the
greatest importance to me not to have the matter talked about. If there
were an enquiry, it would of course come out that there is a large
sum of money in the house, and you may be quite sure that Kruger would
commandeer it. As it is, a bribe of a couple of hundred-pounds to the
head of the police will ensure these fellows being sent out of the
country without an opportunity being given them of saying a word to
anyone. And you may be sure that I shall impress upon them that if they
ever set foot in the Transvaal again I will have them arrested at once
on this charge. In that way I have every hope that the affair will be
kept altogether dark. You don't know, of course, whether the two men
who brought the carts were included in the twelve?"
"I do not, sir, but I should think it very likely; they did not want to
have to divide the spoil into more portions than necessary. I should
think it most probable that they left their carts outside and came in
with the others. Whether they were among those who were killed or not,
of course I cannot say."
"Yes, I should think they would be sure to come in with the others,"
Mr. Chambers said; "and in that case there are only two men who know
anything about this matter, and you may be sure that they will keep
their mouths closed. Well, we have talked more than enough of my
affairs. Now about yourself. If you and your two followers like to stay
here, I think you might certainly do so with safety. I need not say how
heartily welcome you would be."
"Thank you, sir. But though I will gladly stay till morning, I must
then be off. I am anxious to get back as quickly as possible to rejoin
Lord Methuen's force. I have now been nearly a month away. Then, too, I
must put in an appearance at the hotel where I have been staying, for
I was obliged to enquire the way to your house. The landlord will be
expecting me back to-night, and I shall have to make some excuse for my
absence. And if I do not appear in the morning, he might suspect that
something was wrong, and give information, with a description of my
appearance, to the authorities."
"That I could arrange," Mr. Chambers said. "I could look in there
myself in the morning, and say that as it was so late and the night
dark I had asked you to stay at my house till morning, and that you
had gone off without returning to the town. Ah, there are my wife and
daughters!"