A CONSIGNMENT OF EXPLOSIVES
The following story was related to Hansie by her mother soon after her
return from the Irene Camp, and must be repeated here for its
connection with subsequent events.
One afternoon in June Mrs. van Warmelo had been visited by a young
friend, Miss F., with a man whom she introduced as her brother, an
unexpected arrival from Europe.
"Indeed!" Mrs. van Warmelo exclaimed. "What a delightful surprise it
must have been to you!"
"Yes, but he is leaving again very, very soon. In fact"--here Miss
F.'s manner became mysterious--"he is here on a mission and we shall
see very little of him."
Mrs. van Warmelo expressed her regret at this, and the conversation
naturally turned to the general topic, the war.
Leading questions were put to Mrs. van Warmelo, and she felt that her
assistance was required for some purpose or other; but being too
discreet to invite her visitors' confidence, she waited.
After beating about the bush a good deal, Miss F. remarked:
"You know the Zoutpansberg District very well, do you not?"
"Yes," Mrs. van Warmelo answered; "we lived there formerly."
"Then you will perhaps know trustworthy people in Pietersburg, people
on whom one can thoroughly rely in these days."
Mrs. van Warmelo answered hesitatingly:
"Yes--there is one, at least, on whom I can depend."
"Would there be much risk and difficulty in communicating with General
Botha through such a person?" Miss F. inquired.
"General Botha!" Mrs. van Warmelo exclaimed. "But he is not in the
north. He is on the High Veld, somewhere south-east of Transvaal, and
much easier to communicate with than if he had been in Zoutpansberg."
"How could one get a message through to him?" Miss F. asked, and her
hostess decided to beat about the bush no longer.
"Do you not think it would be better to trust me and tell me what you
wish to do? I would be better able to answer and help you."
Miss F. then turned to her brother and said:
"Mrs. van Warmelo is quite right. Tell her everything." Upon which the
young man explained that he had been sent out on a secret mission
connected with a consignment of dynamite which lay buried on the
eastern frontier. News had been received in Europe that there was a
dearth of explosives and, consequently, a temporary cessation of
adventures on the railway lines, and it was for the purpose of
communicating the fact that this consignment had arrived that he had
travelled to Pretoria via the East Coast and over Durban. How to get
into touch with some reliable person in Pretoria who was in direct
communication with the Boer forces had been his greatest problem, and
he was grateful indeed for Mrs. van Warmelo's guarded promise of
assistance.
"I cannot tell you anything now," she said, "but if you will leave the
matter in my hands I promise that you will hear from me to-morrow
morning."
Mr. F. then told her that he had brought with him a small quantity of
the dynamite, made up into two separate parcels, non-explosive apart,
but dangerous when mixed together in a certain way. He had been
deputed to instruct the Boers how to mix these ingredients.
He had with him, too, a large prospecting hammer, the long handle of
which was bound with leather and closely studded with nails. But the
handle was _hollow_ and contained a number of detonators, to be sent
out to the Boers for blowing up trains and for damaging the railway
lines and bridges. One other article of interest he had brought with
him, a huge Parisian hat for his sister, and he told Mrs. van Warmelo
how the polite inspector of goods on the frontier had held the lovely
headpiece up, admiring the pink roses nestling in black lace and
chiffon, and little dreaming that he was handling many yards of
dynamite fuse.
"A lovely hat!" he exclaimed when he put it back into the box, without
having noticed the _weight_, which alone would have betrayed it to any
one familiar with ladies' headgear.
Early next morning Mrs. van Warmelo sallied forth to the house of her
confederate, Mr. Willem Botha, at the other end of the town. He
listened to her story attentively and said, "There are spies in town
at this very moment, and they are leaving for the General's commando
to-night."
This was good news indeed, and Mrs. van Warmelo immediately made an
appointment with Mr. Botha to meet Mr. F. at Harmony that afternoon.
On her way home she called at Miss F.'s house, informing her of the
appointment.
That afternoon at Harmony a map was closely studied by the two men and
the exact spot pointed out where the dynamite lay buried, while Mrs.
van Warmelo packed the detonators one by one in cotton wool in a small
box, which was conveyed to Mr. Hattingh's house, where the spies were
being harboured. In the meantime the entire crown and brim of the
lovely Parisian hat had been unpicked, and that night the dynamite
fuse, wound closely round the body of a spy, went out to the
commandos, with the small box of detonators.
Soon after this Mr. F. returned to Europe as he had come, via Natal
and Delagoa Bay, well satisfied that his mission should have been
accomplished with so much ease.
What became of the sample of dynamite my reader will see in the next
chapter.