THANKSGIVING AND HUMILIATION
The documents sent out to General Botha, and referred to in Chapter
XV, were connected with the report of the Consuls, but the very first
thing sent to the commandos by Mrs. van Warmelo was a copy of the
first petition, tightly packed in a walnut, one of a handful which she
gave the spy, with instructions not to eat any of them on the road.
He also took a verbal message to the effect that though the condition
of the Camps was bad, everything was being done in town to bring about
the necessary improvements. Influential people were at work to make
everything public in Europe, and the men in the field were urged to be
brave and steadfast and of good cheer.
On July 29th Harmony was visited again by Mr. Willem Botha, bringing
with him information of a disquieting nature.
In some mysterious way he had received a piece of paper from Mr.
Gordon Fraser, brother-in-law to President Steyn, and prisoner of war
in the Rest Camp in Pretoria, on which, in a disguised hand, was
written a message imploring the Secret Service men to warn President
Steyn and General de Wet that a certain man amongst them, a prominent
official, was a traitor in their midst, paid by the enemy to betray
their plans before they could be carried out.
This information made the conspirators very anxious, for it being full
moon, there was no prospect of spies coming into town, and in the
meantime incalculable mischief could be done. Neither was it possible
to send any one out who had not been before and was ignorant of the
route. The matter had therefore to be left until the next suitable
opportunity came and Mr. Botha went home with a heavy heart.
Unlike his usual prudent self, Mr. Botha did not immediately destroy
the slip of paper on which the warning was written, but folded it
carefully and placed it between the tattered leaves of an old
hymn-book.
How he paid for this small indiscretion, the only one of which he was
guilty, with days of anxiety and despair, and very nearly with his
life, we shall see as our story develops!
* * * * *
In the early days of August the troops encamped around Harmony could,
if they had used their sixth sense, have divined an air of suppressed
excitement about the place.
Expectation of some sort evidently charged the atmosphere. Visitors
were, in fact, expected, for Captain Naudé and his secretary had
arranged to come in for the report of the Consul, just before the new
moon made its appearance, and now a faint crescent of silver in the
heavens warned our heroines that their time was at hand.
Harmony had been chosen as a place of refuge, as the safest spot in
all Pretoria, with so many troops around it!
For several nights in succession a fire was kept going in the kitchen
until a late hour, and a plentiful supply of hot water kept in
readiness for the warm baths which the visitors would so sorely need
after their difficult and perilous journey.
Still they did not come, but on the morning of August 4th Mr. Botha
paid an early visit, bringing with him the news that on the previous
night five spies had reached the town in safety.
He did not tell where they were being harboured, it being one of the
laws of the Secret Committee that names were not to be used
needlessly, and that the people working for the Committee were not
even to know about one another.
So rigorously was this law enforced that from beginning to end the van
Warmelos had dealings with Mr. Botha only, and did not see the four
other members of the Committee, nor even hear their names until----
The five spies had not come in as easily as usual. They had
persistently been followed by the searchlights as they neared the
town, but they were able to get through the barbed-wire enclosure in
safety and had then separated and gone to their various homes,
unobserved as they thought.
But one of them, a young man whom we shall call Harry, who was
destined to play such a terrible part in the history of the Boer
Secret Service, was followed home by three detectives, two of whom
stationed themselves at the front door and the third at the back.
Fortunately when Harry became aware of his danger, he rushed out at
the back.
The detective, whose name was Moodie, shouted, "Hands up, or I fire,"
but the young man drew his revolver with lightning-like rapidity and,
firing twice, escaped from town under cover of the darkness.
The reported death of the detective caused a great sensation in the
town next day, and it was not until many months after that we learned
of the fate of the unfortunate man, not death, but mutilation worse
than death--a ghastly wound below the heart and an amputated leg.
This event caused the British to enforce a stricter vigilance, and
many houses were searched for the other spies, but without success.
The excitement in town did not abate for some time, and wherever
Hansie went she was told what had taken place by people who would have
been surprised indeed to hear that she was in possession of all the
details, and even of documents brought in from General Kemp by those
very spies.
The instructions were to see that the information contained in those
documents reached the Consuls without their knowing how and when they
had been brought into town, and for this purpose several copies had
been typed and were slipped under the doors of the different
Consulates while the inmates were asleep.
Any day between August 5th and 10th Captain Naudé said he would come,
and each evening found Harmony prepared to receive him, but on the 9th
Mr. Botha brought a note from the gallant Captain saying that he would
be unable to partake of Mrs. van Warmelo's hospitality that month. A
woman, whose name was unknown, had conveyed this letter to the Secret
Committee. It contained no particular news except that August 8th had
been celebrated as a day of thanksgiving for our victories, and the
9th, the very day on which the intimation was received in town, would
be a day of humiliation for our many sins.
When this became known to the "inner circle," private prayer-meetings
were immediately held in different houses in the town, while the men
in the field held their day of humiliation under the open sky. In this
way we worked together and supported one another spiritually, morally,
and practically, in spite of searchlights and barbed-wire fences.
This was the first news received of the Captain's safe return to the
commandos after that eventful visit in July, and his friends were
thankful to receive it. Another source of thankfulness was the fact
that he was not coming in that month, for the enemy was on the _qui
vive_ for more spies, and consequently the dangers were multiplying
for the Boers. The reckless coming in and going out of irresponsible
men became a source of real danger to the people who harboured them,
and on August 12th Mr. Botha came again to warn Mrs. van Warmelo
against having dealings with any spies except those sent by the Secret
Committee.
"You will only find yourselves in jail or over the border," he said,
"which would not be so bad if that were all, but it would ruin our
chances of assisting the Generals."
He then reported that a young spy had come in on Saturday night and
that he had been taken to Mrs. General Joubert's house the next
morning while she was in church. The good lady was anything but
pleased, on her return home, to find him there, for she had a houseful
of people, and she was obliged to stow him into a tiny room, where he
sat as still as a mouse, until he went back to commando. Not very
cheerful for him, but a good lesson for the future!
* * * * *
Five or six men who tried to escape from town were captured near the
Magaliesbergen and placed in the Rest Camp, so Dame Rumour said at the
time, but the truth of the story, briefly related, ran thus:
I have mentioned the nest of the spies in the Skurvebergen not far
from Pretoria in the western direction.
This "nest" had been surprised and taken possession of by the English
while five of the spies were in Pretoria, and they, cut off from their
own people as they were, were unable to escape.
One or two attempts were made, but the men were fired on and they had
to abandon the idea for the present.
The curious part of this story is that these men (one can hardly call
them spies) were Pretoria men who had escaped to the Skurvebergen for
the first time only three weeks previously, and had gone backwards and
forwards several times with small necessaries. One of the five, a man
whose name I cannot mention here, for the sake of what is to follow,
had been so often, and was so much at home both in Pretoria and the
Skurvebergen, that his dearest friends did not know to which part of
the country he really belonged!
Well, he was in a nice predicament now!
The house in which he was being harboured, with one of his friends,
was unfortunately suspect. He could not remain there, neither could he
escape from town.
Some one came to Harmony in great distress. What was to be done with
those two men? To what place of refuge could they be moved that night?
The visitor looked imploringly at Mrs. van Warmelo as if he expected
her to offer Harmony, but she, mindful of Mr. Botha's warning, did
nothing of the kind.
"Death is staring them in the face," the visitor continued. "I don't
know what to do!"
Hansie, who knew the visitor well and trusted him implicitly, then
pleaded with her mother--to no avail, Mrs. van Warmelo remaining
firmly obdurate, and saying distinctly, for the edification of her
visitor, "I have never harboured a spy, and I hope I never shall."
When the good man had departed, in sore disappointment, Hansie
grumbled a good deal and said it was all very fine to assist these
Secret Service men when there was no danger in doing so, but her
mother took no notice of her for the rest of the day, and subsequent
events proved that she had acted wisely in refusing to harbour men
unknown to her.
What became of them at the time she did not know, and a few weeks
elapsed before the crushing sequel to this escapade became known.