“Well, let us go at once,” said Jess.
“Missie, you had better not go,” answered
the Hottentot. “You will get wet, and the
Boers will catch you. Better let me go. I
can creep about like a snake, and if the Boers catch
me it won’t matter.”
“You must come too, but I am going. I must
find out.”
Then the Hottentot shrugged his shoulders and yielded,
and, having extinguished the candle, silently as ghosts
they crept out into the night.
HE SHALL DIE
The night was still and very dark. A soft cold
rain, such as often falls in the Wakkerstroom and
New Scotland districts of the Transvaal, and which
more resembles a true north country mist than anything
else, was drizzling gently but persistently.
This condition of affairs was as favourable as possible
to their enterprise, and under cover of it the Hottentot
and the white girl crept far down the hill to within
twelve or fourteen paces of the back of the waggon-house.
Then Jantje, who was leading, suddenly put back his
hand and checked her, and at that moment Jess caught
the sound of a sentry’s footsteps as he tramped
leisurely up and down. For a couple of minutes
or so they stopped thus, not knowing what to do, when
suddenly a man came round the corner of the building
holding a lantern in his hand. On seeing the lantern
Jess’s first impulse was to fly, but Jantje
by a motion made her understand that she was to stop
still. The man with the lantern advanced towards
the other man, holding the light above his head, and
looking dim and gigantic in the mist and rain.
Presently he turned his face, and Jess saw that it
was Frank Muller himself. He stood thus for a
moment waiting till the sentry was near to him.
“You can go to your supper,” he said.
“Come back in half an hour. I will be responsible
for the prisoners till then.”
The man growled out an answer something about the
rain, and then departed round the end of the building,
followed by Muller.
“Now then, come on,” whispered Jantje;
“there is a hole in the store-room wall, and
you may be able to speak to Missie Bessie.”
Jess did not require a second invitation, but slipped
up to the wall in five seconds. Passing her hand
over the stone-work she found the air-hole, which
she remembered well, for they used to play bo-peep
there as children, and was about to whisper through
it, when suddenly the door at the other end opened,
and Frank Muller entered, bearing the lantern in his
hand. For a moment he stood on the threshold,
opening the slide of the lantern in order to increase
the light. His hat was off, and he wore a cape
of dark cloth thrown over his shoulders, which seemed
to add to his great breadth. Indeed the thought
flashed through the mind of Jess as she looked at
him through the hole, and saw the light strike upon
his face and form, glinting down his golden beard,
