Events moved quickly in those days.
The conspirators had hardly had time to recover from the shock of the recent
arrests, they were just beginning to wonder what would happen if their
unsuspecting friends from commando walked into the pitfalls prepared for
them, racking their brains for plans to avert such a catastrophe, when the
very thing they feared took place.
Instead of the familiar figure of Willie Botha coming up the garden path
with news, Mrs. Malan drove up with Jannie Joubert's fiancée, Miss Malan.
Their appearance at Harmony brought all that had happened most forcibly to
the minds of the stricken inmates, filling them with the sense of acute
loss; and when they heard what their visitors had to tell, four women more
forlorn would have been hard to find.
In
short sentences Mrs. Malan told how four young men, all ignorant of the fate
of their fellows in town, had tried to come in from the High Veld, bearing
with them dispatches from Captain Naudé to the President and to the
Committee of spies in town.
These men had gone to and fro for months without a single encounter with
outpost or guard, but on this occasion, when they reached the wire
enclosure, they were unexpectedly met by a storm of bullets.
One of them, as he stooped to get through the fence, felt the hot air of a
bullet passing under his nose.
He
hastily gave the order to retreat over the "koppies" and across the railway
line, thus entering Pretoria on the opposite side.
When they met again, before entering the town, one of them was missing!
Young Els had disappeared, and no one knew whether he had been shot or
taken, or whether he had fallen into some hole and perhaps been so severely
injured that he could not follow them. His comrades were in deep distress.
To go back and search for him was impossible, so they entered the town at
the utmost peril of their lives. Torn and bleeding, they slunk through the
streets of Pretoria, avoiding the light of the electric lamps, and
concealing themselves behind trees at the sight of every man in khaki, until
they reached Mrs. Malan's house.
Their guardian angels must have kept them from going to Mrs. Joubert's
house, as usual, that night.
Imagine their surprise and horror when they heard of the betrayal of the
Committee, for the warning sent out to Skurveberg did not reach them, they
having come from the High Veld.
The news of Jannie's arrest and of Mrs. Joubert's house having been
searched, and now being so closely watched that they could not possibly take
shelter there, came as a crushing blow.
True to her word, Mrs. Malan determined to shelter them that night, but the
house being too dangerous a hiding-place, they were stowed away in Mr. David
Malan's waggon-house, closely packed in one small waggon, and there they
still lay when the van Warmelos heard of their arrival.
From the bosom of her dress Miss Malan produced the dispatches and a number
of private letters.
The dispatch to the President Hansie offered to send by the first
opportunity, without telling her friends that it would go by the very next
mail per White Envelope. This was a secret she naturally could not divulge
to her most trusted fellow-workers, although she could guarantee that the
work would be carried out, and they had enough confidence in her to leave
the matter in her hands.
The letter from the Captain to the Committee was left at Harmony to be read
and destroyed. Needless to say, Hansie, with her mania for collecting
war-curios, made a full copy of both letter and dispatch in lemon-juice
before regretfully consigning them to the flames. It was hard to destroy
original documents for which such risks had been run!
What was most disconcerting was to hear that the authorities, evidently
aware that the men had come through in spite of having been fired upon, were
searching for them in town. It was imperative that they should leave that
day, or at least as soon as night fell, for the risk they ran was very
great.
Hansie promised to think of some way of helping them to escape safely, and
said she would see them in the afternoon.
The feeling of responsibility on her young shoulders was very great. There
was no one to turn to, no man to whom this dangerous mission could be
entrusted, except one, her young friend, F.
She thought of him and wondered whether she could confide to him a scheme
which had been slowly forming in her mind.
That afternoon she was on the point of leaving for Mrs. Malan's house, with
a packet of letters and newspapers, when two lady callers arrived at Harmony
brimming with the news that the town was in a great state of excitement.
Armed soldiers were patrolling the streets, men were stopped to show their
residential passes, and every cab and carriage was held up for inspection.
The general opinion was that there were spies in town, for the lower part of
the town and west of Market Street were cut off by a patrol, while a
systematic search of the private houses was being carried on.
Hansie chafed at the delay, listening with impatience to their excited talk,
and wondering what they would say if they knew that she was on the point of
going to those spies with the parcel in her hands.
By
a happy coincidence, when the callers had taken their departure, another
visitor arrived—F., the very man she wished to see.
But he, too, was full of the excitement in town and did not notice the
unusual anxiety in Hansie's manner.
"General Botha has come in 'to negotiate,'" he said. "The town is alive with
soldiers, but there must be something else brewing at the same time, for
every house is being searched, and a cordon has been drawn round some parts
of the town. It is impossible for any one to get through from one place to
another beyond Market Street."
Hansie's heart sank for a moment.
Then she said: "I have to go to town at once, F.; will you come with me? I
have a great deal to tell you and we can talk as we go along. You remember
you once said that I must come to you if ever I got into any trouble. Well,
I am in serious trouble now—not for myself—but, tell me, have you your
residential pass with you?"
He
produced it.
She continued: "Then we are safe for the present. Let us sit in the Park
while I tell you in what way I want you to help me."
They found a secluded spot under one of the trees in Burgher's Park, and
there Hansie took him into her confidence, unfolding her plan to him.
"If, as you say, F., a cordon is being drawn around the houses that have
already been searched, those three men may be cut off at any moment. They
cannot wait where they are at present, no more can they show themselves on
the streets without residential passes. If you can help me to borrow three
passes for them, I myself will walk with them as far as the wire enclosure
and bring the passes back to you."
F.
whistled, called her "plucky," but thought the whole thing far too risky.
"You would all be taken near the wire fence," he said, "and what about the
men who would be without their passes while you had them?"
"They must not show themselves," she said.
"And if they are found in their homes?"
"Oh!" she cried impatiently, "they must be willing to risk something too."
"Have you thought of any one?" he asked.
"Yes, I have thought of D. and G., if you will bring them to me. Fetch them,
F. I'll go and tell the men to wait for the passes. You will find me at your
gate."
"But then you would have only two passes, Hansie."
She looked earnestly into his eyes, and he turned away without a word.
He
went off in one direction and Hansie in another, and when she reached Mrs.
Malan's house she was told that the three men had decided to risk the
dangers of the street and to leave immediately. In this they were impelled,
not so much by the consideration of their own safety, as the thought of the
perils to which they exposed the Malans by remaining in their house. When
Hansie told them she was procuring residential passes for them, they held a
short consultation and eventually decided to wait another half-hour. With
passes in their pockets they would be comparatively safe.
Promising to come back immediately, Hansie rushed to F.'s rooms, where she
met him coming through the gate with D. and G.
"F.," she whispered, "be quick. They are on the point of leaving."
He
drew her aside and said: "I am very sorry, Hansie. The fellows refuse to
lend you their passes."
"Refuse!" she echoed in miserable incredulity. "Refuse! oh Heaven, and this
means life or death to those men! They cannot appear on the streets to-night
without passes."
"It is a great thing to ask, Hansie. You cannot blame them."
"F., I must once again remind you of your promise. Help me now. I am not
pleading for myself."
He
drew his residential pass from his pocket and placed it in her hand,
motioning her to go. She gave him a quick look of gratitude, but returned
the pass with the words, "No good to me unless I have three. Think of
something else."
He
called to the two other young fellows who were standing moodily apart and
ordered them to think.
They thought. Perhaps they would have been standing there thinking still, if
F. had not suddenly burst out with:
"Look here, you fellows, it is not safe to stand out here like this, and we
are losing time. Let us go into my room and talk this thing over."
They walked rapidly towards the house, where a number of bachelors lived
together, and reached the room unobserved.
F.
drew the blinds, locked the door, and placed Hansie in an easy chair, while
he and D. rummaged in a writing-table for some papers. G. sat on the bed
with his long legs stretched out in front of him.
The two young men were whispering together, bending eagerly over some papers
they had found.
"This one will do," Hansie heard F. say, "but it will take some time."
"Don't you think I ought to go and tell the men to wait?" she asked.
"No, better not be seen walking in and out here. We will make haste!"
Ah, why did Hansie not obey the warning voice within, and go?
For the next ten minutes nothing was said. The men cut and glued and typed
without a word, and the result, when it was placed in Hansie's hands, was a
document exceedingly well-planned and put together.
This was what she read:
Military Governor's Office,
Pretoria.
Special Pass
for J.W. Venter, G. Vermaak, and L. Erasmus to be out until midnight, on
Secret Service.
Signed by MAJOR J. WESTON,
Assistant Military Governor.
What puzzled her at first sight was the small official crown above,
undoubtedly authentic, and the unmistakable signature of the Major below;
but on closer inspection, she observed that the part containing the original
letter had been cut away from the centre, the top part with the heading and
the bottom part with the signature being pasted down on the blank page
underneath.
On
the middle part of the blank sheet the "Special Pass" was typed, and the
whole when completed, with the date plainly typed underneath, looked like a
single sheet of paper folded in three.
Hansie shook hands with them all, and asking G. to go to Harmony to reassure
her mother, she sped on her way to Mrs. Malan's house.
F.
called out after her, "If you come back this way, Hansie, I'll wait for you
and see you home."
"All right, thank you," the answer came.
It
was now past 6 o'clock and nearly dark. Every one else was at supper, and
Hansie flew through the deserted streets with apprehension at her heart.
She was met at the gate by Mrs. Malan, wringing her hands and crying out:
"Oh, where have you been so long? Why did you not come sooner? They've
gone!"
Then Hansie felt inclined to lie down and die.
Fortunately there was no time for that.
There was still something to be done, and, with the precious paper clasped
to her heart, she could at least pursue the men. Perhaps she could overtake
them before evil should befall them.
"What direction did they take, and how many of them are there?" she asked.
"Four," Mrs. Malan answered. "One has a residential pass. If they are held
up, the other three will escape while he pretends to be searching for it. Go
over the Sunnyside bridge and call 'Jasper' when you see four men——"
Without waiting to hear more, Hansie turned and ran, stopping only a moment
at F.'s gate to call out his name. She did not wait to see whether he had
heard, but ran again, and he, sauntering towards the gate a moment later on
the look-out for her, saw her flying form just disappearing in the darkness.
"Something has evidently gone wrong," he muttered, and he, too, in his turn
began to run, pursuing the figure of the girl as she sped after the Secret
Service men.
She did not stop when he caught up with her, pulling her arm through his,
but ran on, telling him in brief sentences what had happened.
Every few yards she called, "Jasper! Jasper!" in the vain hope that this
might bring the fugitives forward, should they have concealed themselves
behind the trees along the road.
Poor Hansie was becoming thoroughly exhausted, when suddenly, as they neared
the Sunnyside bridge, four men under the electric light became plainly
visible.
"You must run again, Hansie," F. said, and putting his arm around her, he
literally carried her along.
Alas! the figures proved to be four Kaffirs coming towards them, and, with a
broken sob, Hansie realised that all their efforts were in vain.
It
was no use running now.
Sunnyside was badly lit, and one could barely see two yards ahead, so the
plotters walked slowly to Harmony, encouraging one another with the thought
that the men must already be beyond the outskirts of the town.
"We have heard no shots, and that is a good sign," Hansie said, "for the men
were armed, and in the event of a surprise they meant to fight for their
lives."
