As
far as was known, no men were arrested that night.
The man who had escorted the spies through Sunnyside and over the railway
line, the dauntless van der Westhuizen with the bandaged arm, had left them
not far from the wire enclosure, and had then waited some time, listening
for sounds of commotion.
As
no shots had broken the stillness of the night, he had every reason to
believe that they had escaped with their lives.
For some weeks there was a "lull in spies." But there was no lack of other
sensations, for September 1901 will ever be remembered as one of the most
trying months throughout the year of the war.
It
reminded one of that September month before war was declared, when the air
was filled with the sweet, penetrating odour of orange-blossoms and many
hearts were torn with the agony of suspense and a feeling of impending
disaster.
Again the orange trees were in full bloom, bringing back to one's senses the
remembrance of past suffering, and the full realisation of present horror
and unrest.
The great weeping-willows were showing their first mysterious tinge of pale
yellowish green, and Hansie, watching them, wondered what developments would
have taken place before those overhanging branches would be crowned with the
full beauty of midsummer. September 1901 was a month of proclamations and
peace negotiations, all of which "ended in smoke."
After General Botha's visit to Pretoria the Boers concentrated their forces
around the capital, strong commandos under General Botha, de la Rey, Beyers,
and Viljoen. It was said that there were quite 6,000 troops in town awaiting
developments, and Hansie coming home one evening, surprised her mother by
saying that "Khaki was in the deuce of a funk!"
Her mother remonstrated with her, expressing her strong disapproval of such
language, but Hansie only laughed.
"I
was told so in town, mother. The enemy seems to expect our people to sweep
through the town, if only to release our prisoners. How I wish they would
come and carry off some of our splendid men in the jail and Rest Camp!"
The fate of the Committee men had not yet been decided.
As
they were kept in solitary confinement and naturally not allowed to hold
communication with any of their friends, nothing was known at the time of
the troubles undergone by them, and it was some years after the war before
Hansie came into full possession of the facts.
Ten men in all had been taken that night, the five members of the Committee
and five other men in their service, and they were kept separate, not being
allowed to see one another during the sixteen days of their imprisonment in
the Pretoria jail.
Now, the remarkable part about this story is, that though nothing had been
arranged between these men in the event of an arrest, no line of action
agreed upon by them by which they could safely guard themselves and their
friends, they one and all adopted the same policy under the severe
cross-questioning to which they were subjected in their cells.
My
readers must understand that trials under martial law are not necessarily
conducted with the ordinary formalities of a court of justice; in fact, in
the case of these men it cannot be said that there was a trial at all, for
they were cross-questioned in their cells apart, and without witnesses.
They never saw the light of day except for a ten-minutes' exercise in the
prison-yard every morning; and, on comparing notes afterwards, they found
that they had been subjected to the same treatment undergone by the
unfortunate men who had turned King's evidence and who had been the cause of
their undoing. To some of them the death sentence was read at night, with a
promise of pardon if they betrayed the names of their fellow-conspirators in
town, and sometimes they were visited in their cells by officers who
informed them that one or other of their fellow-prisoners had "given away
the show."
"You may safely speak out now, for we know everything. So-and-so has turned
King's evidence." But these brave men saw through the ruse, and steadfastly
refused to sell their honour for their lives. With one accord they answered,
"So-and-so may have given you information, but I know nothing."
They were subjected to severe treatment, half-starved, threatened, told that
they were condemned to death, and then severely left alone with the sword
hanging over their heads—to no avail. Not a word of information was wrung
from them, no murmur of complaint crossed their lips.
This lasted sixteen days, and during that time they suffered intensely, the
food being unfit for consumption and their surroundings filthy beyond words.
As I have said before, there were among their number men physically unfit
for hardships like these.
Mr. Willem Botha was one of them, and as the days dragged on, the headaches
with which he was afflicted became more frequent and increased in violence.
He
feared that he would lose his reason and, in losing it, betray all to his
jailers, and he was consumed with anxiety for his wife.
After the first shock of his arrest, he was suddenly overwhelmed with the
recollection that he had forgotten to destroy the slip of paper on which the
message concerning the Boer traitor in the Free State had been conveyed to
him through a prisoner in the Rest Camp. He tried to remember what he had
done with it, but in vain. Each day found him torn with anxiety, searching
his memory for the threads of recollection, broken in the stress of the last
stirring events before his arrest. Suddenly one day it flashed across his
mind that he had pushed the slip of paper between the tattered leaves of an
old hymn-book.
Bitterly he reproached himself with his unpardonable negligence. That slip
of paper, containing injunctions to the Committee to convey information of
such a serious character to the Boer leaders, would be sufficient proof
against him and his fellows. No other evidence would be required to bring
them to their death, if it had fallen into the hands of the enemy.
The unfortunate man, in his prison cell, prayed for deliverance, not only
for himself, but for the trusty comrades who would be exposed to such deadly
peril by this, his one act of indiscretion.
The weary days dragged on.
Suffering, not to be described by words, was the daily portion of this man.
His fellow-prisoners shared the same fate, with one exception.
Mr. Hattingh in his prison cell, who had been taken in his deacon's
frock-coat that Sunday night, reaped the rewards of the sagacity he had
displayed on the occasion of the visit to his house of the Judas-Boer.
There was a marked difference in the treatment he received at the hands of
his jailers. He was not once condemned to death, and he was hardly
cross-questioned during the entire term of his imprisonment—better food,
kinder treatment being accorded him than to any of his fellows, as he found
on comparing notes with them afterwards.
It
was quite evident that he was the only man about whose guilt the enemy was
in a certain amount of doubt.
His family, too, was privileged, his wife being allowed a few days' grace to
sell her household goods before she was conveyed to a camp with her
children, while the families of the other men were instantly removed and
their homes taken into possession by the English.
If
the enemy had only known it, Mr. Hattingh, who was known for his uprightness
and moral integrity, had no intention of perjuring himself in the
witness-box, but had fully made up his mind to confess his complicity and to
face his death like a man and a patriot.
There is no doubt that this brave man would have been endowed with the
required courage to uphold his word when the hour came, but it is equally
certain that no word of accusation in evidence against his
fellow-conspirators would have been wrung from his lips.
When at the end of the sixteen days no proof of their guilt had been found,
their captors, recognising and appreciating their staunch fidelity and
unswerving loyalty, removed them from their cells in the dreary jail to the
Rest Camp, where they were able to enjoy the privileges of the ordinary
prisoners of war, and refreshing intercourse with their brothers from the
field.
But before they were admitted to the Rest Camp they were brought one by one
into the presence of a British officer, who pompously read their sentence to
them.
How the other men passed through their interview with him I do not know, but
Mr. Hattingh's story, told in his own words, runs thus:
After a few questions had been put, the British officer said to him:
"You have been found guilty of high treason, but Lord Kitchener has been
kind enough to commute your sentence to banishment as prisoner of war."
"But how could you find me guilty?" Mr. Hattingh asked. "I have never been
tried."
"Be silent," the officer commanded sternly. "You have nothing to say."
Mr. Hattingh says he was only too glad to "be silent," and betook himself to
the Rest Camp with alacrity.
During the weeks of their imprisonment in the jail those at Harmony were not
living in a bed of roses.
Of
Willie Botha's loyalty they never had a doubt, but the other men were
unknown to them, and they knew that all were aware of the part played by
them in the Secret Service. And even if they were not betrayed by one of the
prisoners, it was a mystery that they had not been betrayed with them.
Many of their friends, the families of the men in jail, had been sent to
Camps or across the border, and no one was more surprised at finding
themselves still in Pretoria than Mrs. van Warmelo and her daughter.
They felt the strain, the uncertainty of their position keenly, and
throughout those weeks they were obliged to conceal from their good friends,
the Consuls and their families, the danger to which they were exposed and
the intense anxiety with which they were filled, not only on their own
account, but for those brave men in the Pretoria jail.
Towards the end of September, when the prisoners had been removed to the
Rest Camp, a baby-girl was born in Willie Botha's house.
The mother had been left undisturbed in her home, a consideration for which
she and all who were concerned for her were devoutly grateful, and now she
had passed through the portals of Gethsemane and the wide gates of Eden, in
the bitter-sweet experiences of motherhood.
The news of the birth of a daughter was duly conveyed to Willie Botha in the
Rest Camp, with a request to the authorities to allow him to visit his wife
and see his child before leaving South Africa's shores for Bermuda.
Permission was granted for a two-hours' visit.
An
armed soldier escorted him to his home and sat outside, under the verandah,
drinking coffee and enjoying the good things with which he had been
provided, while, inside, his prisoner, speechless with emotion, knelt beside
the mother's bed, showering kisses on the tiny feet of his infant daughter.
When the first greetings were over Mr. Botha said:
"Wife, what became of that old hymn-book which was standing on the shelf in
the dining-room?"
"I
don't know," she answered; "I suppose it was taken away by Elliot with all
the other books and papers."
"Elliot!" he muttered between his teeth.
"Elliot, betrayer of friends, and Judas-Boer!"
This man had been intimately known to them all, had, in fact, for many
months lived with his wife and family, as guest and friend, under the
hospitable roof of Mr. and Mrs. Hattingh, at whose hands they received
innumerable acts of love and kindness.
Elliot was the man by whom the members of the Secret Committee were arrested
that Sunday night.
Verily it can be said of him—
"For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it;
neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I
would have hid myself from him. But it was thou, a man my equal, my guide,
and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the
house of God in company."
The occasion of Willie Botha's visit having been made to serve at the same
time as a christening, there were quiet, sacred rejoicings when the
minister, who had in the meantime arrived, performed the ceremony.
As
soon as the service was over Mr. Botha walked rapidly to the dining-room and
glanced over the empty book-shelves. Nothing there!
He
stood on tiptoe for a moment, surveying the topmost shelf, and was about to
turn away disappointed, when his eye fell on the tattered psalm-book, lying
unnoticed in a corner of the shelf.
He
could hardly believe his eyes! He pounced on the book, turning over the
pages in the greatest agitation and suspense.
The fateful slip of paper fell into his hands!
Triumphantly he marched back to his wife's bedroom and held the magic paper
before her astonished eyes, telling her of the sleepless nights and days of
suspense he had endured through it.
With unspeakable thankfulness in their hearts, they then and there reduced
the fragment of paper to ashes, thanking God for His wonderful deliverance.
But the hour of parting was now at hand—and over this, good reader, we must
draw the veil.
On
their way back to the Rest Camp the armed escort, becoming confidential,
positively assured his charge that peace would be proclaimed before October
10th. The "Powers" had intervened, he said, and the English were leaving the
country!
He
was an Irishman.
