here?” This remark she made to Mrs. Keeley’s brother, who could hardly conceal his amusement, but, to reassure her, displayed the cart and mules by which I had come.  If in England we had heard of the arrival of a “unicorn” in an aeroplane, we should not have shown more anxiety or taken more trouble to hear about the strange creature than did they concerning myself.  Their curiosity did not end here.  What was Mr. Keeley doing in Mafeking?  Was he fighting for the English?  How many head of cattle had they on the farm?  And so on ad libitum.  Mrs. Keeley, however, knew her friends well, and was quite capable of dealing with them, so they probably spent an unprofitable day.

On another occasion an English farmer named Leipner looked in, and gave us some information about Vryburg.  This town was absolutely undefended, and was occupied by the Boers without a shot being fired.  The ceremony of the hoisting of the Vierkleur[27] had been attended by the whole countryside, and had taken place with much psalm-singing and praying, interlarded with bragging and boasting.  He told me also that some of the rumours current in the town, and firmly credited, reported that Oom Paul had annexed Bechuanaland, that he was then about to take Cape Colony, after which he would allow no troops to land, and the “Roineks” would have been pushed into the sea.  His next step would be to take England.  Mr. Leipner assured me the more ignorant Boers had not an idea where England was situated, nor did they know that a great ocean rolled between it and this continent.  In fact, they gloried in their want of knowledge, and were insulted if they received a letter in any tongue but their own.  He related one tale to illustrate their ignorance:  An old burgher and his vrow were sitting at home one Sunday afternoon.  Seeing the “predicant"[28] coming, the old man hastily opened his Bible and began to read at random.  The clergyman came in, and, looking over his shoulder, said:  “Ah!  I see you are reading in the Holy Book—­the death of Christ.”  “Alle machter!” said the old lady.  “Is He dead indeed?  You see, Jan” (to her husband) “you never will buy a newspaper, so we never know what goes on in the world.”  Mr. Leipner said this story loses in being told in English instead of in the original Dutch.  He reiterated they did not wish for education for themselves or for their children.  If the young people can read and write, they are considered very good scholars.  This gentleman also expressed great satisfaction at Sir Alfred Milner and Mr. Chamberlain being at the head of affairs, which he said was the only thing that gave the colonials confidence.  Even now, so many feared England would give way again in the end.  I assured him of this there was no possibility, and then he said:  “The Transvaal has been a bad place for Englishmen to live these many years; but if Great Britain fails us again, we must be off, for then it will be impossible.”  I was given to understand that the Boers exhibited great curiosity as to who Mr. Chamberlain was, and that they firmly believed he had made money in Rand mining shares and gold companies; others fancied he was identical with the maker of Chamberlain’s Cough Syrup, which is advertised everywhere in the colony.