Hoffman, before alluded to, had been a gunner in the Franco-German War, and was full of information about the artillery of that day and this; while the other had been through the Crimea, and had taken part in the charge of the Light Brigade, then going on to India to assist in repressing the Mutiny.  He had evidently never liked the service into which he had been decoyed by the press-gang, and had probably been somewhat of a mauvais sujet, for he told me the authorities were glad enough to give him his discharge when the regiment returned to England.  He had married and settled in the Transvaal, making a moderate fortune, only to be ruined by a lawsuit being given against him, entirely, he naively admitted, because the Judge was a friend of the other side.  In spite of this he remained a most warm partisan of the corrupt Boer Government, and at sixty-seven he had gladly turned out to fight the country whose uniform he had once worn.  Whenever I found we were approaching dangerous ground, I used quickly to change the conversation, which perhaps was wise, as I was but one in a mighty host.

FOOTNOTES: 

[32] Two thousand Englishmen dead.

[33] Not to be confounded with General Louis Botha.

CHAPTER X

     EXCHANGED FOR A HORSE-THIEF—­BACK TO MAFEKING AFTER TWO
     MONTHS’ WANDERINGS

     “Hail, fellow! well met!”—­SWIFT.

Next morning I was awakened at 6 a.m. by Mr. Drake knocking at my door, and telling me I was to be ready in half an hour, as Colonel Baden-Powell had consented to exchange me for Petrus Viljoen.  This exchange had placed our Commanding Officer in an awkward position.  The prisoner was, as I stated before, a criminal, and under the jurisdiction of the civil authorities, who would not take upon themselves the responsibility of giving him up.  Under these circumstances Lord Edward Cecil had come forward and represented to Colonel Baden-Powell that it was unseemly for an Englishwoman to be left in the hands of the Boers, and transported to Pretoria by the rough coach, exposed to possible insults and to certain discomforts.  He even declared himself prepared to take any consequent blame on his shoulders, and, being the Prime Minister’s son, his words had great weight.  As a matter of fact, Petrus Viljoen was anything but a fighting man, and could be of very little service to our enemies.  The burghers had told me his presence was so persistently desired from the fact of the republic having private scores to settle with him.  In any case, he was very reluctant to leave Mafeking and the safety of the prison, which fact had influenced Colonel Baden-Powell in finally agreeing to the exchange.