The Petticoat Commando Part 25

He wrote a long letter for publication in Holland on the hards.h.i.+ps and ill-treatment to which the Boer women were subjected in transit from their farms to the Concentration Camps, by the soldiers (chiefly, I may mention here, the Canadian Scouts and Australian Bushrangers, who were, however, all regarded as British soldiers, these distinctions not being sufficiently clear to the average South African).

This lengthy doc.u.ment Spoelstra confided to the care of a man who was about to leave for Holland.

On the borders of Natal, the man, on being cross-questioned by the inspector of goods, became so confused and agitated that he brought suspicion on himself, with the result that he was detained while his luggage was thoroughly overhauled.

The unfortunate letter was found, Spoelstra was arrested and immediately imprisoned in the Pretoria Jail.

The Dutch Consul, Mr. Domela Nieuwenhuis, on being appealed to, insisted on a public trial, which was granted after some delay, Spoelstra being allowed three days in which to procure his witnesses, _in Pretoria_ and in the small Camp in one of the suburbs, _not_ in Irene.

Notwithstanding the shortness of the time and the restrictions placed upon him, he succeeded in getting nearly thirty women to give evidence on his behalf, and at his trial, which was publicly held, revelations of a very startling nature were made.

The greatest indignation was felt and freely expressed by the Dutch community when, in spite of having proved his accusations beyond a doubt, Spoelstra was fined 100 and sentenced to one year's imprisonment.

The fine was immediately paid by his friends.

Now, there was a brave Englishwoman, Mrs. Bodde, married to a Hollander, who was shortly leaving for England, who offered her services to Mrs. van Warmelo if the latter wished to make the circ.u.mstances of the case known to Mr. Stead. This was an exceedingly plucky thing to do, for the examinations on the frontier were much more severe than usual, after the discovery of Spoelstra's letter.

Mrs. van Warmelo therefore promised to take extra precautions in concealing the articles she wished to send. After a great deal of trouble she succeeded in getting a full report of the Spoelstra trial, sixty large pages of closely typed evidence on tissue paper, and with this valuable material to dispose of Mrs. van Warmelo realised that it would be necessary to exert the utmost ingenuity.

She asked her friend Mrs. Bodde whether she would be taking a lunch-basket.

Certainly she would.

"Well," Mrs. van Warmelo said, "I will give you something for your lunch-basket, if you will promise not to open it until you get to London."

She promised, and Mrs. van Warmelo bought a tin of cocoa, a one-pound tin, unfastened the paper wrapper carefully, then damped the paper round the lid until it could be folded back without being damaged, removed the lid and pulled out the paper bag containing the cocoa.

This bag she unfastened _at the bottom_, shook out fully two-thirds of the cocoa and filled up the empty s.p.a.ce with the tightly rolled packet containing the doc.u.ments, replacing the whole in the tin, cocoa side up, of course, and pasting down the paper wrapper over the lid to make it look like new.

Although there was very little cocoa in the tin, it was found to weigh exactly one pound as before.

Arrangements were then made with Mrs. Bodde for her future correspondence on the subject with Mrs. van Warmelo, and in due time the latter received a note from Mrs. Bodde announcing her safe arrival in London and saying that her friend Mrs. Brown (Mr. Stead) had received her (the doc.u.ments) with open arms. She was not going to live in Mrs. Brown's house as she had intended (the doc.u.ments would not be published in the _Review of Reviews_), but she was going into a house of her own (they would appear in pamphlet form).

This was good news indeed, and now my readers know how it came about that the sensational Spoelstra case was published in London in pamphlet form (in three successive pamphlets, for the evidence was found to be too bulky for one) during the war. The first pamphlet reached Harmony in safety through the post, the second and third, though duly dispatched, failed to reach their destination, but n.o.body at Harmony minded. The great object had been achieved.

Hansie, going to the post one day, took out of her letter-box a small flat book, addressed to "Mrs. Wentworth, Box 56."

She was about to throw it back into the Post Office, with "_not_ 56"

scribbled on it, when her eyes fell on the English postmark, Tunbridge Wells, and she stayed her hand in time.

Tunbridge Wells was the address of the brave Englishwoman, the great pro-Boer, and the package when opened was found to contain a copy of Methuen's _Peace or War in South Africa_, which was first "devoured"

at Harmony and by other people in Pretoria and was then sent out to the commandos by the spies, to be read and reread by the burghers until there was nothing left of it except a few tattered pages.

Soon after the publication of the Spoelstra case there was some excitement in Pretoria about the appearance in the _Westminster Gazette_ of a long article on the Irene Concentration Camp. The writer, who gave each detail with great accuracy, seemed to have personal knowledge and experience of the Camp, and it was not surprising that Hansie should have been taxed with it on every side.

The Consuls spoke to her direct, advising her to be more careful of her facts, and Mr. Cinatti, when she a.s.sured him of her innocence (?), said with huge delight, in his funny, broken English:

"Never mind, my dear little sing, you need not confess to _us_--but are you good at guessing riddles?"

"Not particularly."

"Well, dis one won't trouble you much. What is dis? It is small and oblong and white, and it was laid by a hen?"

"An egg," Hansie answered innocently.

He shouted with laughter.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course."

"Well, we are just as sure dat Miss van Warmelo wrote dat article. And if you want to see your work in print I'll bring it round dis very afternoon."

"I should like very much to see it," she replied.

That afternoon, just before Mr. Cinatti was expected, Gentleman Jim killed a big snake in his room, and Hansie, thinking to give her funny friend a fright for mis...o...b..ing her word, "arranged" the corpse on the steps of the front verandah, hiding the mutilated head under the leaves of the violet plants.

But the Consul came late, and other visitors before him heralded their arrival by shrieks and jumps, to the great delight of the mischievous girl.

"You are a very pranky little sing," Mr. Cinatti said, flouris.h.i.+ng the _Westminster Gazette_ before her eyes, "and den you want us not to believe dat you wrote dis."

And indeed, when Hansie glanced through the article, she found it difficult to maintain that she had not written it, for there were all her "pet" cases of overcrowding and underfeeding, her statistics, and the very terms she was in the habit of using when speaking of the volunteer nurses. She called them a "set of agitators," in sarcastic imitation of the Commandant's favourite expression.

The only explanation to the affair could be that Mr. Stead, or perhaps Mrs. Bodde, had made use of the facts contained in one of Hansie's smuggled letters, and in that case she could naturally be held responsible. She was advised by loving friends to keep her boxes ready packed for a speedy departure, "for when the warning comes you will not be allowed much time to pack."

But she disregarded all warnings, except to take extra precautions for the safety of her diary.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GENTLEMAN JIM'S ROOM.]

CHAPTER XIX

DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND!

It would be a simple matter for me to fill this volume many times by relating the thrilling experiences and adventures of people unknown to me personally and yet known sufficiently by intimate friends who guarantee their truth and veracity, but this is not my intention in writing this book.

A brief outline, however, of the history of one of the princ.i.p.al members of the Secret Committee, during the war, will not be out of place here, because of his close connection with the "Petticoat Commando."

Mr. C.P. Hattingh, head keeper of the Government Buildings under the South African Republic and deacon of the Dutch Reformed Church under the Reverend Mr. Bosman, played the part of an honourable and staunch burgher throughout the war, and rendered countless services to dest.i.tute women and children, in addition to his strenuous labours on the Secret Service.

On the morning of June 5th, 1900, when it became evident beyond doubt that the British would enter Pretoria that day, he removed the Transvaal flag from Government Buildings and took it to his house for safe keeping.

To his surprise he was not asked at any time by the military what had become of the Government flag, and he was able to keep it in safety until his position on the Committee became precarious and made it dangerous for him to preserve this precious relic of the past at his own house any longer.

He therefore secretly conveyed it to the house of a friend, Mr. Isaac Haarhoff, whose wife carefully concealed it until the war was over, and then handed it to him again. He gave it to General Botha, who presented it to the Pretoria Museum, where it is now preserved and exhibited as a priceless national memento.

Mr. Hattingh took the oath of neutrality with the other burghers in Pretoria and maintained his post in the Government Buildings for one month after the occupation of the capital. He was then asked either to take the oath of allegiance or resign from his post.