The Petticoat Commando Part 38

"You would all be taken near the wire fence," he said, "and what about the men who would be without their pa.s.ses 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 pa.s.ses. You will find me at your gate."

"But then you would have only two pa.s.ses, 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 pa.s.ses for them, they held a short consultation and eventually decided to wait another half-hour. With pa.s.ses 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 pa.s.ses."

"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 pa.s.ses."

"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 pa.s.s from his pocket and placed it in her hand, motioning her to go. She gave him a quick look of grat.i.tude, but returned the pa.s.s 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 un.o.bserved.

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 doc.u.ment exceedingly well-planned and put together.

This was what she read:

MILITARY GOVERNOR'S OFFICE, PRETORIA.

_Special Pa.s.s_

for J.W. Venter, G. Vermaak, and L. Erasmus to be out until midnight, on Secret Service.

Signed by MAJOR J. WESTON, a.s.sistant 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 Pa.s.s" 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 rea.s.sure 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 pa.s.s. 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.