A CAREFUL BOER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 6712, 2 June 1900, Page 4

A CAREFUL BOER.

When Cronje surrendered, and his | men came bundling out of the trenches, each man with a carpet bag in one hand i and a rifle in the other, a great many of them were leading horses laden with all their goods and chattels. One burgher had a very fine, creamy pony, and on this animal he had at least a hundredweight of luggage of various sorts, rugs, blankets, a sugee bag, a;carpet bag, some hoots, and innumerable other things. One of our lancer officers took a fancy to fi c£ ony\ an, d off Bred the Boer a pound tor him. As he was sure to lose the pony wilW rhe beca™e a prisoner he was The tro2T gh t0 take the P°UQd' But hi loSaie >Wa& H°W WM he t0 Shift that fn^R uH! was solemnly assured end a aru?be^. sb 0 certain to idea he Zl tlt^S*' *?* ?»„*£' pony, and handed"_f' llnlon' ,e/ the down cheerfully It °™r > a°d sf of lueea-ze vrl u7a un § beside his pile ablyS'ed when a hToi ygotCOmfjrt- : with a fi X cdta7on; TS id C^J then move off your hank if, on'f?ou ■ whrre'e c' 8 ot thhr mr in; ofi! * I_S«. T Wha- t?, The cart for your ' !erf a gna PllTn r TJ™*' leave U ! it ■•' jL }■[ tel} *P. ord kitchener about j frienfl. 7 *, IDt ofdl™--ir7g it among his h' he «?** alo#*fßomehowtand bullet ?,!' h — an- E#8h shraP°el - se7vfnt-« 8 I&W> 18, Uo> au officer's i set van t B charger, and a vlry good httle < animal he is. f -

a'Soldier, ; letter.] is usually described as a iSSjwhat dull and singularly un* deiibnstrative man, and it is hard to think of such an individual as a victim of the little god of Lovp, but Cupid is as busy, in Africa as elsewhere, and Piet "has his tender moments. 'We had been called up about two hours before daylight to go on a scout- ( ing expedition. Something had come to the ears of the/" Colonel that made him suspicious, but our orders were | not very definite, excepting that we were to give a lit Ale attention to a farmhouse about twci miles off, after covering a stretch cjr twelve miles in a crescent. f The ride^Cas uneventlul. If the Boers wer«nywhere in the hills they were no»inxious to make their presenee^pnown, and when the Boer wishdrato keep himself dark he is like a rahpit in its burrow—you need to hunt hjm with a ferret. //Not a sign of an enemy did we discover, and the greyness of dawn was in the sky when "Bricks," the lieutenant, called a halt, and we discovered the i farmhouse looming, dark and shapeless, | _ little to the right. ■' Clarke, Purcell, Byrne," said the lieutenant, "follow me as quietly as you can. The rest remain [where you are. and make no noise," We dismounted and followed " Bricks," approaching ttie house as warily as if we had been burglars intent on cracking the crib, We-listened at the windows, and the doors, but heard no noise. Our officer tried the kitchen door, and it opened. We stole in without a sound. In a room on the right an old couple were sleeping, They were not disturbed. Purcell and Byrne passed into other rooms, and I went on to the parlor, my hand on my revolver but all the time. I turned the nob and the lock clicked. »Tbere was a fierce exclamation as the door Gpened. The faint light of dawn was in the room, and for a second I saw two figures sitting on chairs by the table near the middle of the room, a man and a gill. The girl's head rested on the man's shoulder, his aujjgMHajj^bout her waist. h TTv^dly realised the situation when Sip ml n s Prang at rae- Almost mecha-iiPBIP Z fired* and he staggered backasnaot- but came at me again, next mm^i|i^^^wT? iaps weie 'wirn |,*W^mnve hal%#ttr prisoner down and trussed in no lime. Pie was a Boer soldier ; his rifle was in the covne», his bandolier on the table.*' The lieutenant brought a light, and we saw our Dnsonfn*' distinctly. He was a bi r :, ii*inds<">*n:.' youngster, very fair, and 1001-ing like- iho picture of old Vikings in the story books. His sweetheart, or wife, I don't itnow which, was a neat little woman of the Marguerite type, she stood looking at us with frightened eyes and a grey, grave face, but did not speak a word. All the chattering was done by the old couple, who danced in their night-gowns, jabbering Dutch like two furies. The ofiicer gave his orders briefly, and we took our man up, and half dragged, half-carried him towards the horses. He was strong and gave us some trouble, but we got him away all right, and left him in charge of the boys whilst we had a bit of a trot round tlie outhouses. We discovered nothing, and returced. The prisoner was lying on his back with his arms tied, a big Yorkie standing guard. " We'll give him your horse, Clarke," said the lieutenant. I brought Darkie un, and at that moment a figure slipped from behind a littl^-eiump of bushes near at hand, and* running to our prisoner started Qaiting fiercely at the rope with which /ie was tied. Yorkie's rifle jumped to his shoulder and his linger was on the trigger, but the lieutenant made one wild running jump at the big fellow and sent him sprawling. "It's the woman, you fool! " yelled " Bricks." So it was; The plucky little beggar had dressed herself in a boy's suit, and made a game attempt to rescue her sweetheart. It was a very narrow shave for her, Yorkie's bullet missed her head by an inch, and killed Byrne's mare dead as a door nail. Byrne and Purcell grabbed the _irl, and held her back, and " Bricks," who has a good deal of pretty sentiment in him, in spite of his apparent toughness, after mounting the prisoner on ! my horse, went to her and. spoke kindly. " Do you understand English ? " he said. The girl, who evidently expected that something terrible was about to I happen, nodded her head slowly, I "Well, your friend here will not be hurt, my girl. He ia our prisoner ;he will be kept till after the war, but no harm will come to him," Then our chaps rode away, and Byrne and I, following on foot, looked back i and saw the little Boer standing motionless in the dull light of the early dawn, straining her eyes to see the last of her lover as he was borne away across the veldt.