Armed with this, Jack took a hearty farewell of young Poynter, and, climbing on board a coal truck which had come along the line to the front filled with ammunition, he was whirled south to Pietermaritzburg. Here he found that all was bustle. Loyal to the heart, the inhabitants of this old town had for many long weeks been energetically aiding the Government authorities. Relief committees had been instituted to manage the funds sent out from the English public, and had already done enormous good in lessening the sufferings of the poor people who had fled at the commencement of the war from Johannesburg and other parts of the two republics, bringing with them only what wealth they could carry.
Hospitals had been arranged in various public buildings, and in these, ladies—high-born, rich, and poor—worked with a will. At the front their services were not wanted, for the war was a stern and sanguinary one in which only men could take a part; but here, out of sound of the cannon’s roar, they were doing a noble work, and while they ministered to the poor suffering soldiers, at the same time they eased their own aching hearts, and distracted in some measure their own troubled thoughts, for scarcely one of them but had some dear one, husband or brother, cooped up in the beleaguered camp of Ladysmith and exposed to the fire of the Boer guns.
Amongst them Jack found Mrs Hunter, and one can imagine with what joy and tears she greeted him, and how eagerly she listened to the messages sent her by her husband. In a twinkling the news that someone had arrived who had recently escaped from Ladysmith spread through the town, and nurses flocked from every hospital to interview him.
Poor Jack! Naturally a bashful lad, especially where ladies were concerned, it proved a most trying ordeal for him, and far more so than his interview with the correspondent. But at last he satisfied them all, having in the large majority of cases only good news to give. Then he said good-bye to Mrs Hunter, promised to convey all her messages to Wilfred, and once more boarding the train, set out for Durban.
Here he was fortunate enough to find a transport sailing for Cape Town, and that night was again at sea.
Chapter Nineteen.
Jack Finds a Sweetheart.
When Jack came on deck upon the following morning, after leaving the port of Durban, it was to discover that the transport on which he had obtained a passage was conveying a most important personage—one of the chief officers on the staff of the commander-in-chief in Africa. Like Jack, this staff-officer had recently journeyed from General Sir Redvers Buller’s camp, and though he was a stranger to our hero, yet, to Jack’s surprise, no sooner did he catch sight of him than he stepped briskly towards him, and with outstretched hand addressed him in the most affable tones.