"Will you sit down, Englishman?" said Piet Bok. "I see you are wounded."
"A mere scratch!" replied Harold; "but my wife will sit with your permission!"
"Your wife!" echoed the Boer leader, who spoke English well enough. "You never told me she was the rooinek's wife!" he added, turning to Van Zwieten.
"I did not think it was necessary," growled the other; "besides, I thought that would have ceased to be by now!"
"Yes, I can well believe that!" cried Brenda, with sudden energy. "Mynheer Bok, do not believe what this man says. He tried to carry me off from my husband last night; and when I escaped to this place he brought you and your men up with the sole object of having my husband shot. He would shoot him now if he dared!"
"That he shall not do whilst I am here!" cried Piet Bok. "You are both prisoners of the Republic, and as such you shall be treated."
"Nothing of the sort!" cried Van Zwieten, mad with rage. "I demand that the man be shot and the woman be given to me!"
Piet Bok signed to Harold to remain silent. "On what grounds?"
"On the grounds that this woman was engaged to marry me with the consent of her father, and that this man has married her against her father's will."
"Is this true?" asked the Boer leader.