Yes, she saw it all as clear as daylight; and in her heart she swore, helpless as she seemed to be, that she would find a way to prevent it. But what way? what way? Ah, if only John were here! but he was not, so she must act without him if only she could see the road to action. She thought first of all of going down boldly to face Muller and denounce him as a murderer before his men; but a moment’s reflection showed that this was impracticable. For his own safety he would be obliged to stop her mouth somehow, and the best she could expect would be to be incarcerated and rendered quite powerless. If only she could manage to communicate with Bessie! At any rate it was absolutely necessary that she should know what was happening. She might as well be a hundred miles away as a hundred yards.
“Jantje,” she said, “tell me where the Boers are.”
“Some are in the waggon-house, missie, some are on sentry, and the rest are down by the waggon they brought with them and outspanned behind the gums there. The cart is there, too, that came just before you did, with the clergyman in it.”
“And where is Frank Muller?”
“I don’t know, missie; but he brought a round tent with him in the waggon, and it is pitched between the two big gums.”
“Jantje, I must go down there and find out what is going on, and you must come with me.”
“You will be caught, missie. There is a sentry at the back of the waggon-house, and two in front. But,” he added, “perhaps we might get near. I will go out and look at the night.”
Presently he returned and said that a “small rain” had come on, and the clouds covered up the stars so that it was very dark.
“Well, let us go at once,” said Jess.
“Missie, you had better not go,” answered the Hottentot. “You will get wet, and the Boers will catch you. Better let me go. I can creep about like a snake, and if the Boers catch me it won’t matter.”