"Of course; it could not possibly have been done otherwise—but all is fair in love and war."
"War?" Hansie exclaimed—"I thought you said that this was done some years before the war."
"Yes, but we all knew what things were leading to!"
This incident was the first hint among the passengers that she was not one of them.
At first they looked at her askance, but as the days went on and the girl steadfastly avoided every allusion to the war, refusing to express her opinions to any one, except the two men mentioned above, the feeling of discomfort passed, and she was once again included in the pastimes of the ship's company.
As they were nearing Teneriffe the longing for news, for the latest cables from England and South Africa, possessed every soul on board—and now I find that, search as I will, within the recesses of my mind, for words with which to describe adequately such scenes, brain and hand are powerless.
There was peace in South Africa—peace "with honour" for England, peace and defeat for the Boers!
In a moment the ship's crew went mad, as the wild cheering rolled over the waves.