Instead of hostilities being brought to a speedy termination by the demolition of the farms, the Boer forces gathered and increased in strength and numbers by the addition to their ranks of men who had left the commandos and were again living on their farms.
Wives and children gone, homes devastated, there was nothing left for the men to live for.
Instead of being brought to submission by the drastic measures taken to compel them to surrender, they were transformed into raging lions, with but one object in view, the expulsion of their enemy from the land of their birth.
Not alone in the towns did the secret service do its work. As the camps grew in size and close supervision became more difficult, the spies crept in and out, bearing with them the information wanted by the Boer leaders, concerning the condition of the inmates.
In nine cases out of ten the earnest request of the women to their men was to fight to the bitter end—not to surrender on their account, but to let them die in captivity sooner than yield for the sake of them and their children.
Perhaps I may be allowed to say here that when Hansie was in the Irene Camp as volunteer nurse she knew nothing of the work of the spies.
Love and pity drew her to the scene of suffering.
The British did not count the cost when they began the system of gathering in the Boer families, any more than they did when they began their "walk over" to Pretoria.