Chapter XI
BLOEMFONTEIN
'Look, father, the sky is English,' said a little girl as they drove home to Bloemfontein in the glowing sunset.
'English, my dear,' said her father, 'what do you mean?'
'Why,' replied the little one, 'it is all red, white, and blue.'
And in truth, red, white, and blue was everywhere. The inhabitants of Bloemfontein must have exhausted the stock of every shop. They must have ransacked old stores, and patched together material never intended for bunting. Wherever you looked, there were the English colours. No wonder to the imagination of the little one even the sun was greeting the victorious English, and painting the western sky red, white, and blue.
We cannot, of course, suppose that all these people who greeted the victorious British army enthusiastically were really so enthusiastic as they appeared. But 'nothing succeeds like success,' and those who had cursed us yesterday, blessed us to-day.