"You must take with you a basket of provisions, sufficient, if
necessary, for two or three days for you both. There is no saying how
long you may be on your way to the frontier; once beyond that you will,
of course, be able to obtain anything you want. But you need expect no
civility or courtesy from the Boers, who, indeed, would feel a malicious
pleasure in shunting you off into a siding, and letting you wait there
for any number of hours. You must mind, Chris, above all things, to keep
your temper, whatever may happen. You know how our people have been
insulted, and actually maltreated in scores of cases, and in their
present state of excitement the Boers would be only too glad to find an
excuse for acts of violence. I was speaking to you about it three days
ago, and I cannot impress it too strongly upon you. I have already given
you permission to join one or other of the corps that are being raised
in Natal, and if anything unpleasant occurs on the road, you must bottle
up your feelings and wait till you get a rifle in your hand and stand on
equal terms with them."
"I promise that, father. I think, after what we have had to put up with
here, during the past two or three months especially, I can bear
anything for these last few days.
Pages:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26