They had wondered and fretted at the apathy with which the enormous
warlike preparations of the Boers were regarded at home, and the fact
that they were permitted to become a formidable power, capable of
offering a desperate resistance even by the armies of England; whereas,
before they had been enriched by the industry and enterprise of the
immigrants, they had been in danger of being altogether wiped out by the
Zulus and Swazis, and had only been saved by the interference on their
behalf of the British power. Thus, then, while the war-cloud had been
slowly but surely gathering, the lads had watched the approaching crisis
with delight, unmingled with the anxiety and foreboding of the
capitalists, who, without doubting what the end must be, were sure that
enormous losses and sacrifices must result before their deliverance from
Boer oppression could be obtained.
The scene at the station was an extraordinary one. Men, women, and
children of all ranks were crowded on the platform; the greater
capitalists, the men whose fortunes could be counted by hundreds of
thousands, had for the most part left, but many who in England would be
considered as rich men had remained in the town till the last moment, to
make their final arrangements and wind up their affairs.
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