"Everyone knew that they were building great forts, and had got guns
bigger than were ever before seen, and stores full of rifles. How could
you believe their words when your eyes saw that it was not peace but war
that they meant?" "Because we were fools, I suppose," Chris said
bitterly. "It was not from want of warnings, for people living out here
had written again and again telling what vast preparations they were
making, but the people who govern the country paid no attention. It was
much easier to believe what was pleasant than what was unpleasant; but
their folly will cost the country very dear. If they had sent over
twenty thousand men a year ago there would have been no war; now they
will have to send over a hundred thousand men, perhaps even more; and
great sums of money will be spent, and great numbers of lives lost,
simply because our government refused to believe what everyone out here
knew to be the fact. We did nothing, and allowed the Boers to complete
all their preparations, and to choose their own time for war. But though
we have made a horrible mistake, do not think, chief, that there is any
doubt about our conquering at last; the men who now govern our country
are men and not cowards, and will not, as that other government did, go
on their knees to the Boers, and even if they would do so, the people
would not sanction it.
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