[21] Now Sir Hamilton Gould Adams, Governor of the Orange River Colony. [22] Dutch for a peculiar kind of cheap brandy very popular with the Boers. [23] This return was given me by Major Gould Adams. [24] African wild-turkeys. [25] This was incorrect. The officer in charge and two others were severely wounded, the driver and stoker killed by the explosion of the boiler. CHAPTER VII IN A REBELLIOUS COLONY--VISIT TO VRYBURG DURING THE BOER OCCUPATION--I PASS OFF AS A DUTCHMAN'S SISTER "The days are so long, and there are so many of them." DU MAURIER. During the weeks I remained at Mosita, the only book I had to read was "Trilby," which I perused many times, and the lament of the heroine in the line quoted above seemed to re-echo my sentiments. For days and days we were absolutely without news. It is impossible after a lapse of time to realize exactly what that short sentence really means. I must ask my readers to remember that we talked and thought of one topic only; we looked incessantly in the one direction by which messengers might come. Our nerves were so strained that, did we but see one of the natives running across the yard, or hear them conversing in louder tones than usual, we at once thought there must be news, and jumped up from any occupation with which we were trying to beguile the time, only to sink back on our chairs again disappointed. As for knowing what was passing in the world, one might as well have been in another planet. We saw no papers, and there was not much prospect of obtaining any. Before the war we had all talked lightly of wires being cut and railway-lines pulled up, but, in truth, I do not think anyone realized what these two calamities really meant. My only comfort was the reflection that, no matter how hard they were fighting in Mafeking, they could not be suffering the terrible boredom that we were enduring. To such an extent in this monotony did I lose the count of time, that I had to look in the almanack to be able to say, in Biblical language, "The evening and the morning were the sixth day."