E-text prepared by Jeannie Howse, Jonathan Ingram, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/c/) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 20194-h.htm or 20194-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/9/20194/20194-h/20194-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/9/20194/20194-h.zip) +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | | been preserved. | | | | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this | | text. For a complete list, please see the end of this | | document. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ THE PETTICOAT COMMANDO Or Boer Women in Secret Service by JOHANNA BRANDT With Ten Illustrations [Illustration: THE WRITER] Mills & Boon, Limited 49 Rupert Street London, W. Colonial Edition Published 1913 To HANSIE'S MOTHER AS A PEACE-OFFERING FOR HAVING BROUGHT HER INTO PUBLICITY IN DIRECT OPPOSITION TO HER WISHES FOREWORD In introducing the English version of this book I venture to bespeak a welcome for it, not only for the light which it throws on some little-known incidents of the South African war, but also because of the keen personal interest of the events recorded. It is more than a history. It is a dramatic picture of the hopes and fears, the devotion and bitterness with which some patriotic women in Pretoria watched and, as far as they could, took part in the war which was slowly drawing to its conclusion on the veld outside.