This arrangement eased their minds of some anxiety, and the rest of the time was spent in quietly chatting about other matters. "I suppose you cannot let my wife know that I have been here and am well?" Naude asked. "I am afraid not," Mrs. van Warmelo answered thoughtfully. "We know no one in the Camp in which she is, and her correspondence will no doubt be closely watched, but we could write an ordinary, cheerful letter, urging her to be hopeful and strong." "Thank you very much," he answered gratefully, "but do not use your own names on any account. Get other people to write, people less implicated than yourselves." Towards 7 o'clock Hansie walked slowly down to the willows, the faithful Carlo by her side, wistfully looking into her face. Did he feel the suppressed agitation, the unrest in the air? I do believe Carlo knew and felt every changing emotion in his young mistress, and sympathised or rejoiced accordingly. There was no one in the garden. Hansie waited ten minutes, twenty, half an hour, then she went back to the house. There the form of the tall young man in his English officer's uniform, from which the traces of blood had been removed as well as possible, was to be seen walking to and fro in restless nervousness. "Have the others not come yet?" he exclaimed impatiently. "Where can they be so late?" "I think it is too light still for them to be abroad," Hansie answered; "you should have made the appointment for 8 o'clock." "But then the moon will be up," he objected. "I hope they will be here soon." Hansie once more walked to the six willows, and the next half-hour was spent in a restless pacing up and down between the orange trees of the avenue. "Will they never come? Have they fallen into some unforeseen pitfall? "At this, the most critical moment of our whole adventure, when all arrangements seem to have come to a smooth and successful termination, must our plans be frustrated, and a bloody encounter be the climax?" Hansie walked boldly towards the Military Camp, whistling to Carlo and admonishing him thus audibly: "Why can't you leave the kittens alone, Carlo?" Then more softly: "A peaceful serenity pervades the camp. Evidently nothing brewing here!" With a lighter heart she went back to the house, but one glance at the face of the Captain was enough, and once more she sped down the garden-path to the ill-fated trysting-place. As she neared the spot she heard no sound of life and her heart once more sank, but only for a moment. Suddenly she started violently. "What is this?" The place seemed in a moment alive with silent figures. From the depths of the overhanging willow branches they emerged, one by one, and approached the tense form of the girl as she stood immovable, with straining eyes trying to distinguish the moving, silent figures in the darkness. The white dress of a woman fluttering among the leaves reassured her. "What is this?" she whispered. "Who are you? Why are you here?"