The guard stood still as if rooted to the spot. Swiftly and silently Mr. Naude, with his few men, approached and entered the stables, cut loose the halters of the animals, and stampeded from the place. And yet the guard stood still, transfixed by the unerring aim of those two deadly implements. A moment more and every man was provided with a steed, another moment and they tore across the veld in mad, exultant flight, while behind them the shots rang out and the bullets fell beside them in the grass. Eleven horses in all! Noble thoroughbreds, well trained and sensitive to voice and touch. No fear of cruel treatment from your captors, beautiful steeds! The life you are entering upon may be full of hardship for you, but it will be free and wild, and you will be tended with all care and gentleness. These men are brave and strong, and it is only the cowardly and weak who would inflict on you one single unnecessary pain. Serve your new masters well. Be swift and sure when Death is on their track. God only knows what the future holds for them of suffering and woe. * * * * * Not on foot, but riding like lords, these men reached General Botha's force, and the two men Naude and Coetzee, being among the only burghers on commando familiar with the route through the British lines, were thereafter employed by minor officers to travel backwards and forwards to the capital. At first their work consisted only of helping other burghers to escape, but as time went on their duties became more complicated and hazardous. There were countless commissions to fulfil and information to be obtained on every imaginable question. The need of a body of organised men in town began to be felt more strongly in the field, and it was Captain Naude who introduced the system of employing a set of reliable burghers as spies in the heart of the enemy. For this purpose he once again went to Pretoria with the list of names of the men he wished to interview. Mr. Botha was the first he approached, and the former was only half pleased when he heard that, instead of the escape from British martial law, for which he had been keeping himself in readiness so long, he was commanded to remain in Pretoria as the head of a body of Secret Service men. He protested vehemently, but his objections were overruled by the argument brought forward by Naude, a consideration for the state of his health. This was certainly a point which carried weight. He consented, and the names of the other men to be appointed as his co-operators were submitted to him for approval: C.P. Hattingh, G. Els, W. Bosch, and J. Gillyland, a body of five men, which we shall know in future by the name of "the Secret Committee." The Secret Service of the Boers was now well established, and could not have been entrusted into hands more capable, more undaunted, or more faithful.