"I don't know, Yorke. If it begins in one part, there is no saying how it will spread. I believe that if the Transvaal begins war, the Orange Free State will join. They have not a shadow of grievance. They are wholly independent of us, and have always been quiet and peaceful, and there does not seem to be any of the ill-feeling against the English that prevails in the Transvaal. Still, there is never any saying; and I believe that Steyn, their president, is a very ambitious man. This Africander Bond is doing a great deal of mischief in Cape Colony, and although the Dutch element have it pretty nearly their own way, I doubt if they will not join the Dutch across the Orange River if these rise." "But what is it they really want?" Yorke asked. "They want to be masters here altogether. They see the gold mines and diamond mines prospering enormously, and they think that if they could drive us out, all this wealth would come into their hands. They dream of one great Republic, and of their flag waving everywhere. I don't say that they would drive the English out altogether; their talents and energy would be useful to them, and, as in the Transvaal, they would make them pay all the taxes of the country. Kruger would, of course, be President of the Republic, but he is an old man, and Steyn would naturally be his successor. That is why he may be expected to drag the Free State into the matter should there be a row." "But they can hardly think that England would consent to let them go?" "That is what they do think, Yorke. Since that Majuba business, and the fatal surrender afterwards, they despise us altogether. They do not believe for a moment that we shall fight, and they are positive that if we should venture to do so, they would thrash us without the slightest difficulty. They have accumulated enormous stores of rifles and artillery, and believe that, as they licked us so easily when they were unprovided with these things, it will be a mere walk over now. Kruger will keep up a correspondence with Chamberlain until everything is absolutely ready, then he will break off negotiations, and there will be war--that is, if England is bold enough to venture upon it. That is the Boer idea of things, Yorke. You will hear it openly discussed up at the house. Even in the farms round here there are stores of ammunition hidden away, and if war does begin, and a material advantage is gained, you will see the whole country on fire from Cape Town to Pretoria.