"Put me down! put me down!" gasped the girl. "Put you down?" repeated he, clasping her the tighter. "Hardly, after all the trouble I have had to get you here. That is too much to ask, dear Brenda." "Your promise--you promised to treat me well." "And I have done so. As I told you, I would not harm a hair of your dear head. And I have not done so, and I will not do so. I had to drug your coffee because I knew that by no other means should I be able to get you away. All's fair in love and war, you know. This is both love and war. I told you that in Durban; don't you remember?" "Where are you taking me?" "To the Boer lines: We have crossed the river; yes, there is a ford hard by the farmhouse. That, of course, was the reason I took you there. In another hour we shall be safe amongst my own people. Thence you will go to Pretoria, and then--and then, when the war is all over, you will marry me!" "I will die first," she screamed, trying to struggle. "You will not be allowed to die. The little revolver looked pretty, ah, so pretty! in your hands, but it was dangerous. I love you too well to lose you like that. And now that I have you wholly in my power, you cannot say that I am behaving badly." "Oh, put me down, do put me down! Dear Mr. van Zwieten, don't spoil your good action in saving me on the veldt by----" "Saving you! Saving you!" exclaimed the Dutchman. "How innocent you are, child! Why, you don't think our meeting was accidental, do you? I had you brought there. I knew exactly what would happen, and my calculations were not very far out, were they?" "You!--you!--oh, how can you tell me such a thing? I don't believe it. It is a lie." "Gently, please, gently," said he, restraining her tenderly. She was struggling to free herself from his grasp, even, as she knew, at the risk of life and limb. "I can be cruel as well as kind. I tell you it was I who brought you on to the veldt. The Kaffir boy who attended to your horse is my servant. I knew how you rode every day, for I followed you up from Durban, and have watched you constantly. I told the boy to prepare a special bit for your horse; one that would burn his mouth after a while. Oh, that is an old trick which I learned in your virtuous England. When the little beast began to feel the burning he naturally bolted. What else would you expect him to do? I did not anticipate he would throw you, though; that was not included in my plans! The rest you know." Again she tried to struggle free from his grasp. "For God's sake, let me down!" she cried. She felt she would go into hysterics every moment. "That is the one thing I will not do. I have you at last, and I keep you. You are mine now, husband or no husband. Not if I can help it shall you ever see him again."