"It is now the third of October, so that we have seven days before us to prepare for the old murderer. We have not been idle any more than Kruger has, and this time we have played his own game, the hiding one. From Fourteen Streams to the Portuguese border on the north we have the Transvaal environed and practically hemmed in; from Fourteen Streams to Usuta they are also isolated, although they do not know it; the natives of Swazi and Gaza lands are ready to rise at the signal, and pour across the border; a fleet of warships protects Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Durban, so that the tactics of Mr Schreiner are so far defeated. "We have hundreds of volunteers on their way from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. They are bringing arms and ammunition enough for all purposes. They will land at Durban and Cape Town in a few weeks at latest. Yes; I think we are nearly ready this time for the tortoise when he puts out his head, without having to trouble our mother for too much help, except those who man her fleet." "And what can we do?" asked our heroes. "Command us, for we are ready." "Well, I want you, Romer, to take a message into Johannesburg, and wait there till the fun begins." "Yes," replied Ned. "You must have some kind of disguise. I see you have grown a crop of down on your cheeks. I think you might sacrifice that, and you'll make as smashing a young woman as one of your amazons." Ned laughed, and said he was willing to change his sex for the time. "All right," replied the doctor. "We'll put the dressmaker of Mafeking on to you and your chums, and send you in to cajole the Boers. You, Raybold, must go to Pretoria. And you, Weldon, to Bloemfontein. I shall want Cocoeni and his fellows along with me. "There must be no hesitation this time amongst the Uitlanders. On the midnight of the eleventh they must rise to a man, and hold the different towns until the outside forces join you. If all goes well, as I cannot see how it can miss, take possession of the trains and telegraph offices, so as to let no message go out or enter the land. Our part of the game must be finished before the world can hear about its opening, and this rotten Republic will then be a thing of the past. We intend to hold the kopjes this campaign, and force these skunks into the open; also to avoid bloodshed as much as possible, only the victory must be on our side--and complete." Dr Jim gave our heroes a great many other details and instructions on the journey down. He had been training and moving men to different parts for the past seven months in anticipation of this event, as settlers and their servants, as unostentatiously as he could manage it. While Kruger had been busy coquetting with foreign powers, and buying the latest improvement in weapons, Cecil Rhodes had been quietly stocking and populating the lands adjacent to the Transvaal.