opposite this window. Being a Vrywilliger[7] and a gentleman, this
poor man suffered as sharply from his position as did I. That night
two armed men stood at our chamber door. One was stationed at each of
our bedroom windows. Another guarded the house entrance, and the
remainder of the guard were dispersed around the yard. Their guns were
loaded, and a bandolier of cartridges crossed their breasts. All this
to restrain a poor, broken man, who could not walk a dozen yards!


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 7: A volunteer.]




VII


ASH WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19.--The dynamite explosion was something
terrific. Fifty-five tons exploded at one time, wounding 700 people,
killing 80, and leaving 1,500 homeless. It ripped a chasm in the earth
deep enough to hold an Atlantic steamer with all her rigging. The
Kaffirs thought the sun had burst. Betty says the noise of the report
was something awful. Little Jacky was digging in the garden at the
time. He returned to the house at once with a very troubled face. The
coachman coming from town an hour later told of the dreadful
catastrophe. Jacky took his aunt aside: 'Aunt Bet, I heard that great
big noise when I was diggin' and I thought I had dug up hell.'