There were a few indeed who still believed that the Boers would stand
entirely upon the defensive so far as Natal went. They would occupy the
formidable passes through the Drakensberg and await attack there, while
they would invade Cape Colony at many points and raise the Boer
population. However, the general opinion was that they would advance
into Natal in great force, and in that case it was doubtful, indeed,
whether Sir George White could oppose them successfully north of
Maritzburg. He might even, it was thought, be obliged to fall back to
Durban until reinforcements arrived from England. Already there was a
rush to the offices that had been opened for the volunteer corps. Many
of the fugitives from the Transvaal had joined, as had most of the young
farmers who had been obliged by the hostility of their Dutch neighbours
to abandon their homes in the north of Natal, while numbers of all ranks
in Maritzburg, Durban, and other towns were giving in their names. All
the lads who had come down with Chris had some time before obtained
their parents' consent to join a volunteer corps, or form one among
themselves, and as it was evident that the crisis was at hand no
objections were raised to their doing so at once. Mrs. King would go
down to Durban with her friends, so that there was no need for her son
to accompany her.

It had been agreed by the other lads that they would all meet at ten
o'clock at the hotel where Chris put up, and the party mustered in
greater strength than had been expected, for they found that the boys
who had preceded them had all waited in the town, and were stopping at
the various hotels. They too had been as badly treated by the Boers as
the last arrivals, and were all eager to begin work.

"There is no getting a private room here," Chris said, "so we had better
go outside the town and talk things over." As they went they chatted