A group of excited men were gathered in front of the Stock Exchange at
Johannesburg. It was evident that something altogether unusual had
happened. All wore anxious and angry expressions, but a few shook hands
with each other, as if the news that so much agitated them, although
painful, was yet welcome; and indeed this was so.

For months a war-cloud had hung over the town, but it had been thought
that it might pass over without bursting. None imagined that the blow
would come so suddenly, and when it fell it had all the force of a
complete surprise, although it had been so threatening for many weeks
that a considerable portion of the population had already fled. It was
true that great numbers of men, well armed, and with large numbers of
cannon, had been moving south, but negotiations were still going on and
might continue for some time yet; and now by the folly and arrogance of
one man the cloud had burst, and in thirty hours war would begin.

Similar though smaller groups were gathered here and there in the
streets. Parties of Boers from the country round rode up and down with
an air of insolent triumph, some of them shouting "We shall soon be rid
of you; in another month there will not be a rooinek left in South
Africa."

Those addressed paid no heed to the words. They had heard the same thing
over and over again for the past two months. There was a tightening of
the lips and a closing of the fingers as if on a sword or rifle, but no
one replied to the insolent taunts. For years it had been the hope of
the Uitlanders that this would come, and that there would be an end to a
position that was well-nigh intolerable. Never before had a large body
of intelligent men been kept in a state of abject subjection by an