The Petticoat Commando | Page 4

vivacious, and exceedingly humorous, a man
remembered by all who knew him for his great hospitality and for the
shrewd, quaint humour of his sayings.
[Illustration: MRS. VAN WARMELO.]
Some years after their arrival in Zoutpansberg, Mrs. van Warmelo had
married a Hollander, a young minister of the Dutch Reformed Church.
Of him it is not necessary to speak in this book.
He had taken his part in the first Anglo-Boer war and had passed away

in Heidelberg, Transvaal, leaving to the people of his adopted
fatherland and to his children a rich inheritance in the memory of a life
spent in doing noble deeds--a life of rare self-sacrifice.
His family had left Heidelberg a few years after his death, and had
taken up their abode in the capital in order to be near Mrs. van
Warmelo's married daughter, Mrs. Cloete, who then lived close to
Harmony, in Sunnyside.
It was a wild, romantic suburb in those days, being still almost entirely
in its natural state. Grass-covered hills, clumps of mimosa, and other
wild trees, with here and there an old homestead picturesquely situated
in isolated spots, were all there was to be seen.
Of all the private properties in this suburb, Harmony was the most
overgrown and neglected when Mrs. van Warmelo first took possession
of it.
It was bounded at the lower, the western end, by the Aapies River, a
harmless rivulet in its normal state--almost dry, in fact, during the
winter season--but in flood a most dangerous and destructive element,
overflowing its banks and sweeping away every obstruction in its wild
course.
The property was overgrown with rank vegetation and reminded one of
the impenetrable forest abode of the "Sleeping Beauty" of fairy-tale
fame.
Friends wondered that Mrs. van Warmelo had the courage to live alone
with her daughter Hansie in such a wild and desolate spot, and they
wondered still more when they heard of the alarming experience the
two ladies had the very first night they spent in their new home.
On their arrival, there were still workmen busy repairing the house, and
Mrs. van Warmelo pointed out to one of them that the skylight above
the bathroom door had not yet been put in. The man nailed a piece of
canvas over it, with the remark that that would do for the night, and that
he would put in the skylight on his return the next day. Mrs. van

Warmelo was only half satisfied, but left the matter there.
During the night one of her own servants, a sullen, treacherous-looking
native, recently in her employment, entered the bathroom by putting a
ladder against the door and tearing away the canvas from the skylight.
He must then have unlocked the door on the inside, striking about a
dozen matches while he was in the room, and carried various
portmanteaux out into the garden, where he slashed them open at the
sides and overhauled their contents for money and valuables.
Early the next morning Mrs. van Warmelo was roused by old Anne
Merriman, the only woman servant on the place, who came in from the
garden with articles of wearing apparel which she had picked up under
the trees, and which she held up to the astonished gaze of her mistress.
On investigating further, they found the garden littered with articles of
clothing, valuable documents, and title-deeds, which the thief had
thrown aside as worthless, in his search for money.
The only things of value which he had taken with him were a set of
pearl ear-rings and brooch, and a beautiful lined "kaross," or rug, made
of the skins of wild South African animals. Nothing was seen of him
again, but Mrs. van Warmelo immediately got a revolver and kept
watch for him, hoping, yet fearing, that he would return for more
plunder.
This was a sad beginning, and old Anne added to their fears by
predicting every imaginable calamity to the inhabitants of Harmony.
She was gifted with second-sight, so she said, and often saw a man in
grey about the place; his presence "boded no good," and old Anne soon
after left the place, with many warnings to her mistress to follow her
example, before she could be overtaken by disaster.
All this had taken place long before the war broke out. Harmony had in
the meantime been vastly improved, the dense undergrowth having
been cut away, and the row of enormous willow trees, with which the
house was overshadowed, having been removed, while large flower and
vegetable gardens had been laid out, where once a jungle-like growth

of shrubs and rank grass had abounded.
Much of the natural beauty still remained, however, and Harmony was
a favourite resort for many people in Pretoria. Young and old visited
the place, especially during the summer months when