Chapter I: Preface

Everything of interest that has happened to me in life chances to have been in connection with South Africa. In that land, where some of my happiest days have been spent, I have also experienced long periods of intense excitement and anxiety; there I have made acquaintance with all the charm of the veldt, in the vast country north of the great Zambesi River, hearing the roar of the lions at night, and following their "spoor" by day; and last, but not least, I have there made some very good friends. Only a few years ago, when peacefully spending a few weeks at Assouan in Egypt, I was nearly drowned by the capsizing of a boat in the Nile; again the spirit of the vast continent (on this occasion far away to the north) seemed to watch over me. For all these reasons I venture to claim the indulgence of the public and the kindness of my friends, for these recollections of days in South Africa, in which shade and sunshine have been strangely mingled, and which to me have never been dull. To sum up, I have always found that life is what you make it, and have often proved the truth of the saying, "Adventures to the adventurous."

I am indebted to Colonel Vyvyan for statistics respecting the Mafeking Relief Fund; and to Miss A. Fielding, secretary to the late Countess Howe, for a résumé of the work of the Yeomanry Hospital during the Boer War.

S.I.W.

THE STUD HOUSE,
HAMPTON COURT.
_September, 1909_.

CONTENTS

I. FIRST VOYAGE TO SOUTH AFRICA--CAPE TOWN

II. KIMBERLEY AND THE JAMESON RAID

III. THE IMMEDIATE RESULTS OF THE RAID--THE RAIDERS THEMSELVES

IV. JOHANNESBURG AND PRETORIA IN 1896

V. THREE YEARS AFTER--LORD MILNER AT CAPE TOWN BEFORE THE WAR--MR.
CECIL RHODES AT GROOT SCHUURR--OTHER INTERESTING PERSONAGES

VI. PREPARATIONS FOR WAR--MAFEKING, AND DEPARTURE THEREFROM

VII. IN A REBELLIOUS COLONY--VISIT TO VRYBURG DURING THE
BOER OCCUPATION--I PASS OFF AS A DUTCHMAN'S SISTER

VIII. BETRAYED BY A PIGEON--THE BOERS COME AT LAST

IX. HOW I WAS MADE A PRISONER--IN A BOER LAAGER

X. EXCHANGED FOR A HORSE-THIEF--BACK TO MAFEKING
AFTER TWO MONTHS' WANDERINGS

XI. LIFE IN A BESIEGED TOWN

XII. LIFE IN A BESIEGED TOWN _(continued)_

XIII. ELOFF'S DETERMINED ATTACK ON
MAFEKING, AND THE RELIEF OF THE TOWN

XIV. ACROSS THE TRANSVAAL TO PRETORIA DURING THE WAR

XV. PRETORIA AND JOHANNESBURG UNDER LORD ROBERTS AND MILITARY LAW

XVI. MY RETURN TO CIVILIZATION ONCE MORE--THE
MAFEKING FUND--LETTERS FROM THE KING AND QUEEN

XVII. THE WORK OF LADY GEORGIANA CURZON, LADY CHESHAM, AND THE
YEOMANRY HOSPITAL, DURING THE WAR--THIRD VOYAGE TO THE CAPE, 1902

XVIII. FOURTH VOYAGE TO THE CAPE--THE VICTORIA
FALLS AND SIX WEEKS NORTH OF THE ZAMBESI

APPENDIX I. MAFEKING RELIEF FUND

APPENDIX II. IMPERIAL YEOMANRY HOSPITALS, 1900-1902