By her side lay Sannie, the little prattling girl of three, my constant playmate, whom I had instructed in cat's-cradle, and taught the tales of Cinderella and Red Riding Hood.

My hand grasped the lollipops in my pocket convulsively.
She would never need them.

Nobody else was about.

What had become of Oom Jan Willem--and the baby?
I wandered out into the yard, sick with the sight I had already seen.
There Oom Jan Willem himself lay stretched at full length; a bullet had pierced his left temple; his body was also riddled through with assegai thrusts.
I saw at once what this meant.

A rising of the Matabele! I had come back from Salisbury, unknowing it, into the midst of a revolt of bloodthirsty savages.
Yet, even if I had known, I must still have hurried home with all speed to Klaas's--to protect Hilda.
Hilda?
Where was Hilda?
A breathless sinking crept over me.
I staggered out into the open.