But on this occasion John fared well enough.

To begin with, he knew the owners of the place, who were very civil people if approached in a humble spirit, and, furthermore, he found everybody in such a state of unpleasurable excitement that they were only too glad to get another Englishman with whom to talk over matters.

Not that their information amounted to much, however.

There was a rumour of the Bronker's Spruit disaster and other rumours of the investment of Pretoria, and of the advance of large bodies of Boers to take possession of the pass over the Drakensberg, known as Laing's Nek, but there was no definite intelligence.
"You won't get into Pretoria," said one melancholy man, "so it's no use trying.

The Boers will just catch you and kill you, and there will be an end of it.