esired to proceed; lies very near the Transvaal border; and the question was; Did I dare to take my wife thither? For some weeks we remained in Maritzburg; staying part of the time with Sir Theophilus and Lady Shepstone; and the rest in an hotel。 Literally I was at my wits’ end to know what to do。 To advance seemed too risky; to remain where we were was both wearisome and; with our servants; ruinously expensive。
At length my wife; who; I think; take her altogether; is the most courageous woman I ever met; announced that she would have no more of it: her house was at Newcastle two hundred miles away; and; Boers or no Boers; thither she would go。 There were rumours that Sir George Colley; who was then the Governor and mander…inChief of Natal; intended to attack the passes of the Drakensberg with the few troops at his disposal。 Nobody believed it; since the thing was so obviously a madness。 But I was not so sure。 I went to Colonel (afterwards Sir Charles) Mitchell; the Colonial Secretary; and asked him in confidence if he knew anything。 He replied — Nothing; but that I might be quite certain that so distinguished a soldier would never act foolishly。
So I bought two good horses — which afterwards died of the sickness — harnessed them to the “spider;” and we started。
I think it was on the night before Colley left Maritzburg to take personal mand of the troops at Newcastle that my wife and I dined at Government House。 If so; this historical dinner took place on