Close by were the barracks, with
seven or eight occupants, the same sort of depot as at Setlagoli. I
asked to see Mrs. Keeley, and boldly announced we had come to beg for a
few nights' lodging. We were most warmly received and made welcome. The
kindness of the Keeleys is a bright spot in my recollections of those
dark weeks. Mrs. Keeley herself was in a dreadful state of anxiety, as
she had that very day received a letter from her husband in Mafeking,
whither he had proceeded on business, to say he found he must remain and
help defend the town; his assistance was urgently needed there in
obtaining information respecting the Boers from the natives, whose
language he talked like his own. She had five small children, and was
shortly expecting an addition to her family, so at last I had found
someone who was more to be pitied than myself. She, on the other hand,
told me our arrival was a godsend to her, as it took her thoughts off
her troubles.
Affairs in the neighbourhood seemed in a strange confusion. Mr. Keeley
was actually the _Veldtcornet_ of the district, an office which in times
of peace corresponded to that of a magistrate. In reality he was shut up
in Mafeking, siding against the Dutch. The surrounding country was
peopled entirely, if sparsely, by Dutch farmers and natives, the former
of whom at first and before our reverses professed sympathy with the
English; but no wonder the poor wife looked to the future with dread,
fearful lest British disasters would be followed by Boer reprisals.
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