TRAITORS.

(Caaiell's. Saturday Journal.)

Quite early in the war a . whole f amily . lifting f near Ladysmith.. were arrested' as .traitotb when pretending to be. loyal. . One son was in the Imperial Light Horse.. Providentially he Was caught in the .very act of pouring poisonous cyanide of potassium into the' drinking troughs of the horses. When arrested he tore into tiny, pieces a letter. These pieces were carefully collected and pasted together, when the letter was .discovered to be one directing the traitor to poison all the mounts of the Imperial Light Horse. Retribution came quickly. The man was court-martialled and shot. Besides' the male members of this family, a daughter was discovered tohave'bujsied.he*self carrying all information she could glean to the enemy

Though themselves trebly dangerous on account of the ease with which they caa mobilise, the Boers suffer one considerable disadvantage from their very capacity for rapid movement in numbers.' In reality mounted infantry, they get from : place to place with amazing speed ; but having necessarily but scanty baggage, their commissariat -equipment is very limited,- and food soon runs short. Supplies have to be obtained locally, and here " the- 'traitor _is again at work. Knowing that Ladysmith was to be invested, some farmers living near, whilst pretending to be loyal and so being able to stay on, -'secretly provisioned their houses / FOB THE BENEFIT OF THE ENEMY. ' A chance outbreak of fire in one instance revealed the fact that preparations were being made to feed the foe. The farmer was away from home at the time, and two Englishmen who went to the rescue weep astonished to find the upper rooms of the house crammed with tins of preserved food, bags of meal and coffee, bottles of beer and spirits. Suspecting how matters stood, assistance was obtained, and, searching the house, incriminating correspondence soon, came to light, revealing the instructions given to the man as to what he was to endeavour to purchase for the coming' Boer troops. The farmer, evidently warned of what had happened, did not return; ancl the provisions Were very serviceable to out soldiers. In several instances houses were found literally packed to the roof with, provisions intended for the use of the enemy.

Probably no country has a more activa Secret Semce than tbe ''TttafcrwL Quit*

recently, as we know, their spies have in this country attempted to masquerade as loyal volunteers. The Boer, if burly and blunt, is also by nature cunning, and such work is by no means uncongenial to him. And then it is well paid for. But besides Boers, there are in South Africa numbers of men of uncertain nationality, and still more indefinite morals, who are ever ready to take up such business. One. of these was employed at a depot belonging' to ourselves in spoiling tine of provisions intended for our people and troops. His methods were simple. He managed to get told off to stack up the tins, and with a sharp , little punch, he stabbed a tiny hole in the lids of as many as possible, thus letting in the air and causing the contents to rapidly turn bad.

JTCfI.ES ABE rECTTLIAB CBEATtniESj

and the natives know their little ways

Frighten one mule into bolting, and others will at once follow, and when two or three. Jiave started nothing will hold the rest of them. Sometimes when on, the .marc)}- a heavily laden mule will, to get, rid of his pack,' .purposely stumble and, perhaps , roll down a hill. Coming to the same spot, the o'thcrs in turn do the same. It will be thus seen that mule drivers who desire to play into the enemy's hands have suitable fourfooted allies. . . '

. In action traitors also find chances for carrying; out their evil designs. Oa one occasion, after our men had prepared a clever ambush, being posted behind, cover, the whole plan was rendered futile, when a .man who had before been suspected, fell out of a tree, thus warning the enemy. He, however, never left the spot, for he was shot dead, whether by the foe we cannot say. In another surprise attack the men were using smokeless powder, and so well placed were they that, had all gone well, most of the enemy would have been laid low ere the position; of the attackers could have been located and an answering fire poured in. The action of some traitor, however, altered

.all that,, for he managed to mingle with ■the ,- men's ammunition- three ordinary cartridge's, v When. these were■firedV;the.smoke;immediately indicated our position, and as they enemy had an overwhelming; advantage.- in numbers, retreat had promptly to be wade. Many a time when at a critical moment a rifle- hai been 'discharged' ; M accidentally," jufit in time to. warn the foey it has been the deliberate finger of an unsuspected traitor, and nob that of a loyal but nervous " Tommy," that has pulled the trigger.