The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-20
FLOWER TALKS IN PRETORIA.
An English Woman's Plan of Com
municuting With Her Husband.
FrOm the Pail Nall Gazette.)

I
Mrs. Hignett. wife OF the resident mag
| is;rate at Nqutu. Zululand, who, with her
I little girl and husband was taken pris-
| oner to Pretoria after the capture of tho
magistrates by the Beers has some nest
interesting experiences to tell of her So
| journ in Pretoria. Mrs. Hignett is a
daughter of the late Sir Melmoth Osborn,
formerly Resident Commissioner of Zulu
land. my husband had only ten white
police with him. J" said Mrs Hignett n the
course of a short chat. and against US
there were four hundred Beers and three
heavy guns. After they had dropped five
shells into our courtyard. and one in The
clerks room. where five native police
were stationed, my husband acting under
orders from headquarters, reluctantly
surrendered My little girl and myself
were driven of under an escort. by way OF
Helpmakaar to Ladysmith, where We We're
put in a train for Pretoria. En- route one
OF the guards bcastingly pointed out Mich
olson's Mex, Where We captured all your
rooineks,' he exulted.';
And how were you treated in 2reto-
ria. Mrs Hignett?"
VERY well, all things considered My
husband was confined with the British
officers, and l was allowed to lodge in
the ssown under surveillance. After a
great deal of bother, l was granted per-
mission to see my husband once a fort
night for twenty minutes only, in a room
where q guard who understood English
was always present, listening to the con-
yersation. and occasionally joining Ii.
THE guard was very wideawake, but We
nevertheless managed to devise secret
code for conveying news to our men Of
what was taking place outside. At the
first interview, when / shok hands with
ny husband, he slipped Il small piece of
paper into my hand with the following
code of signals on it:
"First-Wear red flower or leaf to
mean success for us.
"Second-Green leaves mean disaster to
US.
''Third-White flower means Ladysmith
going strong
'Fourth-Blue flower means success in
Cape Colony.
Yes" smiled Mrs. Hisnott, ''and my
husband told me how eagerly the poor fell
lows crowded TO the fence to wait my
coming. One day had to wear green. 1t
was after Spion Kop, and it made my
heart ache to do It.
THE Under Secretary of State for War.
De Souza was most courteous. and after
Joubert's death he was acting coplrnan-
dant general of all the Boer forces for a
few days He treated the prisoners as
well as he could. but he was under s.spi-
cion himself by the Pretoria commandant.
iHEblEu lHG klHu influences OF MS WIFE.
who Is an English woman, / got the com
mandant general 10 grant us a passport.
and We were all virtually smuggled out OF
Pretoria, thanks to the brief spell of au-
thority enjoyed by Mr.. De Souza
"The most laughable thing I can re-
member" said Mrs. Hignett. was told mo
by one of our escort from Nqutu. and it
was against his own countrymen too
Among the Beers attacking the magis-
tracy were number of young Natal reb-
els, who had never seen or heard gun of
heavy calibre fired before. They were all
drawn up close behind 1t. and as soon as
the first she'll was fred two of them turn
ed tail and galloped for their lives to the
rear never drawing rein for any length Of
time TIL they had put thirty miles be-
tween them and the dreaded guns En-
route they were stopped by snndry pick
cts, to whom they reported that they we're
on the way for re-enforcements."