156 
SPORT A^D WAR. 
CHAP. XYII. 
enough to evade questions as to their destination and 
to preserve their despatches. The Equibeka mission 
station was not very far from Fort White. The 
missionary was at that time under a sort of cloud, and 
he had gone to the head missionary station, at the 
Chumie Hoek, where there was a conclave of mis¬ 
sionaries sitting in judgment upon their brother. Men 
from England had been sent out as members of this 
missionary court-martial, and while this was going 
on, the Equibeka station itself was burnt and plun¬ 
dered, by the very people they were trying to 
civilise. 
The ladies of the establishment were so far protected 
that they were allowed to leave the station with the 
clothes they had on their backs. They were making 
their way on foot to join their friends at the Chumie, 
when unfortunately they were met en route by other 
Kafirs, who maltreated them and took every stitch of 
clothing from their persons. This happened near Fort 
White; and we were shocked one morning, just after 
daylight, to see two white ladies approaching the post 
without a rag to cover them. There was no help but 
to confine the soldiers to their huts until my good 
friend Mrs. James had gone out to meet the poor crea¬ 
tures with some clothes. 
We felt deeply for these ladies. One of them was 
a most charming person, the beautiful and highly edu- 
