Part 13 (1/2)

”Wait--wait--wait!” whispered Brian, his voice in a tre theive the word, up and at the into them if there are five or five hundred Down-- keep down, Trask; they'll see your hat, es--for three or four ed the stolen beasts down to the gate and stood on each side to pass the been driven fast and far that day, were disposed to give no trouble, but entered the enclosure quietly, one with another

”Fifteen! They've killed one--and, by Jove! they are going to kill another,” whispered Brian, as the Kafirs, shutting the kraal gate behind theest oxen with _reims_ in their hands ”Now, are you all ready We'll capture the fellows inside

Don't shout or anything but--up and at theed down upon the kraal, but the Kafirs had seen us A loud warning cry, and several lithe dark for, half-creeping, made for the bush as fast as ever they could pelt, while three more ere seated round a fire, each with a beef bone in his fist, gnawing thea heap of other relics of the feast, and started up to fly Evidently they were unaware of the smallness of our force, or perhaps took us for a posse of Mounted Police

”Look at that! Only look at that!” cried Revell, pointing to the fire, beside which lay the head and a remnant of the carcase of one of the stolen ani all prudence to the winds, he up with his piece and let fly at one of the fleeing for, mind! Trask, _do_ you hear!”

Too late Trask had already pressed the trigger, and more fortunate--or unfortunate--than Revell, who hadof his horse, one of the fleeing Kafirs was seen to stued himself into the welcome cover of the bush

”First bird!” cried Trask, ith excitement ”He's dead I saw hi,” returned Brianof the sort, see! You only shot to scare, and I told you not to do that unless you were driven to it”

”That's so,” said Revell, ”we only shot to scare Don't be an idiot, Trask”

”But--” began that obtuse worthy ”Oh--ah--ument in his thick skull

Now all this had befallen in a very twinkling The thieves had vanished as though into thin air--certainly into thick bush--and here ere, with fifteen out of the sixteen oxen coht have fallen to our lot But what about the stolen horses? And just then, as though in reply to le, suddenly beheld twoplace just the other side of the kraal In a moment they were under cover of the bush and safe out of shot, but in that nised the steed bestridden by the hindermost one It was Meerkat--Beryl's own particular and favourite horse--and it I had pledgeditives, like a ind In that nised that none followedme back, but to it I turned a deaf ear, for still clearer see back Meerkat,” had been her parting words to me And now there the horse was--not so very far in front of ht shout himself voiceless: this tiallop, a short exhilarating pursuit, I would knock off its back the greasy rascal as riding it, and would bring back the horse--Beryl's horse--in triu

Yes, but behind that lay its realisation, and this was not quite so easy For the as literally ”dark and slippery” Over staircase-like rocks, and rolling, slipping stones, it ran, now beneath the gloo back,intently, I could just catch the faint click of hoofs away in front, and with a sinking of heart I recognised that this sound see even more faint The consciousness ed way, plunging, floundering, but getting along somehow, in a manner not to be contemplated in cold blood

If the path was daed

I gave no thought as to whether any of , or if I did it was only a jealouslest I should not be, the first to coht escape, for all I cared; the other horse ht not be recovered, but recapture Beryl's I would Then I awoke to the unpleasing realisation that dusk was giving way to darkness, the downright sheer darkness of night

All theto a swift conclusion: wherefore I po with a ruthlessness of which at any other time I should be heartily ashamed

But here the end justified the means, and soon I was rewarded, for I heard the click of hoofs much nearer ahead now, and with it the smothered tone of a voice or two

Of course it should have occurred to me, had I not been transfor the part of one For here I was, a man who had been little more than a month in the country, about to rush into the le-handed how ht in their own especial haunt, in the thick of their oild fastnesses; for it was highly probable that those whom I pursued had joined, or been joined by, others in front Yet if I gave theone

Now nising the close propinquity of its friends, and there sure enough, as the bush thinned out somewhat, I could see the two runaways barely that nu on a spurt I had halved the distance, when they halted He who bestrode Beryl's steed was an evil-looking savage with a string of blue beads about his neck, and an expression of contemptuous ferocity on his countenance as he faced round and awaited ai which he held ready to cast But I rode straight for him, and ithin thirty yards he launched the spear Heavens! I could feel the draught created by the thing as it whizzed by my ear with almost the velocity of a bullet, and then I was upon hiood horseet hold ofback with it in such wise as to prevent side of his A h my mind to empty my shot barrel into his abo still in my memory availed to stay my hand

I hardly knohat happened then, or how Whether it was thatthe rein free, or o, but the sudden recoil caused o clean over, taking round, though, fortunately, not under hirin on the face ofswooped down over ht and air in amy arms to my sides, which several hands securely bound there A babel of deep jeering voices filled my ears, muffled as they were, and I was seized and violently hustled forward at a great pace over a rough and stony way, the vicious dig of an assegai ina volley of injunctions which I could not understand What I could understand, however, was that was expected to walk, and to walk sed me forward

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

THE DEN OF THE CATTLE STEALERS