Part 15 (2/2)

Then we will see whether we cannot go along with the troops.”

Accordingly Jack and O'Farnel strolled across to one of the camps and were fortunate enough to find the officer of whom the latter had spoken.

”Hallo, Farney!” he exclaimed, as they stopped opposite his tent. ”So you've come up here! I thought you were going to stay at Durban.”

”No, I've got a restless fit on, Roper, and have come to see what is doing here. This is Jack Somerton, a friend of mine. By the way, he wants to get some kit. Can you help him?”

”I may be able to,” answered Roper. ”Come over to the quartermaster and we will see what he has to say.” When they reached the quartermaster's stores, which were temporarily in a large tin house, they found that he had a complete kit to sell, one of the men having been killed on the way up to Ladysmith in a railway accident.

The clothes were just the right size for Jack, and he quickly became possessed of them.

”There,” said Roper, as he handed them to Jack, ”it's not exactly correct, you know. These should be sold by auction in the regiment.

But no one wants them, and you have paid more than they would have fetched at a sale.”

”Now we want to know whether you can help us to see some of the fun,”

said O'Farnel. ”We will volunteer for anything so long as it does not tie us down.”

”Then I should advise your going farther north,” said Roper. ”Here you are not likely to come in for much, for the Free Staters compel us to keep on the watch. But General Symons is at Dundee, up towards the north of Natal, about thirty miles away, and if you go up there you are certain to see some fighting. He has 4000 men, and he will strike the first big blow. Look here, Farney, I'll give you a note to a fellow I know in the Hussars up there, and if there's to be a battle, he will see that you both have a share in it.”

”Thanks, that will suit us capitally!” said Lord O'Farnel. ”We'll start as soon as you can give me the note, for it would be an awful disappointment to arrive too late.”

A few moments afterwards they returned to their hotel, where Jack discarded his shabby tweed suit and donned the khaki.

”There you are now,” said Farney, looking quizzically at him. ”You look just like the ordinary 'Tommy', and will do. My word, though, I thought what a quiet-looking fellow you were before; but now, what with the rifle and bayonet and that broad-brimmed hat, you look a regular mountebank! But come along. There is nothing to keep us, and we may as well start north at once.”

Having paid their bills, Jack and his new friend, Farney, saddled up their ponies and took the road for Glencoe.

It was a long ride, but the road pa.s.sed through some wonderful bits of rugged scenery, and about half-way up they fell in with an ammunition column, with a small escort, and an officer who proved a perfect mine of information.

”Oh, yes!” he said, when Farney asked him, ”there's going to be a big battle up this way within a very short time. We are stationed at Dundee to check the invasion. We cannot stop it, for I suppose there must be thirty to forty thousand Boers marching south, besides others threatening our communications with Ladysmith. But we are bound to make a stand somewhere, just to show the beggars that they cannot have things all their own way.

”I hear all the enemy came over the border on the evening of 11th October, and on Sat.u.r.day they were at Newcastle. Since then they have been pus.h.i.+ng slowly south, while hundreds of wagons have followed them.

They mean business, do those Boers, and we shall have a pretty hard job to turn them out of Natal when reinforcements reach us.”

”Then you think we shall have to retire?” said Jack.

”I'm sure,” replied the officer. ”Joubert is as cunning as a fox, and a clever soldier. He is marching in three columns. One came through Botha's Pa.s.s, close below Majuba. The centre one has pa.s.sed through Newcastle, and the third, on our right, is marching down the eastern border, and will no doubt make a dash to cut our communications. They are too many for us. We shall have a go at them, hammer them, and then retire to Ladysmith, where we shall entrench ourselves and wait for reinforcements, which will take some weeks to reach us.

”I suppose you fellows are going up as volunteers? There are lots more like you. If you have never been under fire, you will have that experience before long. It's not so bad after all. Keep cool, and take, advantage of every sc.r.a.p of cover. Keep an eye overhead, too, if you can. It is possible to dodge a sh.e.l.l, and the farther you can get away from it the better.”

It was late on the evening of 19th October when Jack and Farney reached the British tents at Craigside Camp, between Dundee and Glencoe, and close against Talana Hill, which was to be the scene of the next day's battle.

A few enquiries soon brought them to the Hussar quarters, and having introduced themselves to Roper's friend, by means of his note, they were both able to get a shake-down in a tent near by for the night, as well as a good meal.

They had had a long and tiring ride, and were soon asleep, wrapped in the blankets which each one had carried strapped behind his saddle.

Just as daylight dawned on the following morning they were startled from their sleep by a succession of loud reports, followed in a few seconds by the screaming of several sh.e.l.ls overhead and by an explosion close at hand.

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