Part 19 (1/2)

”Now, Wilfred,” said Jack, ”out with that piece of beef we brought with us. I'll get a fire alight, and we'll have a good meal. Probably it is the last good one we shall be able to eat for some time, and cooking it will help to pa.s.s the hours between this and nightfall. We'll push on then, and we shall have to go carefully, for there are numbers of Boers hereabouts.”

Wilfred at once opened his haversack, while Jack gathered a few twigs and lit a fire between some boulders. Slices of beef were cut, and having been toasted in front of the blaze, were placed on pieces of bread and eaten with great relish. Then they lit up their pipes and smoked, one or other of them occasionally getting up to have a good look round.

Late in the afternoon Jack sighted some hors.e.m.e.n, and as these might be a party of the enemy, the fire was trampled out, and the two crawled to the edge of the trees and looked out. The road ran within twenty feet of them, and very soon ten men, who were undoubtedly Boers, pa.s.sed by them, laughing, and evidently quite unconscious of the presence of two of the hated Rooineks. And in the centre of the group of hors.e.m.e.n was the English colonist who had made himself so agreeable to them the night before.

”Ah! there is no doubt about his being a scoundrel,” whispered Jack.

”Well, we shall know what to do if we meet him in an English town after this; and if I happen to ride this way with despatches I shall certainly call at De Aar and warn them there. Now I think we may as well take it in turns to have a sleep. We'll start again at nightfall and cover about fifty miles. Then we'll lie up in a quiet spot I know of, and the following night we ought to get through to Kimberley.”

”All right, Jack! you turn in, and I'll take the first watch,” answered Wilfred jovially. ”I'll wake you in a couple of hours.”

Accordingly Jack lay down, and, like a hardened campaigner, fell asleep at once. Two hours afterwards Wilfred took his turn, and after a short nap was awakened. Then, saddling their ponies, they turned out of the eucalyptus-trees and started on their long ride.

Before dawn they were securely hidden in a donga, in the midst of a group of small but steep boulder-strewn kopjes, and there, feeling secure from observation, they lay down in their blankets beneath the shade of a huge rock and fell asleep.

When darkness fell again they proceeded on their journey, and a few hours later swam their ponies across the Modder River. It was risky work, but to have attempted to cross by the railway-bridge or at the drift (ford) would have led to certain discovery, for both places were closely watched by the Boers. Instead of that, they had made a wide detour, and crossed at a bend in the river where the stream ran very slowly. Then they turned their faces towards Kimberley, and pressed forward, hoping to reach the beleaguered town an hour or more before daylight.

They were now in a country overrun by Boers, and they therefore rode in silence, with their bayonets fixed and the magazines of their rifles filled, but without a cartridge in the breech, for the accidental pressure on a trigger might easily have betrayed them. Five miles farther on, the flash of the search-light caught their eyes as it slowly swept a broad beam across the veldt surrounding the town.

”Turn to the left--quick!” whispered Jack. ”Now get in under this boulder. It would never do to stand out in the open. That light would show us up at once.”

A minute or two later the electric beam had pa.s.sed by, and they pushed on once more.

”That is Frank Russel's farm over there,” said Jack, a quarter of an hour later, as a house loomed up on their left. ”He is evidently standing by his property, and trusting to the Boers to leave him alone, for you can see the lights in his windows--Hold on a moment, Wilfred!

What was that? I thought I heard shouts.”

”Sounds to me like a concert or something of the sort going on,”

answered Wilfred, pulling up alongside Jack and listening intently.

”Yes, I'm sure of it; there are a lot of fellows singing together.”

”Then they must be Boers, Wilfred! Frank Russel is an oldish man, steady and quiet, and he would never think of entertaining a party of rowdies, especially if they belonged to the enemy. He held a good position at home, but something caused him to come out here with his wife, where he has lived for about twenty years, cattle-ranching and farming. Tom Salter and I have had a cup of tea with him many a time.

His wife is dead, and he has a rather pretty daughter, who runs the home for him. I wonder what is going on over there? Frank is loyal to the backbone, and would never think of harbouring one of England's enemies.”

”Ho, ho! There's a girl there, and a pretty one too, is there, Jack?”

Wilfred chuckled. ”Well, if you think that something is happening to them we may as well go over and investigate.”

”Just what I think, Wilfred. I don't like the look of things. Either Frank has changed his mind and gone into Kimberley with Eileen, or the Boers are ill-treating them. Keep close beside me, and we'll see what's up. I know every foot of the ground round here, and will see that we do not fall into a trap.”

Jack at once touched his pony with his heel, and in absolute silence the two moved forward towards the farmhouse. It consisted of one small building, surrounded by a neat English flower-garden, and lying isolated in the middle of the veldt, the outhouses and sheds for cattle being at least a mile away.

As they rode up to it on the soft noiseless turf, the sound of uproarious singing became louder, and was interrupted by bursts of hoa.r.s.e laughter.

”Hold on to my ponies,” whispered Jack, when they had reached the edge of the garden. ”I'll be back as soon as I've seen what is going on.”

Slipping to the ground, he pa.s.sed the reins to Wilfred, and, climbing the iron railing which fringed the garden, stole across the beds towards the house. At the door a number of ponies were standing, knee-haltered, and picking the gra.s.s from the borders of the garden. Jack got close up to them and made sure that they were animate belonging to the Boers.

Then he crept up to one of the windows, and peered in beneath the blind, which was only partly drawn.

The sight which met his eyes caused him to give a start, while an exclamation of anger escaped his lips, for Jack was a kind-hearted lad, and to see anyone wantonly inflicting pain upon a fellow-being, or indeed upon any dumb animal, was hateful to him, and doubly so when, as in this case, it was a helpless girl who was being tormented.