Part 23 (1/2)

”Not much--in fact very little.”

”Then a bird gun is the thing for you. With buckshot cartridges it's a terror--especially at close quarters. By Jove, Ancram! that last shoot we had at Courtland, you little thought that next time you and I were fellow guns it wouldn't be as against the harmless homely rocketer, but the whole real live Matabele?”

”No, rather not,” answered Ancram, a little more confidently, for the cool, devil-may-care fearlessness of the other two was beginning to infect him. ”And--er, Lamont, I think I'll have another peg, if I may.”

The hot afternoon drowsed on, and the a.s.sailants, or besiegers rather, after the first few volleys made no further sign. It was clear that Lamont had accurately sized up their programme. Once, Peters had thought to descry the head of a savage peering round a bush, and had promptly sent a bullet where he judged the body should be, but there was nothing to tell with what success or not. Clearly they were playing a waiting game, for they made no attempt to occupy the cattle kraal, and rake the house from there. Those awful magazine rifles had established within them a wholesome fear.

But they had no idea of abandoning their plan, for all that. That house would be worth plundering. Its owner was known as one of the well-to-do settlers, and there would be stores of all kinds, and ammunition and firearms--good ones too. For the rest, they had already lost several warriors and thirsted for revenge.

During the hours of daylight the occupants were not idle. The position being menaced from one side only, they need only give cursory vigilance to the other, where the ground was too open for any wily savage to venture to risk his skin. So, while one watched, the other was busy putting up in portable packets a sufficiency of provisions to last for some days at a pinch, likewise as much ammunition as could be carried.

”Now we'll have a feed,” said Lamont. ”That'll last us the night through, and spare our supplies for the road. They're bound to burn this shack down in any case. Aren't they, Peters?”

”Cert.”

”All right then. Now for the trap.”

And Ancram looked on with mystified eyes, while Lamont was arranging what seemed like a dummy parcel on a beam over the centre of the room, and connecting it by a string to a cross string, fastened about half a yard above the ground. This anybody exploring the room was bound to trip over, and then--down came the dummy parcel, hard and violently upon the table. Having tested it several times, he untied it from the string and chucked it into a corner.

”That'll be all right. There'll be some vacant places in kingdom come filled up before sunrise,” he said. And to Ancram's inquiries as to what sort of b.o.o.by trap they were concocting, the answers of both men were dark.

The sun dipped to the far horizon, throwing out his long sweeping rays of gold across the silent land. But there was no sign of the returning herd of cattle, of which Ujojo was in charge. It was significant, too, that no sign of a native servant was visible among the huts since the time that Peters had been chased in. Ujojo had, of course, run off the cattle as his share of the spoil. The few calves in the kraal were bellowing impatiently for their defaulting mothers, and some fowls were clucking and scratching about. In a few minutes it would be quite dark.

”Ready, Ancram?” said Peters.

”Ye-es. But--who's going to fetch the horses?”

”n.o.body,” said Lamont briskly. ”We travel per Shanks his mare.”

”But--what'll Fullerton say? I borrowed a horse from him.”

”Then he'll lose it. Why, if anyone tried to get out the horses he'd make such a devil of a row over it that our scheme would be blown upon right there. And they wouldn't funk rus.h.i.+ng us in the dark, when we couldn't see to shoot straight. Now then--got your gun and cartridges?

That's right. Out of that window, and stick hard to Peters. For your life walk quietly and don't let a sound be heard. I'm going to set the trap.”

But Peters protested this was his job--protesting, however, to deaf ears.

”Well then, for G.o.d's sake, Lamont, be careful,” he whispered earnestly.

For all they had primed him liberally with 'Dutch courage' Ancram's heart sank into his boots, as he found himself in the fresh, cool night air, and realised that anything over a hundred savages lurked within hardly more than three times that number of yards of him, thirsting for his blood. No need to enjoin caution upon him. He stepped as though walking on hot bricks. Suddenly he gave a violent start, and some special extension of the mercy of Providence alone restrained him from blazing off his gun. For he felt, rather than heard, stealthy footsteps behind him. Then the merest whisper breathed through the darkness.

”It's all right. I've done it. Now let's get on.”

And Ancram's knees tottered under him in the revulsion of feeling. No murderous savage was this, stealing up to transfix him in the darkness.

It was only that they had been joined by Lamont.

”_Whau_! it is near the time,” whispered Jabula, a fighting induna of the old Insukamini regiment. ”It will never be darker than this, and these fools will be asleep by now. They believe we have gone away.”

”Not yet, not yet,” cautioned another man of equal rank. ”When they have drunk a little more they will be less watchful I know these whites and their ways.”

After some more whispered discussions it was agreed that they should wait a little longer; and they lay there, in the darkness, impatiently fingering their blades, and thinking hungrily over all the good things they would find within that house when they had cut its occupants to pieces.