Part 22 (2/2)
”Turn your head this way!” said Ingleborough huskily.
”Wait a moment!” replied West, who had pa.s.sed his hat into his rein hand, to afterwards clap his right to his head and draw it away.
”First blood to them!” he said, with a mocking laugh.
”Here, we must ease up and let me bandage it,” said Ingleborough.
”No, thanks: that's a likely tale with the bullets flying like this!
Keep on, man; we've got a fair start! Let's get past those trees forward yonder; they'll shelter us a bit!”
”But your wound, my lad?”
”They've only nicked the edge of my ear. It will stop bleeding of itself. There's nothing to mind!”
Ingleborough watched him eagerly as he spoke, and seeing for himself that there was only a feeble trickle of blood from the cut ear, he pressed on in the required direction.
”Give me warning,” he cried, ”if you feel faint, and we'll pull up, dismount, and cover ourselves with our horses while we try what practice we can make if they come on.”
”_If_ they come on!” said West bitterly. ”Look for yourself; they're already coming!”
Ingleborough turned his head sharply, to see that a line of galloping men had just been launched from the Boer laager to the right and left, and were streaming in single file down the slope, leaving ample room between them for their dismounted companions to keep up a steady fire upon the fugitives.
”That's their game, is it?” said Ingleborough, between his teeth. ”Very well, then, we must make a race of it and see what our picked ponies can do.”
”That's right!” cried West. ”Let's open out a little!”
”Right, and give them less to aim at! The bullets are flying wildly now. Ten yards apart will do.”
They separated to about this distance, and at a word from West each nipped his pony's flanks with his knees and rose a little in the stirrups, with the result that the wiry little animals stretched out greyhound fas.h.i.+on and flew over the veldt as if thoroughly enjoying the gallop.
”Steady! steady!” shouted West, at the end of ten minutes. ”We're leaving the brutes well behind, and the bullets are getting scarce.
Don't let's worry the brave little nags! With a start like this we can leave the Boers well behind.”
Ingleborough nodded after a glance backward and followed his companion's example, drawing rein so that their steeds settled down into a hand-gallop, still leaving their pursuers farther behind. The ground was now perfectly level, stretching for three or four miles without an obstacle, and then the horizon line was broken by one of the many kopjes of the country, one which lay right in their line of flight.
”What about that?” said West. ”Shall we make for it and get into shelter ready for using our rifles?”
”I don't like it!” replied Ingleborough. ”There might be another party there, and then it would be like galloping into another hornets' nest.”
”I don't like it either,” said West; ”but we must think of our horses, and by the time we get there half of this pursuing lot will have tailed off, while I don't believe the rest will come on if we shoot pretty true from behind some rock.”
”That's right!” said Ingleborough. ”We mustn't let them keep us on the run, for the horses' sake.”
”Look out!” said West, in warning tones.
”What is it?”
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