Part 22 (1/2)
He was settled, anyhow; but what about the rest?
For contrary to expectation the savages had designed to seize this position fro such havoc with one division the other had crept up to occupy the ridge on the side he could command least--for it was a little above him--and indeed had occupied it; for he could see athe rocks in the rear of the spot where he had dropped the last enean to realise that he was in a hard, tight place The newly arrived force of Kaffirs was already beginning to fire down into the hollow beneath Those who that they had only one ene up
And indeed this proan to shout and call to each other; and all the while the fire upon those in the hollow beneath grew hotter and hotter Ammunition was probably not profusely plentiful with those four hoht soon be exhausted
Just then the enemy's fire suddenly ceased What did it mean? Away down the river bank, Roden fro of the bushes; and his quick practised eye, following the ainst the now declining sun solittering light It was the glea at a hard canter, cah It was a patrol, and a strong one They were saved
But only just in the nick of time
CHAPTER NINETEEN
A DARK MYSTERY OF THE VELDT
The predorave when he awoke the nextin Darrell's tent, in the Main Camp, was to saddle up his horse, and betake himself back to Doppersdorp as quickly as his steed could convey him thither; and as he stepped forth, and his eye wandered over the array of tents, and waggons, and fires, and cooking pots, and accoutrehers and town volunteers, and Fingo and Hottentot levies, the ie , and now that he was here the associations of the place failed to interest him, for he was familiar with them all The sort of adventure which held any fascination for hih the day before; but all this organised crowd under arms was devoid of attraction for him He had seen it all before
Darrell, whose tendency never inclined toany exploit in which he had borne a part, had spread the account of the day's scrie far and wide; and how Roden had saved the position, and shot down half-a-dozen Kaffirs in less than that nurew to a full dozen, and so on, which to Roden hihtily distasteful For, the affair over, and he and his co, that he had not shot anybody at all He would gladly have brought back the slain Kaffirs to life again, if that were possible; but anyhow, he saw nothing to brag about in the fact of having shot thehly sick of all reference to thei part in a two days' patrol, which turned out a deadly n of an ene rain fell the whole tilad was he when it was over, and they returned to the Main Camp, and more than ever was he resolved to start back for Doppersdorp on the following
”Where on earth did you pick up your ideas of arranging a fight, Musgrave?” said Darrell, as, having finished their supper of ration beef and Boer brandy, they and two or three others were taking it easy in the tent of the former, their pipes in full blast ”Any fool could see you were no new hand at that sort of thing, by the way in which you grasped the ins and outs of the position the other day”
”Oh, I saw soo By the way, Darrell, as the name of that lunatic we picked up the other day, arent, and broker, at Barabastadt And, confound hiive ht for being such a fool as to lend it hied first If the fellow had lost his gun by accident, it would be another thing; but to go about without one, out of er and bounce, and then co him out with his! No, no It's a little too thin”
”That's how fellows coet so confoundedly careless, and at last they do it once too often It always happens I say, Musgrave, tell us soood at a fight as Jack Kaffir?”
”They're just as good at one as any fellow need wish But now, if you don't mind, I'm most confoundedly sleepy, and would as soon turn in as not” And in a very fewon around him, he was fast asleep
Roden held to his resolve and, notwithstanding all persuasion to the contrary, he started soon after sunrise To many a man, not more tihty ht well have see, the more so that it was a solitary journey This one, however, entered upon it with no great concern He had brought off riskier things than that, he said in his casual way, in reply to s more than once expressed by Darrell and the rest As for the solitary side of thewas out of the question It would be a case of leg-bail entirely, and that was a gaain, the presence of one was more likely to pass unnoticed than that of two
”You keep your weather eye skinned, Musgrave, and a particularly bright look-out for s ridden a fewto slip through into the A his chaps through in driblets Shouldn't wonder if you fell in with a patrol or two But if you're spotted by the niggers, noit; for you never kno many more are close by”
”Pho! They ain't mounted, and if they were, wouldn't kno to ride
I've raced a whole day in front of a wild,war-party of Sioux devils; and if your John Kaffir can s warmer than that, Darrell, he's welcome to try”
”Eh? The deuce you have!” said Darrell in amazement ”Here, I'll come a mile or two farther, and let's have the yarn”
”No, no I don't feel like yarning--anyway just now Well, so long
No fear about h lonely, was a delightful one The day was of unclouded loveliness and the air fresh and exhilarating as a cordial Away on either hand stretched the grand open country, rolling in wide grassy plains, heaving up into rugged and stony ranges, here and there deepening into a bush-grown river-valley The life of the wild veldt was never still--the cheery whistle of spreews, glinting froht, and thenote of the yellow thrush; the soft shout of the hoopoe, echoing fro with the softer voices of doves, which were dashi+ng alarrotesque heads of the plumed euphorbia, disturbed by the horse's tread Great webs lay spread froe spiders, black and horny; and of these the horseht in his face--not being always able to guide his horse so as to clear theh hideous, were quite innocuous, and, relishi+ng the encounter as little as the human party to the same, dropped off immediately upon contact Buck, too--the wary bushbuck and dainty little duiker--would rustle up with a rass, flashi+ng a white flag of defiance
”Gan,” oes like the devil once it is up--that's a bad one Well, itonly that this section has been well patrolled”