Part 13 (2/2)
About half an hour later he heard a low,sound in the distance, and in a fewhoofs Instantly he turned on to the veldt, and st the boulders of which he quickly hid both himself and the aniot Vic and Prince prone on the ground, and had seated himself on the quarters of one of theside the road, while three alloped round fro, looking ghostly and white in the faint rays of the moon They all pulled up within a few yards of Jack, and one of thenised at once as Hans Schloss, the fat and vindictive little Ger in his saddle pointed to the top of the hill, and cried out: ”Ha, ather before riding on to kill those pigs of Englishmen in Kimberley!”
”That's so,” another voice broke in ”That's the flag kopje, and your friends the Transvaal burghers will be joining us at h froood time Then, Hans,the Rooineks, that is another
They are ready, but if the good Lord will give us strength we shall drive them out Then, Hans, you shall kill theht of you Ha, ha! you will frighten them out of their lives, my brave comrade!”
The Boer chuckled audibly, and Hans Schloss, whose self-conceit and density were almost as pronounced as his fatness, failed to see the thinly-veiled sarcash and assu such an attitude of iht
”Two days more, and we shall be over the border,” another of the Boers cried, when the laughter had died down, ”and then there will be good work for all of us For years we have waited, and now our dreams are to be realised Even now most of the Uitlanders will have left us, and those who have not gone are hurrying as fast as possible to the frontiers Well, they had better do so, for after 11th October it will be an evil day for any of thened are to be allowed to stay, and those ill set to work at native labour It will be more fitted for them”
”Yes,” chimed in another with a hoarse chuckle, ”they shall be set to work at our trenches, and if an English bullet should pick them out, then all the better But softly, Carl! In two days' time we shall be rid of the Rooineks, 'tis true, but they are a stubborn nation, and these boys they send against us are filled with pluck Our leaders have asked us to believe otherwise, but ho have lived in the towns, know that it is not always so They will fight us, and to the death But we shall beat them, and then what a prospect there will be before us!
Ourselves one of the big Dutch states of Africa, we shall have shi+ps upon the sea, while here the natives will slave to dig out the gold and dia, but for us who have seen so of the world besides a lonely farm, wealth and riches in abundance are et them by the help of these Kafirs, while we live the same old peaceful life Then we shall sail over to London--if England still exists--and our old enelad to welcome the Boer millionaires who have coold”
What other wild drea uess, for at this moment a commando of Boer horsemen trotted up on the road Within five round or boulders lying thickly everywhere, s in loud tones while they waited for the arrival of their friends ere following thehers fro Kist the huge splintered rocks tu with all his ears, and ready at a allop for his life He was in a precarious position, even azine near Volksrust For here he was surrounded by a band ofto wreak their vengeance on the hated English Glancing up at the top of the kopje, he noticed nohat he had failed to see before, a broad flag, the vierkleur, flying froed between the rocks A few seconds' consideration showed him that his best course was to lie quietly where he ithout atte to move, unless some Boer happened to discover hiround, and were not likely to betray hihs of other ani e the a sound
Minutes passed, dragging terribly slowly for Jack, but at last there was a distant shout, and a few , rode silently across the veldt and pulled up on the road
Alons careetings, and a brief prayer had been recited by one of them, as evidently in command, they scrambled into their saddles and set off at a walk
Jack watched them file past, in threes and fours, and in any kind of order Then ca oxen, showing clearly in the white e pieces of cannon were visible More wagons followed, heaped high with shell and cases of ammunition, while others contained sacks of flour and mealies, and a few Boer women who had cast in their lot with their men folk, and had come to act as cooks There were also a few Kafir servants and drivers; while in rear of all rode a s uproariously, and evidently in the highest spirits at the prospects before theet well away, and to
Then he cast off the thongs fro by the side of the road as before in the direction of Hoopstad By four in the hten, he had ridden some sixty miles, and ithin fifteen of Hoopstad He now searched about for a secure hiding-place, and presently ca a fewhis ponies hidden upon the side of another convenient kopje, he stole forward, and soon reached the building
There was no one about, not even a dog, and he at once boldly walked up to the door It was locked, but ahe tried was unlatched, and Jack at once squeezed through it and drew up the blind The fare rooms, a kitchen and a bedrooht Jack ”This place will suit me perfectly It's well away from the road, so that no one is likely to come near, and if anyone does, he will find the door locked, and will probably go away at once”
Unlocking the door, he went out and fetched his ponies, leading the them in the kitchen Then he searched about in the few outhouses, and having discovered some straw and oats, came back and made his animals quite comfortable Another journey procured water for the down the blind, Jack first indulged in a -room
When he awoke the sun was already more than half-way overhead, and as soon as it was dark he set out again, and by earlyHere he was forced to camp in the open, in a thick belt of scrub composed of acacias and mimosa shrubs, for there was no comfortable farmhouse available But it was ood meal, watered Vic and Prince, knee-haltered them, and once , as day was beginning to break, he rode round to the back of Johannesburg and pulled up at Mr Hunter's house
No one was to be seen, so he stabled his ponies, and then knocked loudly at the door
”_Who's_ that?” Mr Hunter shouted from above; and then, when Jack had made himself known and had been admitted, cried in astonishment: ”Good heavens, my boy! I did not expect you for two days at least, and perhaps not then, for I asked you to do an alet here? My letter can only have reached you on the 9th at the earliest, and here you are at dawn on the 12th
But coood sleep”
”Yes, I a ever since dusk yesterday, and did the sahts before that
I have ridden every inch of the way fros and back are so stiff that I can scarcely et one, and then get Toood tuck-in and a sain, and after a few hours' sleep I shall be fit to start for the border”
Accordingly Jack jumped into a hot bath, and ell rubbed with oil
After that he partook of a good meal and at once turned in between beautifully-clean sheets, to which, down Kier, except when he and Tom returned from one of their expeditions
Almost before his head was on the pilloas fast asleep, and when he woke again, feeling wonderfully refreshed, it was already getting dusk