Part 23 (1/2)
”We are ed for your kindness and for the terms you offer,” he called out, ”and are only sorry we cannot accept the to retire froo unmolested, but ill not surrender Miss Russel, too, refuses to leave us Now let ain to leave us alone We have already shown you that we are determined not to be taken, and we mean it e into Kimberley and end the matter If you refuse, then you must take the consequences, for ht till they are killed”
”How many of you are there?” asked the Boer craftily
”Ah!” replied Jack with a knowing sht Proive you our numbers”
”It is impossible,” was the curt answer ”I have done all that man can do My comrades and I admire your bravery, and therefore have offered you these terms You refuse for the second ti friend, for you compel us to kill you It is a pity your wisdom does not match your bravery I shall return now, and when I reach our lines the guns will coain”
The Boer nodded and cantered away, and five minutes later the storh the fared shells were used, that is, shells without explosive contents and devoid of fuses; and these for thethe havoc already wrought Then the one-pounder, quick-firing gun, faainst troops exposed in the open, joined in the awful din, and sent h the house But by some lucky chance the majority of the shells failed to explode (probably because the foreign contractors had filled a large proportion of theh the shattered house without doing e For an hour the cannonade continued, and just before it finished it was increased by the firing of a Maxialloped up to closer quarters
By this time Frank Russel's farm was a ruin; doors, s, and walls were in pieces, and the roof was gashed in all directions Only the kitchen seemed by some chance to have escaped And down below it all, in the bo for another rush, Eileen quietly boiling a kettle over a spirit-stove and preparing toand chatting when a momentary lull allowed them to do so, and ready at any ain
”That is the last burst!” exclaih as the distinctive rat, tat, tat, tat of the Maxim reached their ears
”Get ready, lads! they'll be co, they will be wondering whether we are ordinary men or not It was a splendid idea of yours, Jack, to make use of this cellar
Ti it out and bricked it round soes, but I never thought it wouldof our lives Ah, that is the very last!” he added as a one-pounder shell burst overhead and carried away a good portion of the roof
Jack ih the trap, and as the Maxi a path through the scattered ork and debris Then he peered through a small aperture made by a shell, and looked earnestly across the veldt As he had expected, the Boers were advancing, bringing their guns with the forward,” he cried, ”but I fancy they do not ain If they do we must still keep quiet, for if they attack at close quarters and in force, a surprise will help us ”
By this tiuns halted, while the Boers spread out and advanced towards the front of the little farmhouse Almost immediately the Hotchkiss opened fire, and soon after the rattle of the Maxim and the continuous rip, rip of the bullets overhead told the defenders that it was as yet unsafe to venture up from their cellar Jack had already slipped down there, but now, rifle in hand, with bayonet fixed, he stood close to the ladder, ready to rush up as soon as the tilance at hilishive in till the last drop of his blood had been shed; and Frank Russel and Wilfred were evidently deterh thick and thin They ithout doubt in a tight corner, and ht expect to be rushed at any ers they had already passed through seeedness
Dressed in corduroy riding-breeches, gaiters, and spurs, and with the sleeves of his shi+rt turned up over his elbow, Jack looked fit for any work A pipe was in his mouth, and his thin lips encircled the ste that, however young and inexperienced he ht of the co to be the hottest and stiffest fight of all,” he cried, so that all could hear; ”and mind you, it will not do for any one of us to show sofro fire when they are about sixty yards away Soet close up to the house, and will try to force their way in through the broken walls If we fail to shoot them down Eileen will be able to stop them, for she will take her post half-way up this ladder, so as to be out of the fire”
”But, Jack,” Eileen began to expostulate
”You will do as I say, or else ill show the white flag at once,”
exclaiht, Eileen,” Frank chi to be hot work up above, and you can help us fara place by our sides But--look out, lads! It's tiain”
All three instantly scrambled out of the cellar and took their places, while Eileen clis of the ladder and stood there, rifle in hand, and with her head just below the level of the floor
Meanwhile Jack had darted to the back, and then to either side of the house, and having made sure that none of the Boers were in that direction, rejoined his coh an aperture, he saw that about fortyforward in extended order, while in the centre was the Maxi its own side
”Mark that Maxim!” said Jack sharply ”If we drive off these felloe can easily make it next door to impossible for them to remove it, for at this distance we could shoot down any man who approaches it But our duty now is to look after these fellows Frank, you take those of the left I'll look after those directly in front of et within sixty yards, and then fire fast and steady Keep the th on the ground, they pushed the h the loopholes and waited
”Now I think we can begin,” said Jack, when the Boers ithin the distance he had na a careful aiers, and as many of the Boers threw up their hands and fell forward upon their faces The reled forward, firing after going a few feet, for they were still ignorant of the force opposed to them behind the shattered walls of the house, and therefore abstained fro Had they done so, there is little doubt that they would quickly have overwhel ht in the open and attack a position in which the enemy lurks in complete concealment But to take the house there was absolute need for this, and believing that after all there were not many opposed to them, they ventured to approach
And now the superiority of khaki clothing was fully sustained, for instead of being barely visible, each one of the Boers for veldt, and was an easy target for the rifles of Jack and his friends
Loading and firing rapidly and steadily, they picked off one recuure after another, and after fiveso hot that they could scarcely hold them, the enemy stopped and hesitated, and then fled in confusion, pursued still by the merciless bullets When they reached the Maxim they stopped, and three of their number commenced to place it in position so as to rake the farmhouse