Charge! Part 38

"Here, give us a specimen," said Denham. "Don't make a bully row. Just roar gently so that I shall know it again."

Joeboy dropped upon his hands and knees, placed his lips close to the surface of the wall, and a low, deep, thunderous roar seemed to make the air quiver and shudder. Directly afterwards there was an excited stamping and neighing amongst the horses.

"That'll do splendid," whispered my companion. "Three times, mind. Hark! they're talking about it all over the place. There'll be an alarm directly about a lion getting into the laager."

By the time we had reached the spot where the officers made their bare, unsheltered camp, the alarm had already died away; and, after being challenged, we had leave to advance.

The Colonel heard what we had to say in silence, and then remained for a minute or two without speaking.

"It is a very risky and daring business, Moray, my lad," he said; "but we are in a desperate strait. I did mean to make another dash for liberty to-night; but since this piece of good fortune has turned up I'll wait twenty-four hours and see what you do. If you succeed I promise you that-"

"Please don't promise me anything, sir," I said quickly. "Let me go and try my best. If I fail-"

"And the Boers take you prisoner," said the Colonel quickly, "I shall, like every one in the corps, thank you all the same for a very dashing and plucky venture.-As for you, Denham; yes, certainly. Take fifty men, and go out to meet him and bring him in. You need not, of course, start till well on towards morning; and when you are gone I shall order out nearly all the rest of the force to your support, so as to bring you all in, if you are pressed."

"Thank you, sir," I said eagerly; but Denham replied in rather a grumpy tone, for he was all on fire to begin doing something almost at once.

"Then I may start when I like, sir?"

"Certainly, my lad. Of course you will take your rifle?"

"Yes, sir."

"Take two revolvers instead of one. You may want them at a pinch; but you must depend upon scheming in this, and not on strength. By the way, there are a few biscuits in my haversack; you can take them."

"Oh no, sir-" I began; but he interrupted me.

"Take them," he said shortly, and in a way that meant a command; but I compromised the matter with my conscience by only taking half.

I now left the Colonel's quarters with Denham and Joeboy, and only waited till it was as dark as it seemed likely to be before having a few final words with my companion and Briggs, who were the only men in the secret of what was about to be undertaken. Then, filling my water-bottle and placing the biscuits in my pocket-after Denham had refused a share-I saw that my bandolier was quite full of cartridges, slung my rifle, and placed one revolver in its holster-pocket and thrust the other in my breast. We now walked towards the well-barricaded gateway, gave the word, and Joeboy and I stepped out, with Denham and Briggs; but stopped to shake hands with Denham, who held mine tightly.

"Good luck to you, Val, lad!" he said softly. "Don't take any notice of what I said before-I mean of all that cold water I poured on your scheme. It's splendid. Go in and win; and when you're half-way back, or if you're pursued, make old Joeboy fill his bellows and roar. I'll come to your help, even if there's a thousand Doppies after you."

"I know you will," I said warmly as I returned the pressure of his hand. "There, good-bye."

"Good-bye, old boy! You'll do it. Oh! I wish I were coming too."

"Good-bye, Mr Private Moray," said Briggs softly, in his deep tones. "I wish you everything in the way of luck. You'll do it, my lad, I know.-Here, Joeboy, you stick to your boss."

"Um! Me stick to Boss Val-um!-alway."

"Good-bye," I said again, trying to free my hands, for Denham and the Sergeant each held one tightly and in silence.

At last, as we stood there in the darkness, they let my fingers slip through theirs, and I stepped out into the open, following Joeboy's steps, for he at once took the lead, without making a sound.

"Ah!" I said to myself, after drawing a very long breath, "this is going to be the most exciting thing I ever did."

Chapter Twenty Six.

Successful Beyond Expectation.

"Boss Val come close up to Joeboy," said the black a minute or two later.

I had but to take two steps, and then I could touch the speaker, who was standing with his back towards me.

"Joeboy no turn round," he said. "Boss Val keep close. Joeboy got to keep seeing wagons, and not lose them."

"But you can't see the wagons now," I said softly.

"Um? Joeboy see um inside um head. Can't see with eyes. Too far away. But Joeboy know jus' where they are, and feel see um. Come along and no talk. Take hold, and no let go."

I grasped the long handle of Joeboy's a.s.sagai, which had touched me lightly on the side as he spoke; so there was no chance of our being separated in the dark and having to call to each other with probably Boer outposts within hearing. The plunge had been made, and now I began to see how terrible was the responsibility I had undertaken. For a few minutes after leaving our friends I began to ask myself whether Denham had not been right in calling it a mad project; but these thoughts soon pa.s.sed away as I pulled myself together with the determination to do what my friends had told me: "Go in and win." There was too much to do and too much excitement now to leave room for hesitation and thoughts about risk and chances of discovery. Joeboy, too, was a splendid fellow for a companion: he went steadily on as if the whole business was some exciting game in which he played the chief part.

Fortune seemed to be favouring us so far as the weather was concerned, for a brisk wind was blowing, and the clouds overhead veiled every star; so the night was profoundly dark.

After tramping on for about ten minutes, Joeboy stopped and stood motionless; then he whispered to me to come close up, without turning his head when he spoke.

"Boss Val lissum with both ears," he said. "Tell Joeboy when he hear Doppie. Joeboy tell Boss Val too."

"Right," I said; and we went on again so silently that I did not hear my own footsteps in the sandy earth.

There was no risk of meeting with any impediment, for the veldt from the old fortress right away to the place where I had marked down the wagons was a smooth, undulating plain. What we had to dread was coming across a Boer outpost or patrol; but I had little fear of that without ample warning, for I had had frequent experience in hunting expeditions of the keenness of Joeboy's senses of sight and hearing. I was just beginning to wonder how long it would be before he gave me warning of any danger being near, when he stopped short again. I closed up so that I could lay my hands upon his shoulders. Then he whispered very softly:

"Hear Doppie soon. Boss Val go down when Joeboy kneel."

"Right," I said again, straining my eyes right and left to get sight of the Boer camp; and, though I judged that their fires would be all out, I expected to get a glimpse before long of one of their lanterns. All, however, remained dark, and the time dragged slowly in the same monotonous way, making me wish I could walk side by side with my companion, who seemed to be far more cautious in the darkness than I thought necessary.

We must have gone, as I hoped in a perfectly straight direction, for what appeared to be nearly an hour, and I was getting desperate about our slow progress, when suddenly the a.s.sagai-shaft was jigged sharply and then dragged; and for a moment I saw a faint spark of light far ahead, due to the fact that Joeboy had gone down suddenly upon hands and knees. I followed suit, and lay flat, listening, but only hearing my heart throbbing slowly and heavily. Not a sound was to be heard for fully half-a-minute; and then came the familiar click of iron against iron, caused, as I well knew, by a horse champing at his bit and moving the curb-chain. Directly after there was the dull thud, thud of horses' hoofs coming from our right, and I knew that mounted men were approaching us at right angles to our course, and thought we must be discovered the next minute or else trampled on by the horses.

For a moment or two my heart seemed to stand still and then to go at a gallop, for the horses came nearer and nearer; and I tried to press myself closer and closer to the sand as one horse pa.s.sed within two or three yards of my feet, and another a little way in front.

I could hardly believe the men had gone by without seeing us, though I had not seen them, and still crouched down, expecting to hear the riders turn and come back. Hence it was like a surprise when I heard a faint rustling which indicated that Joeboy was getting up; and, warned by a jerk of the spear-shaft, I sprang up too.

"All ride by," said the black; and I realised now that a patrol must have pa.s.sed, with the men riding two or three horse-lengths apart to keep guard against any surprise parties of our troop.

We went on again for a short distance, and then there was another stoppage; for from the front came the murmur of voices talking in a low tone, suggestive of a little outpost in front.

Joeboy made a brief halt, and then we went down on hands and knees, and crawled to the right for about fifty yards before turning again in the direction of the wagons; and this movement was kept up for quite a hundred yards; then the black rose to his foot, and our walk recommenced.

We must now, I thought, have kept on for above an hour, though I dare say it was not more than half that time; but I fully believed it was nearer three hours than two after we had left the fort when Joeboy suddenly dropped down flat; and, as I followed his example, he backed himself, walking quadrupedally on his hands and toes till he was able to subside close to where I lay on my face.

"Boss Val tired?" he whispered. "Um?"

"Not a bit," I replied. "Are we near the wagons?"