Charge! Part 69

We were now in darkness. The coffee was cold; the cakes lay untouched. We were both sunk in a deep interval of musing; but Denham broke the silence at last.

"Then we have another night of life, Val," he remarked.

"Yes," I replied; "and then the end."

"Look here," he said thoughtfully, after he had taken up the coffee-tin and drunk; "that Boer said that he was going over yonder to-night to fight, and that perhaps he would be where we were."

"Yes-dead," was my reply.

"Perhaps, Val. What do the doctors say?-'While there's life there's hope.'"

"I see no hope for us," I said gloomily.

"I do," Denham whispered in a low, earnest tone. "We've been too ready to give up hope."

I smiled sadly, stretching out my swollen legs.

"Yes, I know," said Denham; "but my hands are not powerless now, and I have still a knife in my pocket-the one with which I cut the reins-and it will cut these."

His words sent a thrill through me, and I glanced at the two openings in the wagon.

"Be careful," I whispered.

"All right; but the Boers don't understand English. Look here, Val; if the big friendly fellow is going to fight to-night, what does it mean?"

"Of course," I replied excitedly, "an attack upon the fort. They're going to get in when it's dark; and if they do there'll not be half of our poor fellows left by morning."

"Couldn't we slip off as soon as it's dark, and warn them? Once we were outside the lines we might run."

"Might run?" I said bitterly. "I don't believe we could even stand."

"Ah! I forgot that," he muttered, with a groan. "Well, nothing venture, nothing have. It'll be dark enough in a few minutes, and then I shall slip the knife under your ankles and set your legs free. When that's done you can do the same for me."

"Suppose the Boers come and examine us?"

"We must risk that. Perhaps they'll just come and look at the cords with a lantern. We must sit quite still until they come."

"No," I said eagerly; "don't let's cut the rope till they've been. I dare say they'll come for the pannikins, and perhaps that Boer has told them to bring us those rugs again."

Chapter Forty Five.

A Damper For Our Plans.

I had hardly ceased speaking when a couple of our guards appeared at the back of the wagon, and climbed in after they had tossed in the two big rugs they had taken away when the German doctor came to examine us.

Though anxious to dart a quick glance at Denham, I dared not, for at the first glance I saw that each man was provided with a rein. Taking our tins and pa.s.sing them to two men whose rifle-barrels appeared above the back of the wagon, they returned to where we sat up and carefully examined our bonds, one of them giving a grunt and speaking to his companion as he pointed to them. They next dragged our arms roughly behind us, slipping our hands through running nooses, which they drew tight before winding the thongs round and round, securing them as firmly as ever.

"You needn't have done that," I said angrily to the man who, while tying me up, had roused my resentment by his brutality.

"We'll take them off in the morning, when the Captain comes," he replied. The other man laughed. They had finished their task deftly enough.

"That's the way we tie up a Kaffir," said the first one.

"Yes," replied the other; "and it does just as well for a spy. There, you may thank the field-cornet, Piet Zouter, for the skin-rugs. You wouldn't have got them from us."

"Then we won't thank you," I said bitterly.

"And look here; we've six men with loaded rifles about the wagon, and they've orders to shoot if you try to get away."

I nodded my head. One of the Boers lifted down the lantern, pa.s.sed it out, and received a fresh one from a comrade. After this the men retired; and we were alone, listening to their talk, with the sentries placed over us. When the conversation ceased I whispered to Denham an interpretation of all that had pa.s.sed.

"The brutes!" he muttered. "Lucky we hadn't cut our ropes; they would have found us out. Now, what's to be done? We must get away."

"How?" I asked sadly.

"Let's draw the rugs over us, lie down, and keep on trying till we can wriggle out of the thongs."

"How are we to get the rugs over us?"

"As a bird makes a nest-with the beak."

I laughed bitterly. Then we each tried in turn, but vainly, and afterwards lay back panting and in great pain.

"I know," I said. I called aloud to the sentries.

There was a rush, and a man appeared at once, his rifle rattling against the back of the wagon. I told him what we wanted, and in a grumbling way he climbed in and did as requested, spreading one karosse and drawing the other as a cover up to our chins.

"Now loosen the reins about our wrists," I said; "they hurt dreadfully."

The man laughed.

"It isn't for long," he answered brutally. "Do you want to try to escape, so as to be shot before morning?"

With this parting sally, he climbed out of the wagon, leaving us alone. We lay still for about half-an-hour, when the sentries looked in from front and back to see us lying as if asleep; but as soon as they had gone we began a hard struggle to get our wrists free. In this attempt we only gave ourselves excruciating pain, and found, to our despair, that the knots of the Boers were far too well tied to be loosened. At last, with a groan, Denham gave up the attempt. I desisted then, having only waited for him to set the example.

"What does that sound mean?" asked Denham after a time.

"Moving horses," I replied.

"Yes; they're going to take advantage of the darkness for an advance against the fort. Oh dear! We shall have to lie here and listen to the firing soon. Val, I don't think I'd mind being shot in the morning if I could only warn the Colonel. Do you think you could gnaw through my rein?"

"I'll try," I said; and Denham was about to turn his back to me when we heard a sound behind us-that is to say, at the front of the wagon-which we knew to be caused by one of the sentries looking in. It soon ceased; but just as I was going to fix my teeth in the thong which bound my companion's wrists there came another noise at the foot, and then again there was silence. But not so at a short distance, for we could hear whispered orders plainly enough as we lay still, followed by the tramp of horses' feet, and now and then the clink of bit or buckle, which gave ample intimation that the Boers were slowly making an advance, not to invest the fort more closely in a contracted ring, but, as far as we could make out, in our direction.

"They're marching in troops, I believe," whispered Denham, "and they must be making for the gateway. Then they'll dismount and deliver an attack. They mean to take the place by a.s.sault."