The Kopje Garrison Part 32

"Wait till I've opened the wick a little more. That's it! Here, what am I to wipe my fingers on?"

"Oh, never mind your fingers, man," cried Captain Roby.

"But they're quite slippery, sir."

"Rub 'em on my sleeve, sir," growled Sergeant James.

"Thankye, sergeant, but I've just polished them on my own."

Click! click! went the lamp as it was thrust back into the lantern, and there was once more the sound of men drawing their breath hard-a sound that was checked suddenly as the last match was heard to tinkle in the silver box.

"Got him!" said d.i.c.kenson audibly as he talked to himself. "Now then, ready with the lantern?" he said aloud.

"Yes, sir."

"Give me elbow-room, all of you."

There was the sound of men shrinking back.

"Now then," said d.i.c.kenson, "here goes! I hope the head won't come off this time."

Fuzz! and directly after fuzz! but no light followed the rubbing of the match.

"Why, it has got no head," cried the striker in dismay, and at this announcement the men uttered a groan. "All right," cried d.i.c.kenson cheerily. "I was rubbing its tail instead of the head."

Cr-r-r-r-r-r-ch! went the match; there was a burst of flame, followed at a trifling interval by the steady glow of the tiny taper, and the young officer's fingers were lit up and seen to bear the flame to the lantern lamp, which caught at once and blazed up, when the door was shut with a click, and the men exhaled their pent-up breath in a hearty cheer.

"Well done!" said Captain Roby. "Here, I'll lead now; or would you like to continue what you began, Mr Lennox?"

The latter looked at him, and seemed to hesitate.

"Oh, very well," said Roby rather contemptuously. "I'll lead myself."

"No, no; you misunderstood me," cried Lennox as d.i.c.kenson turned upon him wonderingly. "I want to go on."

"I don't want to rob you of your chance," said Roby.-"Here, Mr d.i.c.kenson, what two men went back to fetch those lights?"

"Corporal May and Channings tried to feel their way, sir, but they found the job hopeless."

"But I gave orders."

"Yes, sir," said d.i.c.kenson; "but they could not find their way."

"I'll speak about this later on," said Roby. "Now then, Mr Lennox, are you ready?"

"Yes, sir," was the reply as the young officer stood waiting for Sergeant James, who had slipped off his scarf, pa.s.sed it through the handle of the lantern, and was securing it to his waist.

"Then forward!" cried Roby.

"Better let me lead, sir, on account of the light," half-whispered the sergeant; "then you can be ready to give point at any one who comes at me."

"No," said Lennox firmly; "I must lead. Leave your rifle, and follow me, bayonet in hand."

He stepped to the mouth of the pit, tried the ladder-like contrivance, found it fairly firm, and began to descend as fast as he could; while, risking the strength of the wood, the sergeant stepped on as soon as there was room and followed, shedding the dancing light's rays on the weird-looking walls of the place.

d.i.c.kenson went next, and the captain followed, to find those in front waiting upon a fairly wide shelf, upon which the bottom of the tree was propped, while beneath it, and sloping now, the well-like pit went down into the black darkness, up from which the hollow, echoing rush of water came in a way which made some of the stoutest present shudder.

The shelf was at the mouth of a low archway which proved, upon the lantern being held up, to be the entrance to another of the ramifications of the great series of caves with which the kopje was honeycombed. Here within a few yards lay the first lantern, which had rebounded on falling and rolled down into a narrow crack in the flooring, a rift which ran from somewhere ahead, draining the interior of the cavern pa.s.sage, and bearing a tiny stream of water to join the rushing waters below, these being undoubtedly the source of the perennial stream which issued from the foot of the kopje.

One of the men pounced upon the lantern at once, to find that, though the gla.s.s was much cracked, it was perfectly ready for use; and there was a short delay while it was relit without application to the one the sergeant had just detached, one of the men having now recalled that he had a tin box of matches nearly full.

The moment this was done Captain Roby gave the order to advance. He sent the lantern-bearers forward with orders to keep to right and left; and at the end of about a hundred feet, where the cavern chamber was beginning to contract, he called aloud for them to halt.

"Now, Mr Lennox," he cried, "advance with six men abreast in a line with the lights, and make ready to fire if the man in front does not surrender. Attention!"

His orders echoed along the roof of what seemed to be quite a narrow pa.s.sage in front, and the men listened till the last echoes died out, when Captain Roby spoke again.

"Hoi, there, you Boer in hiding!" he cried. "Your comrade's a prisoner, and if you wish to save your life, surrender too."

The captain waited, but there was no reply, and the word was given to advance again, when suddenly from out of the darkness beyond the range of the lights there came the sharp, clear click! click! of a piece being c.o.c.ked.

"There's the answer, Mr Lennox," said the captain. "Give your orders, and clear the place."

"No, stop; I surrender," came from a hoa.r.s.e voice speaking in broken English. "Tell your men not to shoot."

"Come forward," cried Lennox, "and give up your piece."

He stepped towards the spot from whence the voice had come, to see the crossing lights of the two lanterns centre upon the broad, familiar face of one of the Boers who had been captured, and who had returned with the loaded wagons and the powder-bags, of which the last portion had been secured a short time before.

The man halted, and stood with his rifle presented at the young officer's breast.

"One man can't fight against a hundred," he growled.

"Only with treachery and deceit," said Lennox sternly. "Give up your rifle, you cowardly dog."

"Not till you give your English word that I shall not be shot," replied the Boer.

"I'll give the order for you to be shot down if you don't give up your piece," cried Lennox angrily.

"You give the word that I shall only be a prisoner, or I'll shoot you through the heart," cried the Boer harshly.

"I give no word. Surrender unconditionally," cried Lennox, whose blood was up.

"Give your word, you miserable rooinek!" growled the Boer, whose teeth shone in the light, giving him the aspect of some fierce beast at bay. "Give your word. You're covered-your word of honour, or I'll fire."

"Fire!" shouted Captain Roby from behind; but the six men halted before obeying the ill-judged command. For, in response to the Boer's threat, Lennox had sprung forward to strike at the presented piece, the edge of his sword clicking loudly against the barrel of the rifle, turning it sufficiently aside to disorder the desperate man's aim, so that the bullet whistled by him and over the heads of his men, before sending a little shower of granite splinters and dust from the side of the cavern.

Before the Boer could fire again Lennox had him by the throat, and in another minute he was held up against the cavern wall by three men with their bayonets, while the sergeant wrested the rifle from his hands and tore away the man's well-filled bandolier.