CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
THE NET AND THE FISH.
The start was made more quickly than either West or Ingleborough hadanticipated; in fact, the celerity was wonderful considering that thecavalry brigade was burdened with the great convoy of wagons capturedfrom the Boers.
But there was a keen soldier in command, and one who knew how to beready for every emergency likely to occur in an enemy's country.
As the two despatch-riders mounted their ponies, the cavalry regimentswere in motion, some taking up ground in advance and on the flanks,while two more, a Lancer and a Dragoon regiment, stood fast ready foraction as rear-guard, giving the six-gun battery an opportunity tooff-saddle and rest their horses, fresh from a twelve-mile march thatmorning.
The wagon lines were in perfect order, steadily moving off after two ofthe big newly-captured guns, freshly manned by picked crews, the othertwo being reserved for the centre of the train and taking up theirposition easily enough, drawn as they were by double teams of sturdyponies which made them far more mobile than would have been the case iftrusted to the slow-moving oxen.
"They won't attempt to use those guns if we are attacked," said West, ashe watched the preparations going on; "our men will be quite ignorant ofhow to work them."
"Our men will try if the necessity comes," said Ingleboroughconfidently; "and that's half the battle!"
"Yes," said West; "but it's hardly likely that the enemy will attack sowell-armed a body of men."
"They will, though, and do us no end of mischief if they get thechance."
But the General for the first three days gave the enemy no chance, forhe carefully avoided kopjes and broken ground, keeping out a cloud ofmounted men scouting in every direction, and camping each night on thebanks of some spruit.
In fact, every military precaution was taken on defensive principles,for the captured convoy was too valuable for any risks to be run byattacking one or other of the commandos trying to hem in the brigade.
It was soon found that the Boers were in motion in front, rear, and onboth flanks, awaiting an opportunity to swoop down and stampede sheep,cattle, and horses, spread confusion amongst the men, and so open up achance to re-capture the guns and stores.
But no chances were given, for everything had been arranged, and duringseven days' march West had a fine experience in the manoeuvring of acavalry brigade. So, in fact, had the enemy, but theirs was at a bittercost.
Finding that the British force would not attack any of the naturalstrongholds nor step into any of the traps contrived at river crossingswhere the perpendicular banks were filled with trench, pit, and shelter,but that the carefully-guarded convoy went on slowly towards safety dayafter day, the enemy became more daring, changed their tactics, andgathered together for attacks, getting their guns into action ready fortheir own captured artillery to be halted, and with a few well-directedshots at a tremendously long range to put the carefully planted guns outof action and compel a rapid retreat.
If they surrounded the convoy in their thousands with knots of mountedriflemen, there was a rush, a flying cloud of dust kicked up, and awaywent half the Horse Artillery battery to one knoll, the other half toanother, and before the intention of the General could be grasped theshells were falling fast among those knots, bursting and untying them inan appalling way which littered the dry earth with dead horses and men;while, whenever a bolder dash than usual was made to capture either ofthe half-batteries, the Boers found that, mobile as they were, theBritish cavalry could nearly double them in swiftness of evolution, andLancers and Hussars cut them up and sent them flying in every direction.
Day after day this went on, with the result that the reinforcements theenemy received were pretty well balanced by the constant dribbling awayof ambulance wagons loaded with wounded men.
"Isn't it splendid?" Ingleborough kept on saying. "Why, we could go onjourneying like this for months. I like this defensive game! Chess isnothing to it!"
"So do the Boers like a defensive game!"
"Yes," said Ingleborough, laughing. "Did you hear what one of the Boerstaken said to the officer in command of the prisoners' guard?"
"No. I did not catch it; but I saw our men laughing. What was it?"
"He said our officers did not fight fair, and when our man asked himwhat he considered was fair fighting, the scoundrel gave him tounderstand that we ought to attack them when they were well entrenchedin a kopje ready to shoot all our men down."
"Well," said West, "what did our officer say?"
"Laughed at him, and told him that if they were so very anxious to fireat targets we would arrange butts for them with a series of mantlets anda good supply of the Bisley Running Deer. But that wasn't the best ofit," said Ingleborough, laughing; "what do you think the fellow said?"
"I don't know," said West, who was watching the evolutions of a coupleof the Light Horse Volunteer regiments and as many of the Lancers, for,tired of the plodding life of keeping with the tremendous baggage trainfor a whole week, the two friends had ridden out in advance over a wideopen series of rolling downs covered with dry scrubby growth, parched togreyness by the torrid sun.
Ingleborough laughed heartily for a few moments.
"There they go," he said, pointing to the leading troop of the Hussarregiment as it disappeared over a ridge about a mile in advance. "Let'smake for that wave-like place."
"Very well," said West; "I suppose we shall be safe there!"
"Safe enough, of course, for our men have swept it clear! Forward! Howthe ponies enjoy a gallop! But I didn't tell you what the miserableruffian said."
"No," cried West, enjoying the motion as much as the ponies. "This isdelightful after all that slow walking; but we had better turn back whenwe have seen what those fellows are about! Now, what did the Boer say?"
"Said he had always heard we were cowards at Majuba; now he knew forhimself."
"The insolent hound!" cried West. "What did our officer say?"
"That it was lucky for the Boer that he was a prisoner, for if he hadbeen free he would have tasted a flogging from the flat of a sabre. Buthullo! where are our men?" cried Ingleborough, as they reached the crownof the low ridge and looked down at a strip of open veldt, beyond whichwas another ridge.
"Gone over there!" said West quietly. "They must have galloped!"
"Shall we follow, and come back with them?" said Ingleborough.
"We may as well," was the reply; "they must be trying to cut off some ofthe Boers."
"Or going in for a charge to scatter them, for we want no moreprisoners. Come on, then; I should like to see the charge!"
The ponies seemed to share their desire, for, answering a slightpressure on their flanks, they spread out and went down the slight slopelike greyhounds, avoiding as if by instinct the holes and stones withwhich the veldt was dotted away in front.
"Steady, steady!" cried West. "We don't want to overdo it!"
"Of course not," shouted Ingleborough; "but my word, what delicious air,and what a place for a gallop! I should like to see a herd of antelopeappear on that ridge to the left. I should be obliged to go after them;we might get one for the officers' mess."
"There they are, then!" cried West.
"Where?" said Ingleborough.
"Coming over that continuation of the ridge a mile away to the left.No: mounted men! Ingle, old chap," cried West excitedly, "they're theparty our men have cut off! They've headed them, and they're trying toescape by this opening!"
"By jingo! No!" cried Ingleborough. "Our men have gone off to theright, I believe, and those Boers have seen us. Noll, old fellow, we'vecome a bit too far. Steady! Right turn! Now off and away, or somebodyelse will be cut off or shot; perhaps both of us, for we're in for itonce more."
"Oh no," said West coolly; "be steady, and we'll show the Boers howEnglish fellows ride!"
"Yes, but hang it all! It's showing the beggars how we ride away."
"Never mind; we must ride for the convoy.
"
"But we can't," cried Ingleborough savagely; "there's another partycutting us off."
"Forward then over the ridge in front! Our fellows must have gone overthere."
"No, I don't think they did."
"Then we will," cried West excitedly; "that must be south and west.Forward for Kimberley; it can't be far now; and let's deliver thedespatch."
"Hold hard! Look before you leap!" shouted Ingleborough; and, rising inhis stirrups, he gave a hasty glance round, to see Boers here, Boersthere, in parties of from six to a dozen, spreading out as they camealong at a gallop, forming more and more of a circle, till there was anopening only in one direction--to the south-west--and after graspingthis fully he turned to West as he settled himself in his saddle.
"Why, Noll, lad," he cried, "it's like the drawing of a seine-net inCornwall, with us for the shoal of mackerel. They've got it nearlyround us, and if we don't start, in another ten minutes we shall beenclosed. It looks fishy, and no mistake!"
"Then come on!" cried West.
"Off with you, but at a gentle gallop. We must nurse our nags, for theobstinate brutes will make it a long chase."
As he spoke he pressed his pony's sides, and away they went together ata long easy gallop, their mounts keeping so close together that theriders' legs nearly touched, and the brave little animals taking stridefor stride and needing no guidance, the best management being to givethem their heads and perfect freedom to avoid all the obstacles whichcame in their way in the shape of rock, bush, and the perilous holesburrowed in the soil by the South African representatives of ourrabbits.
Once settled down in their saddles, with the opening in the Boer netstraight before them, the fugitives had no difficulty in carrying on aconversation, and this ensued in the calmest matter-of-fact wayconcerning the predicament in which they had landed themselves.
"It's very awkward, Noll!" said Ingleborough.
"But, to use your favourite argument, it seems all for the best,"replied West. "We can easily reach the open ground yonder before theenemy, and then ride right away."
"If," said Ingleborough.
"If they don't stop when they find us likely to go through the horns ofthe dilemma they have prepared for us."
"And lie down and begin shooting?"
"Exactly! Their bullets will go faster than our ponies!"
"Yes, but we shall put them at full speed, and they will find it hard tohit us at a gallop."
"I hope so!" said Ingleborough. "My word! How they are coming on!"
"Yes; but they will not get within five hundred yards of us!" cried Westexcitedly.
And so it proved, for as the horns of the partly-finished circle drewnearer, that nearness proved to be nearly a thousand yards from point topoint, while half-way between, and with their ponies racing over theground stretched out like greyhounds, the two despatch-riders dashedthrough, forcing the enemy to alter their course as they were leftbehind.
"That's done it!" cried West joyously. "Now then for Kimberley; itcan't be very far away!"
"Sit close!" cried Ingleborough. "They'll fire now if they can do sowithout hitting their friends."
West glanced back to his right, and saw the truth of his companion'swords, for the next minute the firing was commenced on both sides, thebullets coming over their heads with their peculiar buzzing sound, andthe dusty soil being struck up here and there as the fugitives torealong.
"This will put their shooting to the test!" cried West, leaning forwardto pat his pony's neck.
"Yes; it will puzzle the best of them!" replied Ingleborough. "I'm notafraid of their marksmen, but I am of the flukes. However, we're in forit! Easy now! We're getting more and more ahead as they close in.There, those behind are obliged to leave off firing for fear of hittingtheir friends."
Ingleborough was right, for after another useless shot or two the firingceased, and it became a chase where success, barring accidents, wouldrest with the best and freshest horses.
Knowing this, the fugitives eased their ponies all they could afterplacing a greater distance between them and their pursuers, but keepinga good look-out ahead and to right and left, knowing full well as theydid that the appearance of fresh Boers ahead would be fatal to theirprogress.
Half an hour glided by, during which first one and then the otherglanced back, but always with the same result of seeing that some two orthree dozen of the enemy were settled down to a steady pursuit.
"How long do you think they will keep this up?" said West at last.
"Well, if they are French mercenaries they'll give up directly; if theyare Germans they'll stick to our heels for hours; but if they're allFree Staters or Transvaal Boers they'll go on till they drop or we do.The stubborn, obstinate mules never know when they are beaten!"
"Then they're not French adventurers!" said West.
"Nor yet Germans!" said Ingleborough. "No; we've got the genuine Boerafter us; and it's going to be a long chase."
"How far do you think it is to Kimberley?"
"Just as far as it is from Kimberley to here!" replied Ingleboroughgruffly.
"Thank you for nothing!" snapped out West. "What's the good of givingfoolish answers?"
"What's the good of asking foolish questions? Look here, lad, we may aswell look the position in the face."
"Of course."
"Very well, then; we've got a score and a half or so of Boers after us,meaning to take us prisoners or shoot us down."
"Oh yes, that's plain enough!"
"Very well! Then as to distance to Kimberley, the General has dodged inand out so to avoid the enemy that, though I know a little about thecountry, I'm regularly puzzled as to where we are. I think it lies outhere, but whether Kimberley is five miles away or a hundred I don'tknow. What I do know is that the surest way of getting there is to makeright away west for the railway. Once we can hit that--"
"Yes, I see, and if we keep it on our right, riding south, we shall getthere."
"That's correct, my lad, but recollect this: we left the town invested,and you may depend upon it that the enemy are round it in greaterstrength than ever, so that how we are to get through their lines whenwe reach them I don't know."
"Neither do I!" said West. "But we did not know how we were to get intoMafeking! Still we did it, and we're going to do this somehow."
"Ah, somehow!"
"Look here," said West, after another glance back at their pursuers: "doyou think you could put matters in a blacker light if you were to try?"
"To be frank, old fellow," said Ingleborough, laughing, "I really don'tthink I could!"
"No more do I!"
"But look here: it's as well always to look the blackest side full inthe face. Then you know the worst at once, and can act accordingly.Hooray! One to us!" shouted Ingleborough, glancing back.
"What is it? I see one of the enemy broken down and another pulled upto help him. It's two to us."
"There, you see now the good of looking at the worst of it."
"It's quite cheering!" cried West.
"Not very, for the rest are making a spurt."
"Let them!" said West. "Our ponies are full of go. We will not pushthem unless absolutely obliged."
"Words of wisdom! A long, steady pace wins. Keep on; we can afford tolose a little ground, for we have been gaining for some time!"