to the left side
of the path. Seeing this Mr Harvey kept the waggons close along on the
right, and although several of the oxen and three or four of the men
were struck by detached fragments from above, or by splinters from the
stones as they fell, none were seriously injured.

Long after the caravan had passed the point the rocks continued to
thunder down, showing Mr Harvey that those above were unable to see to
the bottom of the gorge, but that they were discharging their missiles
at random. A short distance farther a cross ravine, a mere cleft in the
rock, some five feet wide at the bottom, was passed, and Mr Harvey
congratulated himself at the certainty that this would bar the progress
of their foes above, and prevent the attack being renewed from any point
farther on.

At this point so formidable an obstacle was met with in a massive rock,
some thirty feet high, jammed in the narrowest part of the ravine, that
the waggons had to be emptied and hauled by ropes up the almost
perpendicular rock, the oxen being taken through a passage, which with
immense labour the men managed to clear of stones, under one of the
angles of the rock. It was not until after dark that they reached the
spot where the ravine again widened out into a valley, having spent
sixteen hours in accomplishing a distance of only three miles. However,
all congratulated themselves that two-thirds of their labour was over,
and that but one more defile had to be surmounted.

The rear-guard remained encamped at the opening of the defile, but the
night passed without interruption, the natives being doubtless
disheartened by the failure to destroy the caravan by rocks from above.

"Do you think there is any chance of their attacking us to-night, down
the slopes, as they did this morning?" Tom asked Mr Harvey.

"None whatever," the latter replied, "as you will see in the morning.
This valley does not resemble the last; the rocks rise almost
perpendicularly on both sides, and it would not be possible for them to
make their way down, even if they wanted to do so."

With the first dawn of light the oxen were inspanned. Just as they were
starting, one of the natives of Dick's party came up to Mr Harvey, and
reported that the natives in large numbers were showing in the ravine,
and the sharp crack of the rifles, which almost at the same moment broke
out, confirmed his statement.

"The defile must be held," Mr Harvey said, "until we are well in the
n