set out on their journey.

Fortunately, after two hours' walking, they struck the road at a point
some ten miles from the farm, and were home soon after daybreak, just as
their fathers were about to set out with a body of Kaffirs in search of
them. Joel had returned late at night, having turned his face homeward
when it became too dark to follow the track; the horses had both come in
during the night.

CHAPTER FOUR.

THE OUTBREAK OF WAR.

As soon as the Jacksons' house was finished, they went into residence
there; but two or three times a week Dick and Tom managed to meet, one
or other being sure to find some excuse for riding over.

The Humphreys had arrived in Natal at the end of April, 1877, and by
November in the following year their farm presented a very different
appearance to that which it had worn on their arrival--sixteen months of
energetic labour, carried on by a considerable number of hands, will
effect wonders. Possessing ample capital Mr Humphreys was able to keep
a strong gang of Kaffirs at work, and for some time had thirty men upon
the farm. Thus the house which, when he took it, stood solitary and
lone in a bare plain, was now surrounded by 200 acres of young trees.
Of these, twenty acres were fruit-trees; the remainder, trees grown for
their wood. These were planted thickly, as they would every year be
thinned out, and the young poles would fetch a good sum for fencing.
Although they had only been planted a few months, they were already
green and bright; they were protected from the cattle by a wire fence
encircling the whole.

The cattle had thriven and were doing well, and a large field of Indian
corn had been harvested for the use of the Kaffirs. The cattle had
nearly doubled in numbers, as Mr Humphreys did not care about selling
at present. The expenses of living were slight. Meat, fowls, and eggs
were raised upon the farm, and the guns of Mr Humphreys and Dick
provided them with a plentiful supply of game. Four milch cows were
kept in a paddock near the house, and supplied it with milk, butter, and
cheese. Groceries and flour had alone to be purchased, and, as Mr
Humphreys said, he did not care if he did not sell a head of cattle for
the next ten years; but he would be obliged to do so before long, as the
farm would carry but a small number more than he already possessed, and
its available extent for that purpose would diminish every year, as the
planting went on.

Mr Humph