he fire.

"What made you so late, Mr. Blount? We were fighting for three
quarters of an hour, before you came up."

"I am very sorry," Mr. Blount replied; "somehow or other, we went
wrong altogether. There is nothing to guide one in this flat bush,
and the tracker who was leading the way said he was certain he was
going as you ordered him. Just before six o'clock we halted, and
looked in the direction in which we expected to see your smoke, but
there were no signs of it. Presently one of the constables
exclaimed:

"'There's the smoke, sir, right behind us.'

"I looked around and, sure enough, there was a column of smoke, and
a long way off it was.

"'What have you been doing, you rascal?' I said to the black.
'There's the smoke right behind us. You have been leading us wrong,
altogether.'

"The black insisted that he was right, and that the fire must have
been made by the black fellows. I didn't know what to make of it.
It was two or three minutes past six; and I noticed, when we halted
before, that your watch was exactly with mine. So I said to the
men:

"'We will wait five minutes longer and, if we see no other smoke,
you may be sure that that is made by Captain Whitney.'

"We waited the five minutes, and then I gave the word to start,
when one of the men exclaimed:

"'The black fellow's gone.'

"Sure enough, he had slipped away without being noticed, while we
were looking for the smoke. I felt sure, now, that something must
be wrong; and we galloped towards your smoke, as fast as the horses
could lay their feet to the ground. When we were about half way, we
heard the sound of firing, and I can tell you that we didn't lose a
moment on the way, after that. Have you had any losses?"

"Two of the constables are killed," Reuben said, "and we have all
got some more or less ugly scratches. My left arm is useless for a
time, I am afraid. A spear went right through it. I fear some of
the others have worse hurts."

"What can have become of the sergeant's party?" Mr. Blount said.

"They must have gone the wrong way, too," Reuben replied. "I told
you I suspected those trackers of being in league with the blacks,
and I have no doubt your fellow led you purposely astray, in order
to give them an opportunity of cutting us off before you could
arrive to our assistance. I suppose the other party has been misled
in the same way. It is fortunate, indeed, that you made up your
mind to ride for our smoke when you did.