two rascals had shot one of his best. At the same time he
owned to himself ruefully that the chance of carrying out such vengeance
was remote. At present he was far more an object for their vengeance
than they for his.

"Come now, Gert, we must get along. Lay hold of my stirrup-leather and
trot alongside."

They got into the road again, but with the moon behind the cloud and the
rain that was beginning to fall it became very dark. What if the
vindictive Dutchmen, guessing they had failed, were to take a short cut
behind the ridge and _voerlij_ them further down? The thought was
unpleasant, to put it mildly.

Now there was a whirl and a roar in the air, and, in an icy blast, the
rain swooped down in torrents. Colvin, destitute of macintosh or wrap
of any kind, was soaked through and through in about two minutes, and
shivered exceedingly. Fortunately the deluge was behind him, or, coming
down obliquely as it did, Aasvogel could hardly have made headway
against it. Now and then a vivid flash of lightning gleamed forth,
showing the sheer of the great crags overhead and the glistening slopes
studded with wet stones.

"Hurry up, Gert. Put your best foot forward, man. We have to race the
river this shot. The Ratels Hoek drift will be running twelve feet deep
before we get there if we don't look smart."

And the Griqua, puffing and perspiring, did put his best foot forward.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stephanus De la Rey, having just finished his supper, had come out on to
the stoep to look at the weather. The deluge of the last hour had
subsided, but the clouds, black as ink and unbroken, gave promise of a
repetition of the same.

"Aha!" he said, gleefully to himself. "The drought is at an end. The
river is already coming down well, and the dams must be overflowing. I
shall pump a lot of water on to the lucerne beds to-morrow. But--What
is that?"

The clink of shod horse hoofs came upon the wind through the swirl and
roar of the fast-swelling river. He stood listening intently. The
sound ceased, then arose again, now on this side of the drift. The next
moment a very soaked and dripping horseman emerged into the light of the
windows, and beside him trotted a pedestrian, no less soaked and
dripping, but very much blown.

"Why, Colvin, where are you from? _Maagtig, kerel_! but you are wet,"
he cried. Then raising his voice: "Windvogel, Swaartbooi. T