of the devil. He had
ever been a gambler in the way of taking chances; he had always
possessed ballast even when the London life had enervated, had
depressed him; and to men of his stamp pluck is a commonplace: it
belongs as eyes and hands and feet belong.

Dawn was not far away, and before daybreak he must have the hill which
was the key to the whole position, which commanded the left flank of
the foe. An hour or so after he got it, if the artillery and infantry
did their portion, a great day's work would be done for England; and
the way to the relief of the garrison beyond the mountains would be
open. The chance to do this thing was the reward he received for his
gallant and very useful fight at Wortmann's Drift twenty-four hours
before. It would not do to fail in justifying the choice of the Master
Player, who had had enough bad luck in the campaign so far.

The first of his force to salute him in the darkness was his next in
command, Barry Whalen. They had been together in the old Rand Rifles,
and had, in the words of the Kaffir, been as near as the flea to the
blanket, since the day when Rudyard discovered that Barry Whalen was on
the same ship bound for the seat of war. They were not youngsters,
either of them; but they had the spring of youth in them, and a deep
basis of strength and force; and they knew the veld and the veld
people. There was no trick of the veldschoen copper for which they were
not ready; and for any device of Kruger's lambs they were prepared to
go one better. As Barry Whalen had said, "They'll have to get up early
in the morning if they want to catch us."

This morning the Boers would not get up early enough; for Rudyard's
command had already reached the position from which they could do their
work with good chances in their favour; and there had been no sign of
life from the Boer trenches in the dusk--naught of what chanced at
Magersfontein. Not a shot had been fired, and there would certainly
have been firing if the Boer had known; for he could not allow the
Rooinek to get to the point where his own position would be threatened
or commanded. When Kruger's men did discover the truth, there would be
fighting as stiff as had been seen in this struggle for half a
continent.

"Is it all right?" whispered Rudyard, as Barry Whalen drew up by him.

"Not a sound from them--not a sign."

"Their trenches should not be more than a few hundred yards on, eh?"

"Their nearest trenches are about th