g a spark of fire.

It was as if that spark of fire struck by iron off stone had ignited the
powder in the pan of an old-fashioned gun; for from close at hand there
was a flash, the heavy report, and then a rolling volley of echoes. I
felt Sandho bound beneath me; but the next moment he was walking
steadily along, following the hand holding his bit, and he paid no more
heed when directly after another shot was fired on ahead, another
behind, and again another and another, raising what seemed to be a
continuous roar of echoes right, left, and in front, to go rolling among
the mountains.

The hot blood flew to my face, and a thrill of excitement ran through me
as I involuntarily cocked the rifle I held across the saddle, sitting
ready to fire at the first enemy who presented himself; in fact, I
nearly drew trigger once, but my common-sense prevailed, as I felt that
we could not be seen, neither could we be heard in the roar of echoes
which took up and magnified the reports. Joeboy was doing exactly what
was right under the circumstances--going straight on; and, unless we
found a body of men confronting us and stopping our way, or an unlucky
bullet struck one of us, it seemed probable that in a very short time we
should have achieved our purpose.

I had often heard of Echo Nek before, and had some vague idea that if
any one shouted there the tones of his voice would be reverberated from
the face of the cliffs; but I had never realised the true reason as I
did now.

The firing went steadily on, the Boer outpost being evidently under the
impression that their action would drive back the force approaching to
get into their country. This being so, the reports increased to an
extent that showed plainly enough the presence of a strong body of men,
who had been lying inside the valley, ready to hurry forward to the
defence of the pass upon an alarm being given.

I now began to wonder how it was that we were not seen through some one
of the flashes and hit by bullets sent spattering among the stones among
which we wended our way; but none came near. Every now and then I heard
a sharp shock against the rock, followed by a pattering downpour of
fragments. Every shot struck high above our heads, and at the end of a
few minutes, higher still; at which I wondered, till it suddenly
occurred to me that Sandho was not climbing higher and higher up the
pass, but descending.

All this time Joeboy kept steadily on, apparently as