We must now, I thought, have kept on for above an hour, though I dare
say it was not more than half that time; but I fully believed it was
nearer three hours than two after we had left the fort when Joeboy
suddenly dropped down flat; and, as I followed his example, he backed
himself, walking quadrupedally on his hands and toes till he was able to
subside close to where I lay on my face.

"Boss Val tired?" he whispered. "Um?"

"Not a bit," I replied. "Are we near the wagons?"

"Um? Done know," he replied. "Close by Doppie. All quiet. Fas'
asleep. Lissum."

I listened, and all was very still. Now and then from a distance came a
faint squeal and a stamp from some horse; but there was no talking going
on, and it was hardly possible there in the darkness to conceive that
probably a thousand men were lying near at hand, spread out to right and
left, and ready at a call to spring up, mount, and dash across the
plain.

"I can hear nothing," I replied at last, with my lips close to his ear.
"Think they are gone, Joeboy?"

"Um? Gone?" he whispered back. "Gone 'sleep. Joeboy going to look for
wagons."

"Stop a moment," I whispered. "Are you going to leave me here?"

"Um? Boss Val lie still and have good rest. Joeboy come back soon."

"But do you think you can find me again?" I said.

He put his lips close to my ear again and laughed softly.

"Um? Oh yes, Joeboy find um sure enough. See a lot in the dark. Boss
Val lie quite still."

Before I could remonstrate against a plan which, it seemed to me, might,
ruin our expedition, he had crept away; and from the direction he took I
knew he had gone off to the left, going quite fast, and progressing in a
style which, in old days, I had often laughingly said was like that of
the crocodiles of the Limpopo. This time I did not hear him make a
sound, and I could, of course, do nothing but lie still, feeling in my
utter misery that all was over, and that I could only lie there till
near daybreak, waiting to be found again by Joeboy, and waiting in vain.
Then I would have to run the gauntlet of the outposts, and make a
desperate effort to return, shamefaced and miserable, to the camp.

I tried hard to fix my attention on listening and endeavouring to make
out how near I was to the Boer lines; but I could not hear a sound.
Again and again I fretted at my miserable position as the time glided
away and there was no sign of Joeboy.

"I should have stopped him