w minutes later the foreloper on whom so much depended--guided, no
doubt, by our anxious looks in one direction--made out the coming of our
friends, and I saw his eyes open widely till there was a great opal ring
round the dark pupils. Looking at me despairingly, he pointed with his
long bamboo in the direction of the galloping troop.

I nodded, and pointed forward. After an uneasy glance at my gun, he
went on with his team in the direction we wished.

"Black boy run away fas'," said Joeboy, suddenly laughing merrily, "but
'fraid lead bullet run fasser."

"I suppose so," I said slowly as I turned to look back. The light being
now much increased, I readily detected a strong troop of the Boers in
motion, and doubtless coming in our direction. I drew my breath hard as
I looked at the long lines of slowly plodding oxen and then in the
direction of our rescuers, who must have seen we were pursued, for they
were galloping. Then, to my horror, Joeboy turned to me and nodded,
after gazing back.

"Um?" he said in a long, slow, murmuring way, "'nother lot o' Doppie
coming. Big lot."

I darted a look at our comrades, who came sweeping along over the veldt;
but they were still far distant, and we seemed to be creeping along more
slowly than ever.

"Not enough; not enough," I thought; but I wasted no time in regret.
There were fully fifty friends, all good horsemen and able shots, coming
to our help; so I need not despair. Thinking of what would be the best
tactics under the circumstances, there seemed to be two ways open to us:
for the troop to fall in on either side of the last wagon, and keep up a
running fight; or, if the Boer party proved too strong, the six wagons
could be drawn up laager-wise and turned into a temporary fort, with the
bullocks outside, our men firing, till help came, from behind an
improvised shelter formed by the sacks of grain and meal.

Then I reasoned despairingly that the Boers would send forward troop
after troop to recover, the wagons. "If they can," I now muttered
through my teeth. For I was more hopeful now, as it soon became evident
that the enemy had twice as far to come as our men had. At last, when
the mental strain had become almost unbearable, Denham and his troop
dashed forward, cheering madly.

"Bravo! bravo, Val!" he shouted to me, pulling his horse up so suddenly
that it nearly went back on its haunches. "Here, you, Joeboy, keep the
teams going. Fall in, my lads! Dismo