inexperienced as I was in such matters, I could not help thinking that
the wagons were being pushed forward on purpose to afford cover for
their best marksmen, and that in a short time the bullets would begin to
be pinging and buzzing about our ears.

I can't say what the Colonel thought; but almost directly the trumpet
rang out, and we were cantered back, to file steadily into the great
courtyard again, with the men grumbling and muttering among themselves
at having been made what they called fools of.

"I tell you what it is, Val," said Denham as soon as he had another
chance to speak; "I believe I've got it."

"What--the Boers' plan?"

"Yes; don't you see? They'll come right in so as to be within easy shot
of our grazing grounds."

"Oh!" I exclaimed, "I never thought of that. Of course; and if the
horses and cattle are driven out, they'll be able to shoot them down
till we haven't a beast left."

"Nor a bit of beef. It's to force us to surrender--a regular siege."

It was rapidly getting dark then; and we soon learned that our ideas of
the Boers' ruse were the same as those entertained by our chiefs.

Upon the strength of the closer approach the sentries were doubled, and
by means of the wagons the entrance to our stronghold was barricaded in
a more effectual way; but we were not to be allowed to rest with a
feeling of security that night. In about a couple of hours after our
return a shot was fired by one of the sentries, then another, and
another; and the men stood to their arms, on foot, ready for an attack
by the enemy. In a few minutes, however, the news ran round that the
sentries had fired at a dark figure creeping along under the wall inside
the courtyard after repeated challenges; and, later, the news spread
that the sentry on guard over the prisoner was lying insensible and
bleeding from a great cut on the back of his head, and that Captain
Moriarty was nowhere to be found.

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

AN AMBUSCADE IN STONE.

"The chief's in an awful rage, Val," said Denham, when he came to me
after a thorough search had seemed to prove that the prisoner had eluded
the vigilance of the sentries. "He swears that some one must have been
acting in collusion with the pompous blackguard, and that he means to
have the whole of our Irish boys before him and cross-examine the lot."

"I hope he will not," I said.

"So do I; for I don't believe one of them would have lent him a hand,
and it woul