hat the Boers must be lying around by the hundred.

In another minute I knew we must be close to oxen, for I could hear them
ruminating; and, convinced that a wagon would be before us, with perhaps
a dozen men underneath, I bore still more to my left, with Denham
following close, till I stopped once more, knowing that horses must be
just in front.

I made a short pause now, longing to ask my comrade's advice; but I
dared not whisper. So, feeling that probably there would only be about
fifty yards of perilous ground to pass over before we had cleared the
Boer lines, I did what I imagined was best--bore off a little to the
right as I advanced--my idea being to get back towards the oxen and pass
softly by the side of the wagon which I believed must be close at hand.

"They'll be asleep," I thought, "and I may get past."

It was all a chance, I knew; but we had been lucky so far, and I hoped
that fortune would still favour us. In this spirit I still kept on,
crawling now very slowly, till suddenly I let myself subside, for my
hand had come in contact with the butt of a rifle lying on the ground.

Denham too must have taken the alarm, for I felt him drawing steadily at
my heel, which I read to mean retreat. But I felt there was no retreat,
knowing that we had crept right in among a number of sleeping men. So I
let myself slowly subside, lying on my chest; and in the effort to cross
my arms and let them rest beneath my chin my left elbow struck sharply
against a sleeper's face, making him start so violently that he kicked
his neighbour, and in an instant there was a furious burst of Boer Dutch
oaths and imprecations.

"Quiet!" said a deep, severe voice in Dutch. "There, you've roused the
patrol."

My heart sank, for there was the hurried tramp of footsteps approaching,
and, worse than all, the gleaming of a lantern, which lit up the heavy
body of a man lying right across the way I sought to go, while right and
left, and within a foot of me, were two more burly figures. They were
all in motion now, and as the lantern was borne closer it was thrown
open, and, in what one of my neighbours would have called an
_augenblick_, I saw in the background on one side the tilt of a wagon,
and on the other the dim forms of horses.

My agony, in spite of feeling Denham's hand pressing firmly on my heel,
seemed to have culminated; but the worst was to come, and I shivered,
for a high-pitched voice cried in Dutch:

"Hwhat's al