eaking when there was a rush of feet, and one of
our guards scrambled up at the back, rifle in hand; but he contented
himself with looking in when he saw us lying apparently unmoved beneath
the rug.

"Hear that?" he said loudly.

"Yes," I replied as calmly as I could.

"There'll be hundreds more prisoners to shoot in the morning. Lie
still, you two, for if you try to move we'll serve you like jackals on
the veldt."

At that moment he turned sharply to listen, and I listened too. As the
Boer suddenly leaped down, uttering a warning cry, I sat up, and Denham
followed my example; for there was a rushing sound in the darkness from
the side opposite that fronting the fort, and the tramp of many feet,
followed by the ringing notes of a bugle, taken up by another and
another, succeeded by so close a volley that the wagon lantern looked
dim in the flashes from the rifles. Then came a ringing cheer,
bugle-notes sounding the charge; and in the darkness, with cheers that
thrilled us through and through, a couple of regiments rushed the Boer
lines from the rear with the bayonet.

Charge!--by George Manville Fenn

CHAPTER FORTY SIX.

HOW WE WERE SAVED.

"Hurrah!"

"Hurrah!"

We yelled together with all our might; but our cheers sounded like
whispers amidst the noises of firing in front and the rush of men from
the rear. The Boer sentries, however, were true to their duty even in
the midst of the terrible confusion in their lines; and four of them
made at once, rifle in hand, for the wagon. But we were mad with
excitement now, and _crack, crack_, our revolvers began to speak. Our
shots and the rapid advance of the soldiers made them turn and flee.

Then came the crash: the cheering and bayonet-work of the charge, as our
men dashed through the Boer lines, scattering them, horse and man,
across the veldt, panic-stricken.

"Denham," I cried excitedly; "my friends!" He said nothing for a
moment; then, unable to give me comfort, he said, "Oh, if the Colonel
could only bring our fellows out now and charge!"

Just then bugles rang out the recall, and in the midst of the many
sounds Bob's voice rose from the front of the wagon: "In here, father--
quick!"

The pair had only just clambered in when we heard the shouting of an
order and tramping of feet, and half a company of foot with fixed
bayonets dashed up to the wagon, the light within having attracted
attention. At the moment it looked like escaping from one