e the Hunters again, I
had better get back to my own carriage."

Jack popped up through the hole again, and was on the point of moving
along the top of the coal when, with a shriek and a deafening roar the
train dived into the long tunnel which connects Natal and the Transvaal.
To attempt to move now would have been to run the chance of having his
brains knocked out against the arch above, for the coal-van was one with
sides of sheet-iron, built very much higher than those usually seen on
our English railways. He therefore lay down flat upon the thin layer of
coal, taking good care to spread his weight over as much surface as
possible. Five minutes later the train emerged from the tunnel and
rushed out into the open. Once more Jack crawled to the side of the
truck, and having worked his way to the foremost end of it, clambered
over on to the buffer, and from there on to the next truck.

"Now I shall be able to get along far more quickly," he thought. "But
first of all I will try the weight of one of these cases labelled
`Sugar'. Ah, I thought as much! this one is so heavy that I can
scarcely lift it."

Stumbling along on top of the cases, he tried first one and then
another, till he was convinced that here again he had hit upon a large
consignment of war material of some sort. For if it was not ammunition,
or something of that nature, what could it be? And why should the cases
be labelled `Sugar'? Obviously it was extremely likely that all the
trucks were loaded with war material, for otherwise why the secrecy and
incorrect labelling?

Satisfied that he had discovered a secret of the Boers, Jack scrambled
from truck to truck on his way back to his carriage.

It was by no means easy work, for the train was now rushing along at a
rapid pace, swaying from side to side and necessitating great caution,
especially when he was stretching across the space which separated the
trucks.

However, by dint of due caution he at last reached the foremost truck,
and was on the point of lowering himself on to the buffers when his hand
struck against a cord which seemed to run from end to end over the
middle of the wooden cases. He ran his fingers along it, and was
wondering what it could be, when the flash of a light from the open
veldt at the side of the line caught his eye. A second later it had
been left behind, but the rope in his hand jerked and then stretched
tight, as though the flash had been a signal and someone