ces. The trunk of a tree, a white stone on the side of a distant
kopje, or even a vulture, of which there are numbers hereabouts. They
are brutes, and the more you hit the better. You've got a Mauser pistol
too, and had better make use of it. If this war comes, you'll find your
time has not been wasted."

Jack followed this advice. During their long, and generally lonely,
rides, he would often fire as many as twenty cartridges in an afternoon,
galloping up to the object afterwards to see what success he had had.
As a rule, he fired from the saddle, but sometimes he would jump to the
ground and aim whilst standing; at other times, at Tom's suggestion, he
would slip from his saddle, scuttle hurriedly across a piece of open
ground, taking advantage of every boulder or ant-hill, and firing at an
imaginary enemy from behind each one. Then, when he had reached a
ridge, or a piece of better cover, a glance from his trained eye would
pick out the best spot to fire from, and he would lie prone on the
ground, without so much as the brim of his hat showing, while the muzzle
of his rifle projected between two boulders and hurled forth a stream of
bullets as he used the magazine.

"That's it, my lad," Tom would say encouragingly. "That's just how our
Boer friends fight, and it's the only method nowadays, when bullets
carry so far, and everyone is armed with a modern weapon of precision.
It'll be ticklish work, I can tell you, if our fellows have to attack
from the open, and that's what it will have to come to, for you won't
find these Dutchmen exposing themselves if they can help it. They'll
sit tight behind their boulders, and we shall have to turn them out at
the point of the bayonet. Yes, it will be ticklish work, and will
require real grit, but I'll bet anything our boys will tackle it.
There's another thing too. Every youngster armed with one of these
magazine rifles is inclined to blaze off all his ammunition at the first
alarm. It's wasting cartridges, which cannot always be spared; and what
is more, it is apt to demoralise the others. That's what you must guard
against. Never use the magazine unless there are lots of beggars coming
pell-mell at you. If there's a rush, then is the time to pump in the
lead as fast as you possibly can.

"Then, too, you must learn to train your pony, and whilst I'm teaching
you to use your rifle, I may as well instruct you in the other matter
also."

Jack was naturally only too