t reinforcements had reached the Boers, was
discharged at the figure, and a dozen or more bullets passed through it.

For ten minutes the firing continued and then slackened off, till it
ceased altogether. By this time it was almost pitch dark, so that Jack
determined to set off.

Prince was already on his feet, and having placed him close to a boulder
which he could use as a mounting-block, he went across to Lord O'Farnel,
slung his rifle across his shoulder, grasped his pistol in his right
hand, after having slipped one arm under his friend's legs, and, passing
the other beneath his shoulders, lifted him gently from the ground.

"Put your arms round my neck," he whispered. "Now hold on as tight as
you can."

Stepping across the fort, Jack mounted the boulder and seated himself on
Prince's back.

A touch with his heel sent the pony ahead, and soon they were out in the
open, heading away from the camp.

About five minutes later Jack managed to hook his fingers in the reins
and pull up, for the sound of approaching footsteps fell on his ear.
Then two dusky figures slipped by in the darkness, and having given them
time to pass on, Jack once more set his animal going. When he had
ridden about a mile, and was well clear of the hollow, there was a
sudden burst of firing behind him followed by fierce shouts, changing
almost immediately to angry cries, which reached him distinctly in the
still night air.

"Ah!" he thought, "the Boers have been fairly taken in, and have rushed
the fort, only to find a dummy there. I expect they are mad with rage."

Turning to the left, he now made a wide detour, and about two hours
later rode into Craigside camp, utterly worn out with his exertions.

He was at once greeted with anxious questions as to the safety and
whereabouts of the column with whom he and Lord O'Farnel had ridden.
But his first duty was to his friend, whom he carried towards the
hospital tent. Here he found all the surgeons who were not out on the
elopes of Talana Hill searching for the killed and wounded, hard at work
treating the cases that had been brought in. But they had time to look
to Lord O'Farnel.

"What's happened?" asked one of them, coming out of the tent and helping
Jack to dismount with his burden. "Broken thigh? You've got that
splint put on very nicely. Let us carry him in and look at him."

A minute later Farney was lying on a stretcher, and the splint was being
taken off.

But the po