pless girl. For
that alone they deserved punishment, part of which had been summarily
meted out to them. But the remainder had escaped, to return with other
comrades, all enemies of the queen. They would not hesitate to take the
lives of those who so gallantly defended the farmhouse, and he in turn
would not spare a single one of them. Jack hardened his heart, and
calmly loaded the magazines of his weapons again, in preparation for the
next assault.

But they had read the Boers a severe lesson, and those of them who had
escaped the hail of bullets fled from the neighbourhood of the little
farmhouse, and, flinging themselves upon their ponies, galloped away
across the veldt till well out of range of fire. Then they pulled up
and collected together, solemnly swearing that, come what might, they
would subdue those few English opposed to them, and wreak a fearful
vengeance on their heads. The pluck and dauntless determination of the
little band they fully recognised and admired; but they had already
killed or wounded some forty or more of their brothers, and a price must
be exacted for those lives.

With sullen and determined looks they parted to surround the house,
while a few were despatched for reinforcements, and for guns with which
to splinter the walls behind which the defenders lay.

Meanwhile Jack and his friends stood grimly at their posts, thankful for
the breathing-space allowed them, and for the daylight which was fast
stealing across the veldt. At last the day broke completely, leaving
the plain in front of them partially obscured in a thin grey mist. But
a few minutes later a golden glow lit up the eastern sky, and in course
of time first a rim and then the whole of the morning sun rose above the
steep spires and pinnacles of the range of mountains beyond the Vaal
River, and poured a flood of warmth across the lonely veldt. Instantly
the mist cleared away, and a glorious day had dawned.

"Now our first duty is to give the enemy permission to remove their dead
and wounded," exclaimed Frank. "Let us pull down one of these boards
and shout to them."

Accordingly a plank was wrenched from one of the windows, and a white
flag waved through the opening. A Boer horseman at once galloped up,
and, riding into the garden, reined in opposite the window.

"You can remove your dead and wounded," said Jack, who had agreed to act
as spokesman, so that Frank Russel should not appear. "Only ten of you
must c