show these Boers that the
English could be kind and good to them, and not, as the field-cornets
and leaders were always telling the burghers, cowards and brutes. Jack
looked again at the wounded man, and the sight of his helpless and
pitiable condition at once decided him. Unwinding the puggaree from the
Boer's hat, he brought one of the ponies close alongside him, and
putting out all his strength, lifted him into the saddle. Then he
lashed his ankles together beneath the pony's body, and, leading the
spare animal by the reins, set off for Vryburg through the bush.

It was a long and tedious march, but in three hours' time he was
opposite the town, and, leaving the belt of scrub in which he had been
walking, he turned into the open. A mile farther on thirty Boers came
cantering towards them, and, taking a hurried farewell of the wounded
man, Jack vaulted on to the other pony and cantered off.

A few minutes later the wounded Boer was amongst his comrades, and,
looking back, Jack saw him feebly moving his arms as though explaining
the manner in which the Englishman had brought him in, and begging them
not to follow him. But the sight of one of the hated Rooineks proved
too much for the Boers, and with a shout they left their comrade, and,
putting their animals into a mad gallop, came thundering after Jack.

In a moment he had dug his spurs into the wiry little animal upon whose
back he rode, and, turning towards the bush again, galloped directly
towards it at his fastest pace. When within 300 yards of the mimosa
scrub another body of horsemen appeared directly in front of him, riding
amongst the thorn bushes, and as soon as they caught sight of him, and
of the men who were pursuing him, they scattered to right and left and
rode off, leaping the rocks and bushes in their way, and evidently
intending to surround him.

It was a desperate predicament, but Jack's coolness never deserted him,
and he instantly decided how to act. Turning sharply to the right, he
galloped on at the same headlong pace parallel to the belt of bush, but
drawing closer to it. Suddenly he turned to the left again, and,
applying his spurs, set his pony straight for the centre of the Boers
who had appeared in front of him.

It was a smart manoeuvre, for the horsemen had already separated, so
that by the time Jack reached the line of bush there were only two in
front of him. His rifle was already in his hand and his bayonet fixed.
Holding