idea was mine, I suppose I'm the champion fool of the
lot," he added with a savage laugh. "We haven't fired a shot this
blessed morning, and have had all our trouble for nothing."

This was not precisely the reflection that Payne's words were intended
to convey. But he said nothing.

"I'm not sure we have had our trouble for nothing," put in Eustace.
"It's grand country, anyhow."

It was. Magnificent and romantic scenery surrounded them; huge
perpendicular krantzes towering up many hundreds of feet; piles upon
piles of broken rocks and boulders, wherein the luxuriant and tangled
vegetation had profusely taken root; great rifts and ravines, covered
with dense black forest, and the swift murmuring current of the river
joining its music with the piping of birds from rock and brake.

But the remark was productive of a growl only from Carhayes. He had not
come out to look at scenery. They had had enough and to spare of that
during the campaign. He had come out to get a shot at a buck, and
hadn't got it.

Pipes were lighted, and the quartette lounged luxuriously upon the
sward. The frowning grandeur of the towering heights, the golden glow
of the sunlight upon the tree-tops, the soft, sensuous warmth of the
summer air, the hum of insects, and the plashing murmur of the river,
unconsciously affected all four--even grumbling, dissatisfied Tom
Carhayes.

"Whisht!" said Payne suddenly, holding up his hand to enjoin silence,
and starting from his lounging attitude. The others were prompt to
follow his example.

"What's the row, George?" whispered Hoste below his breath. "Hear
anything?"

For answer Payne waved his hand again and went on listening intently.

Up the sunlit river came a sound--a sound audible to all now, a sound
familiar to all--the tread of hoofs upon the stones, of unshod hoofs.
Mingling with this were other sounds--the low murmur of human voices.
Water, as everybody knows, is a great conductor of sound. Though more
than half a mile distant, they recognised the deep tones and inflections
of Kafir voices, whose owners were evidently coming down to the river on
the same side as themselves.

From their resting place the river ran in a long, straight reach.
Peering cautiously through the bushes, they were able to command this.
Almost immediately several large oxen, with great branching horns,
emerged from the forest, and, entering the water, splashed through to
the other side. They were followed