his face.

"Hands up!" in stentorian tones from the doorway; and through a white
mist of milk, the Englishman had a vision of the business end of two
rifles pointed at him at short range, held by rough bearded customers,
and of a white-faced girl convulsed in laughter. The sobering effect
of the metal throat of a rifle a few inches removed from your breast
is considerable, and the Intelligence officer was a captured man. But
for a moment only. Something swished past his ear, and a great star
appeared in the white-washed plaster, just a foot above the Dutchmen's
heads. The Tiger had risen to the situation. The girl's laughter died
out, the two men ducked, and made instinctively for the cover of the
door. The Intelligence officer had an eighth of a second in which to
make up his mind. To have been truly sensational he should have
covered the Burghers with his Mauser; but he was more practical, and
by the time the men recovered their equanimity he was galloping as
fast as his pony could lay legs to the ground back to the hillock
where the Tiger was lying ensconced. Then he realised the extent of
the hornet's nest into which he had blundered. Rifles cracked to right
and left of him, like stock-whips in a cattle-run. But it is hard to
hit a moving body. Many who took part in the battle of Omdurman will
remember how a single Emir on a scarecrow of a horse galloped
unscathed along the whole length of the British division advancing
round the base of Jebel Surgham, though every man in the firing-line
did his best to bring him down. Similarly the Intelligence officer
braved the gauntlet, and reached temporary security round the base of
the Tiger's hillock without harm. There was no time to waste. The
Tiger was down to his horse and mounted almost before his officer
realised he was safe.

_Tiger._ "Come along, sir; it's been a near thing, but we have just
time if we gallop for it!"

_Intelligence Officer._ "But the flanking party; we must not desert
them!"

_T._ "We can do them no good. They must take their chance--for God's
sake, gallop, sir!"

The Tiger indeed spoke the truth; it was a near thing. They had not
placed a hundred yards between them and the hillock when dismounted
enemy were at the top, and the ground round the fugitives throwing up
little puffs of dust as the bullets struck.

Their luck was in, and after a perilous three minutes, they were clear
of immediate danger, as the popping of rifles from the rise i