g on horseback. They had
evidently never reached Estcourt, as nothing could be heard of them at
that village. They were both young men--colonists by birth. Dollond had
an especially youthful appearance. Franks was older. He had joined the
force later in life. He and Dollond, who had only very recently before
his disappearance been promoted, were chums.

Some months later in the same year, when Troopers George Langley and
Hiram Whitson also applied for ten days' leave of absence--likewise to
proceed to Pietermaritzburg--the leave was granted; but the officer in
charge of the detachment laughingly remarked that he hoped they were
not going to follow Dollond and Franks.

Now, neither Langley nor Whitson had the remotest idea of visiting
Pietermaritzburg. It is necessary, of course, for the reader to know
where they did intend going to, and how the intention arose; but before
doing this we must deal with some antecedent circumstances.

Langley was certainly the most boyish-looking man in the force. He had
a perfectly smooth face, ruddy complexion, and fair hair. He was of
middle height, and was rather inclined to stoutness. He was so fond of
talking that his comrades nicknamed him "magpie." A colonist by birth,
he could speak the Kafir language like a native.

Whitson was a sallow-faced, spare-built man of short stature, with dark
brown beard and hair, and piercing black eyes. His age was about
forty. He had a wiry and terrier-like appearance. A "down-East" Yankey,
he had spent some years in Mexico, and then drifted to South Africa
during the war-period which, it will be remembered, lasted from 1877 to
1882. He had served in the Zulu war as a noncommissioned officer in
one of the irregular cavalry corps, with some credit. The fact of his
being a man of extremely few words was enough to account for the
friendship which existed between him and the garrulous Langley. Whitson
was known to be a dead shot with the revolver.

This is how they came to apply for leave. One day Langley was strolling
about just outside the lines looking for somebody to talk to, when he
noticed an apparently very old native man sitting on an ant-heap, and
regarding him somewhat intently. This old native had been several times
seen in the vicinity of the camp, but he never seemed to speak to any
one, and he looked so harmless that the police did not even trouble to
ask him for the written pass which all natives are obliged by law to
carry when th