tones
and bushes where; the bank went precipitously down to a beautiful
winding river flowing amongst abundant verdure. Close by him lay
Ingleborough, still fast asleep, and beyond him the other pony, still
cropping away at the rich green growth which sprang up among the stones.
Then, as far as he could see, West made out nothing but the beauty of
the spot upon which they had stumbled in the darkness of the night. He
rose to his knees stiffly enough, and was in the act of getting upon his
feet, realising that the beautiful greenery formed a riband on either
side of the river, beyond which was the open veldt, when he dropped down
again to reach out and grasp Ingleborough's shoulder, for in his rapid
glance he had caught sight of a party of mounted men out in the full
sunshine about half-a-mile away. They were walking their horses, and it
seemed for certain to be the whole or a portion of the enemy of the
previous day, for he recalled, what had not struck him at the time, that
one of the Boers was mounted upon a grey horse, and one of the others he
could see from where he watched was similarly mounted.

"Plenty of grey horses about, of course!" he muttered; "but this seems
to be the one I saw yesterday."

"What's the matter?" said Ingleborough.

"Hist! Keep quiet!" replied West. "The Boers are upon us! Look!"

Ingleborough rose cautiously, took a long earnest look through his
glass, and put it back.

"Yes, there they are," he said coolly; "there's that chap again on the
white pony. Good job we didn't try to ford the river in the darkness.
Why, we should have been swept away."

West glanced for a moment in the direction of the stream, and grasped
the truth of his companion's words, before scanning their position and
taking it in at once.

"We can't get over yonder," he said quickly.

"No," replied Ingleborough. "That cuts two ways. Neither can they
attack us from that quarter; so our rear is safe."

"We shall not be able to escape north," continued West.

"No; we are shut in there."

"Nor yet south, for they would pick us off easily before we could get
through the rough ground to gallop away."

"Quite right, lad; and they are advancing on our front. Noll, my boy,
there is only one thing to be done."

"What is that?"

"Turn that patch of rocks there into our fort, and hold out till they've
shot us down, or we've shot them, or they've made us surrender."

"What about provisions?"

"Plenty of wa