d no further orders but rose _en masse_, fled through the
jungle, and made for the mountains.

Van Dyk, reloading in hot haste, followed swiftly, but he had not taken
three steps when Charlie Considine was at his heels. He had dismounted
and followed Van Dyk. The other pursuers made a detour on horseback to
cut off the robbers as they passed over some open ground in advance. In
attempting this they came on a spot where the ground was strewn with the
dead or dying cattle. With a yell of rage they pushed on, but utterly
failed, for the bandits had headed in another direction and gained the
cliffs, where pursuit on horseback was impossible. Knowing that it
would have been equally fruitless to continue the chase on foot, they
returned to the point where Van Dyk and Considine had entered the
jungle, fully expecting to find them there, as it would have been
madness, they thought, for two unsupported men to follow up the flying
band. To their surprise they found no one there.

"We must follow their spoor, boys," said Conrad Marais, with an anxious
look; "they cannot be far off, but we must not leave them unsupported in
the jungle with such a lot of black villains flying about."

Action was at once taken. The most experienced men dismounted and
traced the spoor, with the unerring certainty of bloodhounds. But they
shouted and searched in vain till night compelled them to desist.

Meanwhile Van Dyk and Considine had been captured by the Bergenaars.

When Charlie overtook the hunter, as already described, his ardent
spirit and strong supple limbs enabled him to outrun his more massive
though not less enthusiastic companion. A short run soon convinced the
hunter that there was no chance of a clothed white man overtaking a more
than half-naked native in a thorny jungle. Indeed, he was already well
convinced by former experience of this fact, and had intended to engage
in pursuit for only a short time, in order if possible to obtain a
flying shot at one or two of the robbers, but his young comrade's
resolute continuance of the chase forced him to hold on longer than he
desired.

"Stop! stop, young fellow," he shouted with stentorian voice; "stop, I
say! You'll only waste your breath for no good," he shouted.

But Considine heard him not. He had caught sight of one of the bandits
who seemed to be losing strength, and, being himself sound in wind and
limb, he recklessly determined to push on.

"I'll leave you to yo