were so dusty and his horse so foam-flecked and
weary that it was evident that he also had left many a long mile of road
behind him.

"Have you seen three men on horseback?" cried Ezra as he approached.

"I spoke to them," the traveller answered. "They are about half a mile
ahead."

"Come on! Come on!" Ezra shouted.

"I am bringing news from Jagersfontein--" the man said.

"Come on!" Ezra interrupted furiously; and the horses stretched their
stiff limbs into a feeble lumbering gallop. Ezra and the sergeant shot
to the front, and the others followed as best they might. Suddenly in
the stillness they heard far away a dull rattling sound like the clatter
of distant castanets. "It's their horses' hoofs!" cried Ezra; and the
troopers behind raised a cheer to show that they too understood the
significance of the sound.

It was a wild, lonely spot, where the plain was bare even of the scanty
foliage which usually covered it. Here and there great granite rocks
protruded from the brown soil, as though Nature's covering had in bygone
days been rent until her gaunt bones protruded through the wound.
As Ezra and the sergeant swept round a sharp turn in the road they saw,
some little way ahead of them, the three fugitives, enveloped in a cloud
of dust. Almost at the same moment they heard a shout and crash behind
them, and, looking round, saw a confused heap upon the ground.
The horse of the leading trooper had fallen from pure fatigue, and had
rolled over upon its rider. The other trooper had dismounted, and was
endeavouring to extricate his companion.

"Let us see if he is hurt," the sergeant cried.

"On! on!" shouted Ezra, whose passion was increased by the sight of the
thieves. "Not a foot back."

"He may have broken his neck," grumbled the sergeant, drawing his
revolver. "Have your pistol ready, sir. We shall be up with them in a
few minutes, and they may show fight."

They were up with them rather sooner than the policeman expected.
Farintosh, finding that speed was of no avail, and that the numbers of
his pursuers was now reduced to two, had recourse to strategy. There
was a sharp turn in the road a hundred yards ahead, and on reaching it
the three flung themselves off their horses and lay down behind cover.
As Ezra and the sergeant, the grey horse and the bay, came thundering
round the curve, there was a fierce splutter of pistol shots from
amongst the bushes, and the grey sank down upon its knees with