mself. Except for some bruises
he was sound enough.

"Are you hurt?" he asked of Jess, who, pale, faint and bruised, her hat
gone, her dress torn by bullets and the rocks, and dripping water at
every step, looked an exceedingly forlorn object.

"No," she said feebly, "not very much."

He sat down on the rock in the sun, for they were both shivering with
cold. "What is to be done?" he asked.

"Die," she said fiercely; "I meant to die--why did you not let me die?
Ours is a position that only death can set straight."

"Don't be alarmed," he said, "your desire will soon be gratified: those
murderous villains will hunt us up presently."

The bed and banks of the river were clothed with thin layers of mist,
but as the sun gathered power these lifted. The spot at which they had
climbed ashore was about three hundred yards below that where the
two Boers and their horses had been destroyed by the lightning on the
previous night. Seeing the mist thin, John insisted upon Jess crouching
with him behind a rock so that they could look up and down the river
without being seen themselves. Presently he made out the forms of two
horses grazing about a hundred yards away.

"Ah," he said, "I thought so; the devils have off-saddled there. Thank
Heaven I have still got my revolver, and the cartridges are watertight.
I mean to sell our lives as dearly as I can."

"Why, John," cried Jess, following the line of his out-stretched hand,
"those are not the Boers' horses, they are our two leaders that broke
loose in the water. Look, their collars are still on."

"By Jove! so they are. Now if only we can catch them without being
caught ourselves we have a chance of getting out of this."

"Well, there is no cover about, and I can't see any signs of Boers. They
must have been sure of having killed us, and gone away," Jess answered.

John looked round, and for the first time a sense of hope began to creep
into his heart. Perhaps they would survive after all.

"Let's go up and look. It is no good stopping here; we must get food
somewhere, or we shall faint."

She rose without a word, and taking his hand they advanced together
along the bank. They had not gone twenty yards before John uttered an
exclamation of joy and rushed at something white that had lodged in
the reeds. It was the basket of food which was given to them by the
innkeeper's wife at Heidelberg that had been washed out of the cart, and
as the lid was fastened nothing was los