e of ammunition, the
British detachment, scattered here and there about the captured gun, lay
in momentary expectation of the enemy creeping up and then making a
rush.

"But they will not," said Lennox quietly. "They'll wait till morning,
and creep up from stone to stone and bush to bush, trying to pick us
off."

"You need not be so cock-sure about it," growled Dickenson. "They are
in force, and must have known from our fire how few we were. A rush
would do it."

"Yes; but they will not rush," replied Lennox. "They understand too
well the meaning of the word _bayonet_. Cock-sure or no, they'll make
no dash; but as soon as it begins to be light we shall have a
hailstorm."

"Nonsense!" said Dickenson tetchily; "there's no sign of rain."

"I did not say rain," replied Lennox, "but hail--leaden hail from every
bit of cover round."

"Oh, I see," said Dickenson. "Well, two sides can play at that game;
and I fancy we have most cover here."

Lennox was quite right; for as soon as the first pale grey of a lovely
dawn began to make objects stand up in an indistinct way upon the level
veldt around the kopje, the sharp cracks of rifle after rifle began at
every object that displayed movement upon the eminence, and the
pattering of bullets among the rocks often preceded the reports of the
Boer rifles.

But by this time Captain Roby had communicated with the colonel in the
village, and had taken his steps, sending his men well out in the
enemy's direction to take advantage of every scrap of cover to reply
wherever it was necessary, which they did, their efforts, as the time
went on, to some extent keeping the Boer fire down.

The colonel grasped the position at once and sent assistance, with the
result that, in spite of terrible difficulties, by help of horse and
mule to supplement the pulling powers of the ox-team, the big gun,
limber, and an ammunition-wagon, which daylight showed lying deserted a
quarter of a mile away among some bushes into which it had been dragged
in the dark, were hauled to the flat top of the kopje, where they were
surrounded with a rough but strong breastwork of the abundant stones,
and by the men's breakfast-time a shell was sent well into the midst of
a clump of bush which the Boers had made the centre of their advance.

A better shot could not have been made, for as soon as the shell had
burst, the defenders of the kopje had the satisfaction of seeing that
the greater part of the Boers