t on an excursion of pure
pleasure. Behind her trailed a long column of men and mounts and
wagons; around her was a knot of horses whom she knew well; and
before her stretched away the dry and level veldt, broken at the
sky-line by a range of hills that rose sharply in a jagged line
which culminated in one peak lifted far above all the others.

In the very front of the column rode a score or more of the South
African Light Horse, with Weldon, for the moment, in command. The
man was showing, just then, something of the temper of his mount. It
would have been good to leave behind him the slow-moving column and
go dashing away alone, far across the level plain. A spirit of
restlessness was upon him; Paddy's utterances grew vague in his
ears, and he cast longing glances towards the range of hills to the
southward, as if eager to explore them and find what secrets, if
any, lay within their keeping. Then he reined in his broncho and
forced his mind back to Paddy's conversation, still upon the deeds
of the kilted heroes of the Black Watch.

"And they do say," he was observing; "that Wauchope was light in his
mind--fey, them piping, petticoated Scotchmen calls it--the night
before his death. Now that's something that's beyond my thinking. No
dead man ever knows he's going to die. Witness the last words of
most of 'em! They make up their death-bed speeches, and then they
turn thrifty and save up the speeches till next time. Little Canuck
dear, what would you say, if you was hit?"

Weldon laughed shortly.

"I should probably say 'Thank God,'" he answered.

Paddy crossed himself.

"And might heaven forgive you then, little one!" he said gravely.
"The Lord and the Holy Virgin may send the bullets to kill you,
unless it's from the Boers who is guided by the Father of Lies; but
it's small thanks in return they will be asking. Take the benefits
of Providence with a shout of thanksgiving; but swallow hard and
keep a stiff upper lip, when it smacks you over the head with a
shillalegh." Then, of a sudden, he bent over in the saddle once more
and rested his hand on Weldon's fingers which lay on the broncho's
neck. "And, if I mistake not, little one, it is what you have been
doing, these late days, so forgive me teaching you a lesson you've
already learned by heart."

Two nights before this, Carew's letter to Alice had ended with the
outcry,--

"For God's sake, how long is this going to last?"

And now the end was almost in si