and the defile was narrow.

Half the way to the defile was already accomplished when Weldon
heard, from the crest of the ridge above him, the double crack of a
Mauser rifle, and then the sound of scurrying, unshod feet. He shut
his teeth, and his chin rose a bit higher. "A picket! And now the
brute has run in to tell tales," he said shortly. "Quick, men, it's
a race between us now."

Answering to the touch of the spur, the gray broncho went leaping
forward, with Paddy's horse neck and neck at her side. From beyond
the ridge, the trio of guns could be heard, barking ceaselessly,
while their shells dropped thick into the laager, scarcely eight
hundred yards away. And now the defile, short, but narrow, was close
at hand.

Ka-paw! Ka-paw!

From the mouth of the tiny pass, a rain of bullets swept down upon
them. A horse dropped, shot through the knee; another, hit in the
neck, bolted, threw its wounded rider and then, mad with pain,
hurled itself straight into the ranks of the enemy. A second shot,
almost at arm's length, threw it to the earth; but not until it had
done its work. The half-broken Boer ponies, fat from much feeding
and totally unaccustomed to this species of missile, swerved at its
approach and destroyed the aim of the second volley, which was
answered by a fire that sent a full quarter of the twoscore Boers
sprawling heavily groundward.

A scant ten minutes sufficed for the rest. Five troopers lay
helpless on the dusty soil. Five dead Boers blocked the trail at the
entrance of the narrow pass. It was a drawn game; but the end was
not yet. From beyond the ridge, Weldon could hear the guns still
pounding ceaselessly. He knew that, half a mile in the rear, his
colonel was watching for him to come to the crest of the hill; that,
in a sense, the whole game was waiting upon his moves. Whirling
himself about, he gave a short, sharp order. Scarcely a moment
later, he was astonished to see the Boers in the pass giving way
before the mad rush of his paltry fifteen men. The narrow pass was
his own.

Beyond the pass were more ridges, some parallel with his course,
some crossing it. Far to the eastward, he could see a moving spot,
black even in the increasing darkness of the night. Leaving Piggie
to pick her own way along the rocky ridge, he rose in his stirrups,
shaded his eyes with his hands and peered anxiously towards the
spot. At last his straining eyes could make out eight Boer horsemen,
riding furiously t