eyes from the first. If he covered the first half-mile unpursued he
would be safe; otherwise he might expect a bullet. It was a comic
feeling-the wide green heath, the fresh air, the easy vigour in his
stride, the flush of the morning sun, and that awkward, nervous weakness
in the small of his back where a bullet might be expected to find a
lodgment.

He never looked back till he had gone what seemed to him the proper
distance, and then he glanced hurriedly over his shoulder.

Two men had emerged from the scrub and stood on the edge of the slope.
They were gazing intently at him, and suddenly one lifted a Snider to
his shoulder and fired. The bullet burrowed in the sand to the right of
him. Again he looked back and there they were--five of them now--crying
out to him. Then with one accord they followed over the plateau.

It was now a clear race for life. He must keep beyond reasonable
rifle-shot; otherwise a broken leg might bring him to a standstill. He
cursed the deceptive clearness of the hill air which made it impossible
for his unpractised eye to judge distances. The fort stood clear in
every stone, but it might be miles off though it looked scarcely a
thousand yards. Apparently it was still asleep, for no smoke was
rising, and, strain his ears as he might, he could hear no sound of a
sentry's walk. This looked awkward indeed for him. If the people were
not awake to receive him, he would be potted against its wall as surely
as a rat in a corner. He grew acutely nervous, and as he drew nearer he
made the air hideous with shouts to wake the garrison. A clear race in
the open he did not mind; but he had no stomach for a game of
hide-and-seek around an unscalable wall with an active enemy.

Apparently the gentry behind him were growing despondent. Two rifle
bullets, fired by running men, sang unsteadily in his wake. He was now
so near that he could see the rough wooden gate and the pyramidal nails
with which it was studded. He could guess the number of paces between
him and safety. He was out of breath and a little tired, for the
scramble up the nullah had not been a light one. Again he yelled
frantically to the dead walls, beseeching their inmates to get out of
bed and save his life.

There was still no sound from the sleeping fortress. He was barely a
hundred yards off, and he saw now that the walls were too high to climb
and that nothing remained but the gate. He picked up a stone and flung
it against the woo