Chapter Nine.

Chapter Nine.A Dash for Kimberley.“Well, Jack, what do you think of doing now?” asked Mrs Hunter, as soon as the incidents of Talana Hill and Elandslaagte had been narrated. “Do you intend to do as you had arranged, or will you stay here? I have already put my name down as a nurse, and Wilfred is longing to accompany you to Kimberley, or wherever you decide to go. A letter reached us yesterday from Mr Hunter, in which he says he is to be allowed to remain for the present at Johannesburg, but for how long he cannot tell. Wilfred is to do as he likes, he writes, and since every loyal man in the colony is needed, I will not attempt to dissuade him from joining the troops. England is fighting for freedom and peace, but also for the Uitlander population, and in my opinion every one of those capable of bearing arms should help in the good work.”“I am going straight up to Kimberley, Mrs Hunter,” Jack replied, “and have already taken a passage to Port Elizabeth, whence I shall go by train as far as De Aar, if that is possible. Once I reach that place I shall ride during the night, and endeavour to slip into the town. Of course the Boers are all round it by now, but others I have no doubt will be able to slip in and out, and I mean to do the same, and once there I shall volunteer as a despatch-rider. It will be exciting work, and suited to my tastes, and the fact that I know the country well all round, and between Kimberley and Mafeking, will help me considerably. If Wilfred likes to come, we will make the attempt at slipping in together, but after that he will have to stay in the town till it is relieved.”“That will suit me, Jack, old chap,” Wilfred replied eagerly. “The garrison is not likely to sit down and do nothing. There will certainly be exciting times, sorties and so on, and I should like to join in it all. When shall we start?”“The ship sails in three days, Wilfred. We will telegraph down for a berth for you. By the way, you will want a good mount. One pony will be sufficient.”“Then I am already set up,” said Wilfred. “Our friends here told me they could let me have a reliable pony whenever I liked to ask for him. Since coming down here I have obtained a complete campaigning kit and a Lee-Metford rifle and bayonet. So I am ready to set off just whenever you like.”Three days later, therefore, the two lads—or rather, young fellows they should be called, for both stood well above five feet nine inches in their boots, and were broad-shouldered and muscular in proportion—set out for Durban, and having embarked there, arrived in due course at Port Elizabeth, having had a pleasant sail.An hour after landing they were in the train, and after many long stops and tedious delays arrived at De Aar, a town where there was a small force of troops, and which was likely before long to be a station of some importance, for it was filled with vast military stores, and truck-loads were still arriving.Here they learned that the Boers had already crossed the Orange River and were invading Cape Colony.Jack and Wilfred took up their quarters for the night at a small hotel, and having washed, and enjoyed a hearty meal, they lit up their pipes and strolled through the town.Then they returned, and were chatting with the owner of the hotel when a stranger, to all appearance an English colonist, entered, and without invitation joined in the conversation.“Warm evening, landlord!” he exclaimed. “The kind of evening that makes one thirsty! Let me have a bottle of something good, and perhaps these gentlemen will join me. All Englishmen are comrades in these times.”Jack and his friend were naturally surprised, but they had already experienced that sense of brotherhood in the colony now that war had commenced, and rather than offend the stranger they consented to join him, with an expression of their thanks. A moment later the landlord returned with the liquor, and as he placed it on the table and prepared to draw the cork of the bottle which contained it, deliberately nudged Jack, and nodded significantly at the stranger, whose back happened to be turned. Jack was puzzled, but passed on the nudge to Wilfred; then the three sat down and chatted. For half an hour the stranger plied his two guests with all sorts of seemingly careless questions, casually asking them where they were going, and whether they belonged to the volunteers. But the nudge the landlord had given had warned Jack and his friend to be on the alert, and to all the questions they gave incomplete or totally incorrect answers. Then the stranger left, and the landlord came from behind his counter and explained the mystery.“I don’t know what you two are here for, or where you are going,” he said, “and if you will take my advice you will keep everyone you meet in the same ignorance. That fine chap is a Boer spy, paid with Pretoria gold, and I can tell you this whole colony holds heaps more like him. So my advice is, keep all your own affaire to yourself. Supposing you two wanted to get into Kimberley, and had told him so, thinking him to be a colonist, as he certainly looks, he’d have set the Boers on your trail, and you’d find yourselves prisoners before you could look round.”Jack and Wilfred took the warning to heart. They had heard that spies were to be found everywhere, even in England itself, so lavishly had the Transvaallers spent their money, and so carefully had they prepared their plans. But they had never met one before, and to find him in the guise of a loyal colonist was a surprise, though, if they had only given the matter a thought, they would have seen that that was the most probable appearance he would assume.On the following morning Jack and his friend paid their bill and rode off from the hotel.“I vote we go in the opposite direction from Kimberley, and take the road for Hanover,” said the former as they trotted out of the yard. “That spy may be somewhere about. Yes, there he is! Good-day to you!” he shouted. “We’re off. See you to-night, perhaps.”The stranger shouted back “Good-day!” and watched them ride out of the town.“Now he’ll sneak off to the hotel and ask the landlord whether we are coming back,” laughed Wilfred, “and I’ll be bound our friend will answer that we are. Well, we ought to get away from him easily enough. Look, Jack! there are two other fellows riding ahead of us. Let us slip into this farm and hide up in an outhouse. If he really is a spy he will follow before long, and we will let him pass and slip off in the opposite direction.”Accordingly they turned into the farm, and having entered a cattle kraal which was close to the road, they glued their eyes to the chinks between the boulders of the wall, and waited to see what would happen. Five minutes later there was a sound of galloping hoofs, and to the intense delight of Jack and Wilfred, their host of the previous evening clattered past, with his gaze fixed on the two distant horsemen, who were now almost out of sight.A little later they emerged from the kraal, and, crossing the road, cantered off across the veldt in the direction of Kimberley. For ten miles they kept on without a halt. Then they drew aside from the road to Hope Town, which they had lately followed, and bivouacked in a dense copse of eucalyptus-trees.“Now, Wilfred,” said Jack, “out with that piece of beef we brought with us. I’ll get a fire alight, and we’ll have a good meal. Probably it is the last good one we shall be able to eat for some time, and cooking it will help to pass the hours between this and nightfall. We’ll push on then, and we shall have to go carefully, for there are numbers of Boers hereabouts.”Wilfred at once opened his haversack, while Jack gathered a few twigs and lit a fire between some boulders. Slices of beef were cut, and having been toasted in front of the blaze, were placed on pieces of bread and eaten with great relish. Then they lit up their pipes and smoked, one or other of them occasionally getting up to have a good look round.Late in the afternoon Jack sighted some horsemen, and as these might be a party of the enemy, the fire was trampled out, and the two crawled to the edge of the trees and looked out. The road ran within twenty feet of them, and very soon ten men, who were undoubtedly Boers, passed by them, laughing, and evidently quite unconscious of the presence of two of the hated Rooineks. And in the centre of the group of horsemen was the English colonist who had made himself so agreeable to them the night before.“Ah! there is no doubt about his being a scoundrel,” whispered Jack. “Well, we shall know what to do if we meet him in an English town after this; and if I happen to ride this way with despatches I shall certainly call at De Aar and warn them there. Now I think we may as well take it in turns to have a sleep. We’ll start again at nightfall and cover about fifty miles. Then we’ll lie up in a quiet spot I know of, and the following night we ought to get through to Kimberley.”“All right, Jack! you turn in, and I’ll take the first watch,” answered Wilfred jovially. “I’ll wake you in a couple of hours.”Accordingly Jack lay down, and, like a hardened campaigner, fell asleep at once. Two hours afterwards Wilfred took his turn, and after a short nap was awakened. Then, saddling their ponies, they turned out of the eucalyptus-trees and started on their long ride.Before dawn they were securely hidden in a donga, in the midst of a group of small but steep boulder-strewn kopjes, and there, feeling secure from observation, they lay down in their blankets beneath the shade of a huge rock and fell asleep.When darkness fell again they proceeded on their journey, and a few hours later swam their ponies across the Modder River. It was risky work, but to have attempted to cross by the railway-bridge or at the drift (ford) would have led to certain discovery, for both places were closely watched by the Boers. Instead of that, they had made a wide détour, and crossed at a bend in the river where the stream ran very slowly. Then they turned their faces towards Kimberley, and pressed forward, hoping to reach the beleaguered town an hour or more before daylight.They were now in a country overrun by Boers, and they therefore rode in silence, with their bayonets fixed and the magazines of their rifles filled, but without a cartridge in the breech, for the accidental pressure on a trigger might easily have betrayed them. Five miles farther on, the flash of the search-light caught their eyes as it slowly swept a broad beam across the veldt surrounding the town.“Turn to the left—quick!” whispered Jack. “Now get in under this boulder. It would never do to stand out in the open. That light would show us up at once.”A minute or two later the electric beam had passed by, and they pushed on once more.“That is Frank Russel’s farm over there,” said Jack, a quarter of an hour later, as a house loomed up on their left. “He is evidently standing by his property, and trusting to the Boers to leave him alone, for you can see the lights in his windows—Hold on a moment, Wilfred! What was that? I thought I heard shouts.”“Sounds to me like a concert or something of the sort going on,” answered Wilfred, pulling up alongside Jack and listening intently. “Yes, I’m sure of it; there are a lot of fellows singing together.”“Then they must be Boers, Wilfred! Frank Russel is an oldish man, steady and quiet, and he would never think of entertaining a party of rowdies, especially if they belonged to the enemy. He held a good position at home, but something caused him to come out here with his wife, where he has lived for about twenty years, cattle-ranching and farming. Tom Salter and I have had a cup of tea with him many a time. His wife is dead, and he has a rather pretty daughter, who runs the home for him. I wonder what is going on over there? Frank is loyal to the backbone, and would never think of harbouring one of England’s enemies.”“Ho, ho! There’s a girl there, and a pretty one too, is there, Jack?” Wilfred chuckled. “Well, if you think that something is happening to them we may as well go over and investigate.”“Just what I think, Wilfred. I don’t like the look of things. Either Frank has changed his mind and gone into Kimberley with Eileen, or the Boers are ill-treating them. Keep close beside me, and we’ll see what’s up. I know every foot of the ground round here, and will see that we do not fall into a trap.”Jack at once touched his pony with his heel, and in absolute silence the two moved forward towards the farmhouse. It consisted of one small building, surrounded by a neat English flower-garden, and lying isolated in the middle of the veldt, the outhouses and sheds for cattle being at least a mile away.As they rode up to it on the soft noiseless turf, the sound of uproarious singing became louder, and was interrupted by bursts of hoarse laughter.“Hold on to my ponies,” whispered Jack, when they had reached the edge of the garden. “I’ll be back as soon as I’ve seen what is going on.”Slipping to the ground, he passed the reins to Wilfred, and, climbing the iron railing which fringed the garden, stole across the beds towards the house. At the door a number of ponies were standing, knee-haltered, and picking the grass from the borders of the garden. Jack got close up to them and made sure that they were animate belonging to the Boers. Then he crept up to one of the windows, and peered in beneath the blind, which was only partly drawn.The sight which met his eyes caused him to give a start, while an exclamation of anger escaped his lips, for Jack was a kind-hearted lad, and to see anyone wantonly inflicting pain upon a fellow-being, or indeed upon any dumb animal, was hateful to him, and doubly so when, as in this case, it was a helpless girl who was being tormented.As he looked into the room, which was lit by a hanging lamp, he saw Eileen Russel standing, violin in hand, in the opposite corner, the very picture of terror, grief, and despair, playing an air which had been popular in Johannesburg a few months before; while, seated round a table, in all sorts of attitudes, were ten men, shouting the chorus in a mixture of Dutch and English which grated on his ear.Jack watched them closely, and recognised with another start that the man in the centre, leaning back in his chair, with his legs upon the table, was none other than the dapper English colonist who had questioned them so closely at De Aar.Satisfied with his inspection, he slipped back again, and a moment or two later stood by Wilfred’s side.“We’re going to stop here for a little while,” he said shortly. “There’s a bit of bullying going on over there. Bring the ponies round into the garden, and we’ll tie them up at the back of the house.”Wilfred looked searchingly at his friend, but recognising from the resolute tone that Jack meant every word he said, he sent the ponies ahead, and soon had them at the back of the farmhouse.“Look here, Wilfred,” said Jack brusquely, as soon as the animals were fastened to the rails, “there’s a scandalous piece of business going on in there. That spy fellow from De Aar is chief of the gang of Boers, who are ill-treating Eileen Russel. She and her father have shown me many a kindness, and I am going to repay it. There are ten of them altogether. If you don’t like the job you can slip outside and wait till I’ve done with them.”“Of course I like it,” Wilfred whispered back indignantly. “Shut up, Jack! If there’s a row on, of course I shall help you!”“Then, come along, but don’t do anything till I give the word.”Stealing across to the window, they raised their heads and looked in, to find the Boers in much the same position, except that most of them were drinking the contents of long tumblers of whisky and water, which “Tim”, a faithful Zulu servant of the Russels, had just placed in front of them. Eileen had stopped her playing, and stood in her corner looking like a hunted animal, while tears trickled down her cheeks.“Here, you black animal! Go and fetch me some more drink,” shouted the Boer leader at this moment. “Do you hear? Get away with you! Now, Miss—what’s your name, play ‘God Save the Queen!’ You’ll not have many opportunities of doing so after this, for England’s going to the wall, and that old tune will soon be forgotten. Now then, strike up, and let it be sharp and merry.”The spy gave vent to a coarse laugh, shouted once more at the trembling girl, and gulped down a glass of spirit which “Tim” placed close to his hand at that moment.But, like her father, this delicate English girl was loyal-hearted and true to her beloved queen and country. Her head, which had drooped before this, was now held proudly erect in the air; she faced her tormentors steadily, and in a voice which scarcely quivered, refused to play any more for them.“No,” she said firmly, “I will not play our national anthem for you. You would only jeer at it, like the cowards you are. One of these days you and all your countrymen shall be proud to call yourselves subjects of our queen, and will sing in all earnestness that sacred song you now ask me to play!”“None of your threats! Do as you’re told!” snarled the Boer leader angrily. “It will be many a long year before your queen claims a single one of us as a subject; but let me tell you, miss, it will be only a very few minutes before this ugly-looking thing does you a mischief, if you refuse to play ‘God Save the Queen’!”As he spoke the villain snatched a Mauser pistol from his belt and held it pointed at Eileen’s head.Jack’s teeth ground together, and, quickly slipping a cartridge into his rifle, he covered the Boer leader, and was on the point of pressing the trigger when Tim, the gallant Zulu boy, his eyes glaring with rage, rushed at the man and struck him from his chair. He was seized at once, and held in front of the villain who had dared to threaten Eileen, who again lifted his Mauser, placed the muzzle against the poor fellow’s head, and held it there a moment, so as to prolong the agony of fear, ere he pressed the trigger and sent Tim to his last account.That pause proved the latter’s salvation, while to the Boer it meant a sudden death. Jack, who had kept him covered, thrust the end of his rifle through the glass and fired, dropping the villain in his tracks. Then shouting: “Give it to them, boys!” he opened his magazine and poured a hail of shot into the house, taking care to miss Tim and Eileen Russel.Startled by the shot and alarmed by Jack’s shout, which seemed to show that there were many there besides himself, the Boers started to their feet and rushed through the door. A minute later they were flying away across the veldt, leaving four of their number lying dead upon the floor of the farmhouse.Jack and Wilfred at once ran round to the door, which stood wide open, and stepped in.“Don’t be frightened, Eileen,” said the former soothingly. “Those cowards have bolted, and you are safe for a time at least. What has happened to your father?”“Ah! is that you, Jack Somerton?” the poor girl asked in a dreamy way, as if she were not quite certain that her eyes had told her correctly—“Jack Somerton, the young Englishman who used to come here with our old friend Tom Salter?”“Yes, it’s Jack all right, Eileen,” he replied. “Now tell me how those villains happened to find you here alone.”Eileen Russel stepped forward from her corner, and, grasping Jack by the hand, gazed searchingly into his face, as though she was still uncertain of his identity. Then she suddenly sat down in a chair, and, hiding her face in her hands, sobbed as if her heart would break. But it was merely the reaction after the terrible hour of torment she had suffered, and, cheered by a gentle pat on the back from Jack’s strong hand, she soon regained her composure and dried her eyes.“Father is here, Jack,” she exclaimed eagerly. “He is down below in the cellar, where Tim and I hid him. He is wounded—badly, I fear. Those Boer cowards rode up here just before daylight, and ordered Father to come out and be taken before their leader. Father asked what they wanted with him, and they shouted back that this part of English territory had been annexed by the Boers, and that as an old inhabitant he was bound to fight for them now that he was no longer a subject of the queen.”“‘Get away from here at once,’ Father shouted back, as soon as he had heard what they had to say. ‘I am a British subject, and shall be to the end. None of your republics or presidents for me! Clear off, all of you; and if one of you dares to attempt to come in I will shoot!’“The Boers laughed at his threat, and attempted to beat in the door, but Father was as good as his word, and shot one of them at once. The others poured a volley into the house, and one of the bullets passed through the wall and wounded Father in the shoulder. Then the Boers made a rush, and began to force the door open, and as we knew that they would have little mercy for Father, Tim and I hid him away in a cellar down below, which he had constructed to keep stores and ammunition in. Then we lowered the trap-door and placed the table over it.“They broke in a few minutes later, but, failing to find him, thought he had escaped through the window. Then they forced me to play my violin, and just as I thought they would shoot Tim or myself, the leader fell dead and the others ran for their lives.”“Well, you are safe for the present at least,” answered Jack. “Sit down there, Eileen, and rest yourself. We will get your father up again. Those fellows will not be coming back yet awhile, so that we need not fear a surprise. Now, Wilfred and Tim, lend a hand and pull up this trap.”A minute later the table had been removed to one side, and Jack was clambering down into the cellar, Tim lowering the lamp after him. On the boarded floor he found Frank Russel lying upon his back, and making feeble efforts to rise, for the reports of Jack’s rifle had roused him from unconsciousness.“Where am I? What has happened?” he asked. “Hallo! is that you, Jack! Where’s Tom Salter?”Then he suddenly remembered the Boers and sat up with a jerk.“Ah! what has become of those brutes?” he demanded, clutching at the rifle which had been placed beside him, while his face flushed red with rage.“Now don’t worry about them,” said Jack kindly. “They’ve bolted, and Wilfred and I arrived here just in the nick of time. Let us get you up on top and look at the wound. When that is seen to, we will discuss the situation.”Frank Russel was still too much dazed to offer any resistance, and was soon carried up the ladder and laid on a bed. Then Jack opened up the seams of his jacket, and cut away the shirt over his left shoulder. A close inspection showed two little blue wounds, the size of a pea, one in front, and one behind where the Mauser bullet had made its exit. There had been scarcely any loss of blood, and luckily no bones broken. Eileen meanwhile had produced a basin of cold water and a soft towel, and with this they dressed the wound and bandaged the shoulder. A stiff glass of spirits pulled Frank Russel round, and now that he was over the first shock, he very quickly became himself again, for he was as hard as iron, and accustomed to the rough life of a colonist. Ten minutes later he was standing up lighting a big pipe, and even using his left hand, so little pain did his wound give him.“Now tell me all about it, Jack Somerton,” he said, puffing big clouds of smoke into the air with the greatest satisfaction.As soon as the brutal action of the Boer spy and his friends had been narrated, and followed by a description of their flight, Frank Russel sprang to his feet and shook Jack and Wilfred heartily by the hand.“My lads,” he said in a husky, trembling voice, “you’ve won the deep gratitude of old Frank Russel. I’d sooner see every Boer in Africa dead than hear that one of them had ill-treated my darling child. Ah! she’s all I have left since the wife went to her home above, and a good, dutiful, and loving girl she is! Come here, Eileen dear, and kiss your father. You’ve had a close shave, and but for these brave Englishmen that brute would have murdered you. And Tim, too, has proved a faithful boy. Well, he shall not regret it, for from this day he shall never have a fear for his old age. I will give him sufficient to ensure his independence.“But now we have other things to think about. Kimberley is closely besieged, and though we are only five miles away we are surrounded by hosts of Boers. They will be back here soon, and then it will be all up with us.”“Why not ride off at once?” asked Wilfred. “There are four of the Boer ponies outside, and Jack and I have our own.”“It would be useless,” replied Frank Russel, with a vigorous shake of his head. “Those fellows have already warned the whole district, and by this time we are closely surrounded. Look away over there. That small light is their signal, and it is flashing a message in the darkness which every Boer can read. No, I fear it is all up with us. I’m sorry, lads; you two would have got in safely if you hadn’t come along in this direction and helped us in our trouble. If there was a chance of your succeeding now, I’d say go at once and leave us. But there isn’t, not the slightest, and it’s only fair to say so.”“We must make the best of matters as they are,” remarked Jack coolly. “A week ago I was in a fix which was every bit as awkward. I’m not going to be shot or taken prisoner yet awhile if I can help it, and if you all feel the same I propose we make a fight for it.”“Ah, I’d fight if I had a chance!” growled Frank Russel. “But it’s no use here. They would be a hundred to one against us.”“Wait a minute, Mr Russel,” exclaimed Wilfred, who had an unbounded faith in his friend’s sagacity. “Let us hear what Jack has to say. I’m like him, and don’t mean to fall into the Boers’ hands without a struggle.”“Ah, well! what is it, Jack?” answered Frank. “But you’d best be quick about it, for those fellows will be getting close to us by this.”“I’ve said I am going to make a fight for it,” exclaimed Jack, “and I mean to do so, for from what I have seen and heard, our enemies have the greatest dislike to attacking in the open. It is too risky for them, and is apt to lead to fatal consequences, as I have already been compelled to show them. Now this house stands clear out on the veldt. There is not even a boulder within half a mile of us, and therefore no cover. It is true that at close quarters a Mauser bullet will pierce these walls, but at long range it will not come through. Let us make a stand here. But, first, have you plenty of cartridges, Frank?”“Heaps, lad, heaps! ’Pon my word, I like this idea of yours! But where is it going to end? We’ve a pump and water in the house, and plenty of food and ammunition; but we cannot hope to keep them out for long, and they are certain to rush us in the darkness.”“Yes, they will do that,” Jack agreed, “but they have got to get inside the house before they can hurt us, and we shall have something to say to that. Now before talking about the means of defence, let us send Tim off to Kimberley. He is the only one who could possibly get through. That will be our only hope. We are in the direction of the railway, and not too far from the town for a sortie to reach us. Now, Tim, will you go?”Tim at once signified his willingness.“Then off you go!” exclaimed Jack. “Quick! There is not a moment to be lost! When you get into the town ask for Tom Salter, and get him to take you to the ‘Baas’. Tell him what trouble we are in, and ask for help to be sent us.”The plucky Zulu boy at once stepped to a corner of the room, snatched up an assagai with an enormous blade, and, shaking a farewell with it, darted out through the doorway.“Jack, you’re one of the right sort!” exclaimed Frank Russel when Tim had disappeared. “I’ve looked at this idea of yours from every side. If they take us now or later on it won’t make much odds to me, for they will treat me as a rebel; while you two and Eileen will just be prisoners. We’ve a chance of beating them off till help reaches us, and so sure as I’m a true Englishman we’ll have a try at it.“You’ve settled the matter up to this, so go on with it. I’m an older man, and perhaps more used to these fellows, but I’m sure you could beat me in slimness. Now out with it, lad, or those Boers will be on us before we are ready.”“Very well, then,” Jack replied, “let us set to work. We must break up some of this furniture. We want a couple of hammers, a saw, and some big nails. Have you got them?”“Yes, close handy, Jack. Eileen, fetch the bag, like a good girl, and bring the axe along.”“Now break up the table and nail the boards across the window, Wilfred,” continued Jack. “Frank and I will see to the door. It must be firmly closed. Wait a minute, though, our ponies may be of some use to us. I will slip out and bring them in.”Jack opened the door and ran round to the back of the house. A minute later he returned and led in the three ponies, taking them to a small kitchen. Then he brought in two of the Boer ponies, and drove the others out of the garden on to the veldt. That done, he shut the door, bolted it, and nailed two heavy uprights against it. A quarter of an hour later all the windows were firmly barricaded, a niche about three inches wide having been left between the planks through which the rifles could be pushed. Then with an auger he drilled a number of holes through the walls all round the house, driving three of them so as to form a triangle, the sides of which he completed with a chisel, thus forming apertures about five inches high and as much in breadth, which would give them a good view across the veldt.“Now we’re ready,” he said, when all was at last completed, “and I expect we shall have the Boers here soon. Eileen, you had better go down into the cellar, I think, so as to be out of danger.”“Thank you, Jack!” she answered calmly. “This house will require every rifle we have to defend it. I have used one many a time, and I shall stay up here and help you.”“Brave girl, and it’s like you, dear!” exclaimed Frank Russel. “Stay if you wish, for we’ll not deny that three is a small number to garrison this place. I suppose we had better take our posts now. One at each wall will be the thing. Remember, it’s steady, quiet shooting we want, and only use the magazine when they make a rush. That will be our trouble. It wants more than three hours before we shall get daylight, and until then we shall have to trust to our ears to tell when the Boers get close to us.”“Have you got a bell here?” Wilfred suddenly asked.“Yes, there is one in the kitchen,” Eileen answered, “and the handle is just outside the door. We are the only colonists hereabouts who possess such a thing.”“Then we’ll beat them yet!” cried Wilfred. “They are certain to ride into the garden through the opening in the rails. Open the door, Jack; and give me a long piece of string, someone. I’ll slip outside and run it from the bell-handle to the rails and across the opening. Then the first man who rides in will jerk it, and the bell will give us a warning.”“Good, lad, good!” exclaimed Frank Russel with a grunt of satisfaction. “That will just save us. Set about it as quick as you can.”Five minutes later Wilfred had carried out his plan, and not content with running a cord from the bell-handle across the opening into the garden, he passed others completely round the railings, so that anyone attempting to climb them, or pass through them, would almost certainly come in contact with one or other of the strings and warn those inside the house. Then he joined his friends again, and the door was safely nailed up as before.About half an hour later, when the night had lifted a little, there was a faint tinkling of the bell, and Jack, who had chosen a position commanding the front of the house, caught sight of a dusky figure at the opening to the garden. His rifle spoke out instantly, and with a shriek of pain the man disappeared.After that there was silence for many minutes, and then the bell jerked feebly once or twice, and afterwards pealed loudly.“There are a crowd of them in front of me,” whispered Jack. “Give me a hand here, Wilfred, and leave Frank and Eileen to watch the rest.”Wilfred at once darted across the floor, and, peering through a loophole, saw a number of dusky figures hurrying into the garden through the opening, while others suddenly appeared against the sky-line, and then became almost invisible as they climbed over the railings and jumped amongst the flowers.“Let them have it with the magazine,” Jack whispered again, and waiting a moment for Wilfred to prepare, he aimed at a bunch of the enemy pouring into the garden, and discharged shot after shot amongst them. Meanwhile, Wilfred fired at the figures climbing the railings, while sharp reports from the side and back of the house told that Frank and Eileen were also engaged.Once their magazines were empty, it took only a few moments to replenish them, and again they poured a stream of bullets through the loopholes.But the Boers had already had sufficient. With shouts and shrill cries of fear they disappeared in the darkness, leaving many of their number dead or wounded in the garden.“That will make them more careful next time,” muttered Jack. “I wonder what their next move will be!”He had not long to wait, for almost before he had finished speaking there was a roar of musketry all round, and a hail of bullets flew through the house, piercing the walls as if they were merely composed of paper, and sending splinters flying in all directions. It was decidedly unpleasant, but all escaped by the greatest luck, the only injury sustained being a flesh wound by Jack. The bullet had passed through the calf of his leg, but so unimportant was it that a handkerchief tied round it was amply sufficient to staunch the blood which flowed, while the pain was so little that he scarcely felt it then, though later on he suffered considerably.“Lie down, all of you!” shouted Frank at this moment. “They will be giving us another volley.”All threw themselves on the ground close to their loopholes, through which they stared out at the veldt, which was now becoming more visible every moment.A second later another storm of bullets tore through the house, while others struck the iron roof above, giving rise to an alarming noise. For five minutes the fusilade continued, and then suddenly ceased.“To your posts!” cried Jack. “They will hope to have killed or wounded all of us, and will make a rush.”Sure enough, a host of Boers now appeared in the growing light, running towards the house, and into them all four rifles poured a stream of lead, each shot of which, though hastily fired, was carefully aimed. At such close quarters it proved disastrous, and though a few of the bolder spirits amongst the enemy did manage to reach the house, the majority were either struck down or retired precipitately. For those who were attempting to kick in the door Jack’s Mauser pistol still remained, and he emptied it amongst them without pity.At any other time the fact that he was taking human life, and sending fellow-beings to a last and sudden account, would have shocked him and filled him with lasting remorse. But now it was different. He had seen a crew of powerful men injuring and threatening a helpless girl. For that alone they deserved punishment, part of which had been summarily meted out to them. But the remainder had escaped, to return with other comrades, all enemies of the queen. They would not hesitate to take the lives of those who so gallantly defended the farmhouse, and he in turn would not spare a single one of them. Jack hardened his heart, and calmly loaded the magazines of his weapons again, in preparation for the next assault.But they had read the Boers a severe lesson, and those of them who had escaped the hail of bullets fled from the neighbourhood of the little farmhouse, and, flinging themselves upon their ponies, galloped away across the veldt till well out of range of fire. Then they pulled up and collected together, solemnly swearing that, come what might, they would subdue those few English opposed to them, and wreak a fearful vengeance on their heads. The pluck and dauntless determination of the little band they fully recognised and admired; but they had already killed or wounded some forty or more of their brothers, and a price must be exacted for those lives.With sullen and determined looks they parted to surround the house, while a few were despatched for reinforcements, and for guns with which to splinter the walls behind which the defenders lay.Meanwhile Jack and his friends stood grimly at their posts, thankful for the breathing-space allowed them, and for the daylight which was fast stealing across the veldt. At last the day broke completely, leaving the plain in front of them partially obscured in a thin grey mist. But a few minutes later a golden glow lit up the eastern sky, and in course of time first a rim and then the whole of the morning sun rose above the steep spires and pinnacles of the range of mountains beyond the Vaal River, and poured a flood of warmth across the lonely veldt. Instantly the mist cleared away, and a glorious day had dawned.“Now our first duty is to give the enemy permission to remove their dead and wounded,” exclaimed Frank. “Let us pull down one of these boards and shout to them.”Accordingly a plank was wrenched from one of the windows, and a white flag waved through the opening. A Boer horseman at once galloped up, and, riding into the garden, reined in opposite the window.“You can remove your dead and wounded,” said Jack, who had agreed to act as spokesman, so that Frank Russel should not appear. “Only ten of you must come for them, and on no account must anyone be armed. We will give you an hour to do the work. After that we shall fire on anyone who approaches.”The Boer courteously expressed his thanks, and at once rode away.Five minutes later a wagon was driven up to the railings, and the party who had come to pick up the dead and wounded entered the garden.Those inside the house sat down at their loopholes and kept a close watch, for they had heard before of Boer treachery and slimness, and more than one incident of the abuse of the white flag had been clearly exposed during the opening days in Natal. As they watched they hastily ate a meal, and having finished looked to their rifles.All this while the unhappy men who had been wounded were being gently conveyed to the wagons, and Jack and his friends pitied them, and admired them for their fortitude. Scarcely a groan did they utter. They bore their sufferings patiently and in silence, and won the unstinted sympathy and praise of those who, by the fortune of war, had been the cause of their trouble.At last all were removed, the search-party retired, and the young Boer who had at first replied to the white flag trotted up to the window and once more expressed his thanks. Then he turned his horse and galloped away, leaving the four inmates of the farmhouse to resume the desperate and one-sided struggle.

“Well, Jack, what do you think of doing now?” asked Mrs Hunter, as soon as the incidents of Talana Hill and Elandslaagte had been narrated. “Do you intend to do as you had arranged, or will you stay here? I have already put my name down as a nurse, and Wilfred is longing to accompany you to Kimberley, or wherever you decide to go. A letter reached us yesterday from Mr Hunter, in which he says he is to be allowed to remain for the present at Johannesburg, but for how long he cannot tell. Wilfred is to do as he likes, he writes, and since every loyal man in the colony is needed, I will not attempt to dissuade him from joining the troops. England is fighting for freedom and peace, but also for the Uitlander population, and in my opinion every one of those capable of bearing arms should help in the good work.”

“I am going straight up to Kimberley, Mrs Hunter,” Jack replied, “and have already taken a passage to Port Elizabeth, whence I shall go by train as far as De Aar, if that is possible. Once I reach that place I shall ride during the night, and endeavour to slip into the town. Of course the Boers are all round it by now, but others I have no doubt will be able to slip in and out, and I mean to do the same, and once there I shall volunteer as a despatch-rider. It will be exciting work, and suited to my tastes, and the fact that I know the country well all round, and between Kimberley and Mafeking, will help me considerably. If Wilfred likes to come, we will make the attempt at slipping in together, but after that he will have to stay in the town till it is relieved.”

“That will suit me, Jack, old chap,” Wilfred replied eagerly. “The garrison is not likely to sit down and do nothing. There will certainly be exciting times, sorties and so on, and I should like to join in it all. When shall we start?”

“The ship sails in three days, Wilfred. We will telegraph down for a berth for you. By the way, you will want a good mount. One pony will be sufficient.”

“Then I am already set up,” said Wilfred. “Our friends here told me they could let me have a reliable pony whenever I liked to ask for him. Since coming down here I have obtained a complete campaigning kit and a Lee-Metford rifle and bayonet. So I am ready to set off just whenever you like.”

Three days later, therefore, the two lads—or rather, young fellows they should be called, for both stood well above five feet nine inches in their boots, and were broad-shouldered and muscular in proportion—set out for Durban, and having embarked there, arrived in due course at Port Elizabeth, having had a pleasant sail.

An hour after landing they were in the train, and after many long stops and tedious delays arrived at De Aar, a town where there was a small force of troops, and which was likely before long to be a station of some importance, for it was filled with vast military stores, and truck-loads were still arriving.

Here they learned that the Boers had already crossed the Orange River and were invading Cape Colony.

Jack and Wilfred took up their quarters for the night at a small hotel, and having washed, and enjoyed a hearty meal, they lit up their pipes and strolled through the town.

Then they returned, and were chatting with the owner of the hotel when a stranger, to all appearance an English colonist, entered, and without invitation joined in the conversation.

“Warm evening, landlord!” he exclaimed. “The kind of evening that makes one thirsty! Let me have a bottle of something good, and perhaps these gentlemen will join me. All Englishmen are comrades in these times.”

Jack and his friend were naturally surprised, but they had already experienced that sense of brotherhood in the colony now that war had commenced, and rather than offend the stranger they consented to join him, with an expression of their thanks. A moment later the landlord returned with the liquor, and as he placed it on the table and prepared to draw the cork of the bottle which contained it, deliberately nudged Jack, and nodded significantly at the stranger, whose back happened to be turned. Jack was puzzled, but passed on the nudge to Wilfred; then the three sat down and chatted. For half an hour the stranger plied his two guests with all sorts of seemingly careless questions, casually asking them where they were going, and whether they belonged to the volunteers. But the nudge the landlord had given had warned Jack and his friend to be on the alert, and to all the questions they gave incomplete or totally incorrect answers. Then the stranger left, and the landlord came from behind his counter and explained the mystery.

“I don’t know what you two are here for, or where you are going,” he said, “and if you will take my advice you will keep everyone you meet in the same ignorance. That fine chap is a Boer spy, paid with Pretoria gold, and I can tell you this whole colony holds heaps more like him. So my advice is, keep all your own affaire to yourself. Supposing you two wanted to get into Kimberley, and had told him so, thinking him to be a colonist, as he certainly looks, he’d have set the Boers on your trail, and you’d find yourselves prisoners before you could look round.”

Jack and Wilfred took the warning to heart. They had heard that spies were to be found everywhere, even in England itself, so lavishly had the Transvaallers spent their money, and so carefully had they prepared their plans. But they had never met one before, and to find him in the guise of a loyal colonist was a surprise, though, if they had only given the matter a thought, they would have seen that that was the most probable appearance he would assume.

On the following morning Jack and his friend paid their bill and rode off from the hotel.

“I vote we go in the opposite direction from Kimberley, and take the road for Hanover,” said the former as they trotted out of the yard. “That spy may be somewhere about. Yes, there he is! Good-day to you!” he shouted. “We’re off. See you to-night, perhaps.”

The stranger shouted back “Good-day!” and watched them ride out of the town.

“Now he’ll sneak off to the hotel and ask the landlord whether we are coming back,” laughed Wilfred, “and I’ll be bound our friend will answer that we are. Well, we ought to get away from him easily enough. Look, Jack! there are two other fellows riding ahead of us. Let us slip into this farm and hide up in an outhouse. If he really is a spy he will follow before long, and we will let him pass and slip off in the opposite direction.”

Accordingly they turned into the farm, and having entered a cattle kraal which was close to the road, they glued their eyes to the chinks between the boulders of the wall, and waited to see what would happen. Five minutes later there was a sound of galloping hoofs, and to the intense delight of Jack and Wilfred, their host of the previous evening clattered past, with his gaze fixed on the two distant horsemen, who were now almost out of sight.

A little later they emerged from the kraal, and, crossing the road, cantered off across the veldt in the direction of Kimberley. For ten miles they kept on without a halt. Then they drew aside from the road to Hope Town, which they had lately followed, and bivouacked in a dense copse of eucalyptus-trees.

“Now, Wilfred,” said Jack, “out with that piece of beef we brought with us. I’ll get a fire alight, and we’ll have a good meal. Probably it is the last good one we shall be able to eat for some time, and cooking it will help to pass the hours between this and nightfall. We’ll push on then, and we shall have to go carefully, for there are numbers of Boers hereabouts.”

Wilfred at once opened his haversack, while Jack gathered a few twigs and lit a fire between some boulders. Slices of beef were cut, and having been toasted in front of the blaze, were placed on pieces of bread and eaten with great relish. Then they lit up their pipes and smoked, one or other of them occasionally getting up to have a good look round.

Late in the afternoon Jack sighted some horsemen, and as these might be a party of the enemy, the fire was trampled out, and the two crawled to the edge of the trees and looked out. The road ran within twenty feet of them, and very soon ten men, who were undoubtedly Boers, passed by them, laughing, and evidently quite unconscious of the presence of two of the hated Rooineks. And in the centre of the group of horsemen was the English colonist who had made himself so agreeable to them the night before.

“Ah! there is no doubt about his being a scoundrel,” whispered Jack. “Well, we shall know what to do if we meet him in an English town after this; and if I happen to ride this way with despatches I shall certainly call at De Aar and warn them there. Now I think we may as well take it in turns to have a sleep. We’ll start again at nightfall and cover about fifty miles. Then we’ll lie up in a quiet spot I know of, and the following night we ought to get through to Kimberley.”

“All right, Jack! you turn in, and I’ll take the first watch,” answered Wilfred jovially. “I’ll wake you in a couple of hours.”

Accordingly Jack lay down, and, like a hardened campaigner, fell asleep at once. Two hours afterwards Wilfred took his turn, and after a short nap was awakened. Then, saddling their ponies, they turned out of the eucalyptus-trees and started on their long ride.

Before dawn they were securely hidden in a donga, in the midst of a group of small but steep boulder-strewn kopjes, and there, feeling secure from observation, they lay down in their blankets beneath the shade of a huge rock and fell asleep.

When darkness fell again they proceeded on their journey, and a few hours later swam their ponies across the Modder River. It was risky work, but to have attempted to cross by the railway-bridge or at the drift (ford) would have led to certain discovery, for both places were closely watched by the Boers. Instead of that, they had made a wide détour, and crossed at a bend in the river where the stream ran very slowly. Then they turned their faces towards Kimberley, and pressed forward, hoping to reach the beleaguered town an hour or more before daylight.

They were now in a country overrun by Boers, and they therefore rode in silence, with their bayonets fixed and the magazines of their rifles filled, but without a cartridge in the breech, for the accidental pressure on a trigger might easily have betrayed them. Five miles farther on, the flash of the search-light caught their eyes as it slowly swept a broad beam across the veldt surrounding the town.

“Turn to the left—quick!” whispered Jack. “Now get in under this boulder. It would never do to stand out in the open. That light would show us up at once.”

A minute or two later the electric beam had passed by, and they pushed on once more.

“That is Frank Russel’s farm over there,” said Jack, a quarter of an hour later, as a house loomed up on their left. “He is evidently standing by his property, and trusting to the Boers to leave him alone, for you can see the lights in his windows—Hold on a moment, Wilfred! What was that? I thought I heard shouts.”

“Sounds to me like a concert or something of the sort going on,” answered Wilfred, pulling up alongside Jack and listening intently. “Yes, I’m sure of it; there are a lot of fellows singing together.”

“Then they must be Boers, Wilfred! Frank Russel is an oldish man, steady and quiet, and he would never think of entertaining a party of rowdies, especially if they belonged to the enemy. He held a good position at home, but something caused him to come out here with his wife, where he has lived for about twenty years, cattle-ranching and farming. Tom Salter and I have had a cup of tea with him many a time. His wife is dead, and he has a rather pretty daughter, who runs the home for him. I wonder what is going on over there? Frank is loyal to the backbone, and would never think of harbouring one of England’s enemies.”

“Ho, ho! There’s a girl there, and a pretty one too, is there, Jack?” Wilfred chuckled. “Well, if you think that something is happening to them we may as well go over and investigate.”

“Just what I think, Wilfred. I don’t like the look of things. Either Frank has changed his mind and gone into Kimberley with Eileen, or the Boers are ill-treating them. Keep close beside me, and we’ll see what’s up. I know every foot of the ground round here, and will see that we do not fall into a trap.”

Jack at once touched his pony with his heel, and in absolute silence the two moved forward towards the farmhouse. It consisted of one small building, surrounded by a neat English flower-garden, and lying isolated in the middle of the veldt, the outhouses and sheds for cattle being at least a mile away.

As they rode up to it on the soft noiseless turf, the sound of uproarious singing became louder, and was interrupted by bursts of hoarse laughter.

“Hold on to my ponies,” whispered Jack, when they had reached the edge of the garden. “I’ll be back as soon as I’ve seen what is going on.”

Slipping to the ground, he passed the reins to Wilfred, and, climbing the iron railing which fringed the garden, stole across the beds towards the house. At the door a number of ponies were standing, knee-haltered, and picking the grass from the borders of the garden. Jack got close up to them and made sure that they were animate belonging to the Boers. Then he crept up to one of the windows, and peered in beneath the blind, which was only partly drawn.

The sight which met his eyes caused him to give a start, while an exclamation of anger escaped his lips, for Jack was a kind-hearted lad, and to see anyone wantonly inflicting pain upon a fellow-being, or indeed upon any dumb animal, was hateful to him, and doubly so when, as in this case, it was a helpless girl who was being tormented.

As he looked into the room, which was lit by a hanging lamp, he saw Eileen Russel standing, violin in hand, in the opposite corner, the very picture of terror, grief, and despair, playing an air which had been popular in Johannesburg a few months before; while, seated round a table, in all sorts of attitudes, were ten men, shouting the chorus in a mixture of Dutch and English which grated on his ear.

Jack watched them closely, and recognised with another start that the man in the centre, leaning back in his chair, with his legs upon the table, was none other than the dapper English colonist who had questioned them so closely at De Aar.

Satisfied with his inspection, he slipped back again, and a moment or two later stood by Wilfred’s side.

“We’re going to stop here for a little while,” he said shortly. “There’s a bit of bullying going on over there. Bring the ponies round into the garden, and we’ll tie them up at the back of the house.”

Wilfred looked searchingly at his friend, but recognising from the resolute tone that Jack meant every word he said, he sent the ponies ahead, and soon had them at the back of the farmhouse.

“Look here, Wilfred,” said Jack brusquely, as soon as the animals were fastened to the rails, “there’s a scandalous piece of business going on in there. That spy fellow from De Aar is chief of the gang of Boers, who are ill-treating Eileen Russel. She and her father have shown me many a kindness, and I am going to repay it. There are ten of them altogether. If you don’t like the job you can slip outside and wait till I’ve done with them.”

“Of course I like it,” Wilfred whispered back indignantly. “Shut up, Jack! If there’s a row on, of course I shall help you!”

“Then, come along, but don’t do anything till I give the word.”

Stealing across to the window, they raised their heads and looked in, to find the Boers in much the same position, except that most of them were drinking the contents of long tumblers of whisky and water, which “Tim”, a faithful Zulu servant of the Russels, had just placed in front of them. Eileen had stopped her playing, and stood in her corner looking like a hunted animal, while tears trickled down her cheeks.

“Here, you black animal! Go and fetch me some more drink,” shouted the Boer leader at this moment. “Do you hear? Get away with you! Now, Miss—what’s your name, play ‘God Save the Queen!’ You’ll not have many opportunities of doing so after this, for England’s going to the wall, and that old tune will soon be forgotten. Now then, strike up, and let it be sharp and merry.”

The spy gave vent to a coarse laugh, shouted once more at the trembling girl, and gulped down a glass of spirit which “Tim” placed close to his hand at that moment.

But, like her father, this delicate English girl was loyal-hearted and true to her beloved queen and country. Her head, which had drooped before this, was now held proudly erect in the air; she faced her tormentors steadily, and in a voice which scarcely quivered, refused to play any more for them.

“No,” she said firmly, “I will not play our national anthem for you. You would only jeer at it, like the cowards you are. One of these days you and all your countrymen shall be proud to call yourselves subjects of our queen, and will sing in all earnestness that sacred song you now ask me to play!”

“None of your threats! Do as you’re told!” snarled the Boer leader angrily. “It will be many a long year before your queen claims a single one of us as a subject; but let me tell you, miss, it will be only a very few minutes before this ugly-looking thing does you a mischief, if you refuse to play ‘God Save the Queen’!”

As he spoke the villain snatched a Mauser pistol from his belt and held it pointed at Eileen’s head.

Jack’s teeth ground together, and, quickly slipping a cartridge into his rifle, he covered the Boer leader, and was on the point of pressing the trigger when Tim, the gallant Zulu boy, his eyes glaring with rage, rushed at the man and struck him from his chair. He was seized at once, and held in front of the villain who had dared to threaten Eileen, who again lifted his Mauser, placed the muzzle against the poor fellow’s head, and held it there a moment, so as to prolong the agony of fear, ere he pressed the trigger and sent Tim to his last account.

That pause proved the latter’s salvation, while to the Boer it meant a sudden death. Jack, who had kept him covered, thrust the end of his rifle through the glass and fired, dropping the villain in his tracks. Then shouting: “Give it to them, boys!” he opened his magazine and poured a hail of shot into the house, taking care to miss Tim and Eileen Russel.

Startled by the shot and alarmed by Jack’s shout, which seemed to show that there were many there besides himself, the Boers started to their feet and rushed through the door. A minute later they were flying away across the veldt, leaving four of their number lying dead upon the floor of the farmhouse.

Jack and Wilfred at once ran round to the door, which stood wide open, and stepped in.

“Don’t be frightened, Eileen,” said the former soothingly. “Those cowards have bolted, and you are safe for a time at least. What has happened to your father?”

“Ah! is that you, Jack Somerton?” the poor girl asked in a dreamy way, as if she were not quite certain that her eyes had told her correctly—“Jack Somerton, the young Englishman who used to come here with our old friend Tom Salter?”

“Yes, it’s Jack all right, Eileen,” he replied. “Now tell me how those villains happened to find you here alone.”

Eileen Russel stepped forward from her corner, and, grasping Jack by the hand, gazed searchingly into his face, as though she was still uncertain of his identity. Then she suddenly sat down in a chair, and, hiding her face in her hands, sobbed as if her heart would break. But it was merely the reaction after the terrible hour of torment she had suffered, and, cheered by a gentle pat on the back from Jack’s strong hand, she soon regained her composure and dried her eyes.

“Father is here, Jack,” she exclaimed eagerly. “He is down below in the cellar, where Tim and I hid him. He is wounded—badly, I fear. Those Boer cowards rode up here just before daylight, and ordered Father to come out and be taken before their leader. Father asked what they wanted with him, and they shouted back that this part of English territory had been annexed by the Boers, and that as an old inhabitant he was bound to fight for them now that he was no longer a subject of the queen.”

“‘Get away from here at once,’ Father shouted back, as soon as he had heard what they had to say. ‘I am a British subject, and shall be to the end. None of your republics or presidents for me! Clear off, all of you; and if one of you dares to attempt to come in I will shoot!’

“The Boers laughed at his threat, and attempted to beat in the door, but Father was as good as his word, and shot one of them at once. The others poured a volley into the house, and one of the bullets passed through the wall and wounded Father in the shoulder. Then the Boers made a rush, and began to force the door open, and as we knew that they would have little mercy for Father, Tim and I hid him away in a cellar down below, which he had constructed to keep stores and ammunition in. Then we lowered the trap-door and placed the table over it.

“They broke in a few minutes later, but, failing to find him, thought he had escaped through the window. Then they forced me to play my violin, and just as I thought they would shoot Tim or myself, the leader fell dead and the others ran for their lives.”

“Well, you are safe for the present at least,” answered Jack. “Sit down there, Eileen, and rest yourself. We will get your father up again. Those fellows will not be coming back yet awhile, so that we need not fear a surprise. Now, Wilfred and Tim, lend a hand and pull up this trap.”

A minute later the table had been removed to one side, and Jack was clambering down into the cellar, Tim lowering the lamp after him. On the boarded floor he found Frank Russel lying upon his back, and making feeble efforts to rise, for the reports of Jack’s rifle had roused him from unconsciousness.

“Where am I? What has happened?” he asked. “Hallo! is that you, Jack! Where’s Tom Salter?”

Then he suddenly remembered the Boers and sat up with a jerk.

“Ah! what has become of those brutes?” he demanded, clutching at the rifle which had been placed beside him, while his face flushed red with rage.

“Now don’t worry about them,” said Jack kindly. “They’ve bolted, and Wilfred and I arrived here just in the nick of time. Let us get you up on top and look at the wound. When that is seen to, we will discuss the situation.”

Frank Russel was still too much dazed to offer any resistance, and was soon carried up the ladder and laid on a bed. Then Jack opened up the seams of his jacket, and cut away the shirt over his left shoulder. A close inspection showed two little blue wounds, the size of a pea, one in front, and one behind where the Mauser bullet had made its exit. There had been scarcely any loss of blood, and luckily no bones broken. Eileen meanwhile had produced a basin of cold water and a soft towel, and with this they dressed the wound and bandaged the shoulder. A stiff glass of spirits pulled Frank Russel round, and now that he was over the first shock, he very quickly became himself again, for he was as hard as iron, and accustomed to the rough life of a colonist. Ten minutes later he was standing up lighting a big pipe, and even using his left hand, so little pain did his wound give him.

“Now tell me all about it, Jack Somerton,” he said, puffing big clouds of smoke into the air with the greatest satisfaction.

As soon as the brutal action of the Boer spy and his friends had been narrated, and followed by a description of their flight, Frank Russel sprang to his feet and shook Jack and Wilfred heartily by the hand.

“My lads,” he said in a husky, trembling voice, “you’ve won the deep gratitude of old Frank Russel. I’d sooner see every Boer in Africa dead than hear that one of them had ill-treated my darling child. Ah! she’s all I have left since the wife went to her home above, and a good, dutiful, and loving girl she is! Come here, Eileen dear, and kiss your father. You’ve had a close shave, and but for these brave Englishmen that brute would have murdered you. And Tim, too, has proved a faithful boy. Well, he shall not regret it, for from this day he shall never have a fear for his old age. I will give him sufficient to ensure his independence.

“But now we have other things to think about. Kimberley is closely besieged, and though we are only five miles away we are surrounded by hosts of Boers. They will be back here soon, and then it will be all up with us.”

“Why not ride off at once?” asked Wilfred. “There are four of the Boer ponies outside, and Jack and I have our own.”

“It would be useless,” replied Frank Russel, with a vigorous shake of his head. “Those fellows have already warned the whole district, and by this time we are closely surrounded. Look away over there. That small light is their signal, and it is flashing a message in the darkness which every Boer can read. No, I fear it is all up with us. I’m sorry, lads; you two would have got in safely if you hadn’t come along in this direction and helped us in our trouble. If there was a chance of your succeeding now, I’d say go at once and leave us. But there isn’t, not the slightest, and it’s only fair to say so.”

“We must make the best of matters as they are,” remarked Jack coolly. “A week ago I was in a fix which was every bit as awkward. I’m not going to be shot or taken prisoner yet awhile if I can help it, and if you all feel the same I propose we make a fight for it.”

“Ah, I’d fight if I had a chance!” growled Frank Russel. “But it’s no use here. They would be a hundred to one against us.”

“Wait a minute, Mr Russel,” exclaimed Wilfred, who had an unbounded faith in his friend’s sagacity. “Let us hear what Jack has to say. I’m like him, and don’t mean to fall into the Boers’ hands without a struggle.”

“Ah, well! what is it, Jack?” answered Frank. “But you’d best be quick about it, for those fellows will be getting close to us by this.”

“I’ve said I am going to make a fight for it,” exclaimed Jack, “and I mean to do so, for from what I have seen and heard, our enemies have the greatest dislike to attacking in the open. It is too risky for them, and is apt to lead to fatal consequences, as I have already been compelled to show them. Now this house stands clear out on the veldt. There is not even a boulder within half a mile of us, and therefore no cover. It is true that at close quarters a Mauser bullet will pierce these walls, but at long range it will not come through. Let us make a stand here. But, first, have you plenty of cartridges, Frank?”

“Heaps, lad, heaps! ’Pon my word, I like this idea of yours! But where is it going to end? We’ve a pump and water in the house, and plenty of food and ammunition; but we cannot hope to keep them out for long, and they are certain to rush us in the darkness.”

“Yes, they will do that,” Jack agreed, “but they have got to get inside the house before they can hurt us, and we shall have something to say to that. Now before talking about the means of defence, let us send Tim off to Kimberley. He is the only one who could possibly get through. That will be our only hope. We are in the direction of the railway, and not too far from the town for a sortie to reach us. Now, Tim, will you go?”

Tim at once signified his willingness.

“Then off you go!” exclaimed Jack. “Quick! There is not a moment to be lost! When you get into the town ask for Tom Salter, and get him to take you to the ‘Baas’. Tell him what trouble we are in, and ask for help to be sent us.”

The plucky Zulu boy at once stepped to a corner of the room, snatched up an assagai with an enormous blade, and, shaking a farewell with it, darted out through the doorway.

“Jack, you’re one of the right sort!” exclaimed Frank Russel when Tim had disappeared. “I’ve looked at this idea of yours from every side. If they take us now or later on it won’t make much odds to me, for they will treat me as a rebel; while you two and Eileen will just be prisoners. We’ve a chance of beating them off till help reaches us, and so sure as I’m a true Englishman we’ll have a try at it.

“You’ve settled the matter up to this, so go on with it. I’m an older man, and perhaps more used to these fellows, but I’m sure you could beat me in slimness. Now out with it, lad, or those Boers will be on us before we are ready.”

“Very well, then,” Jack replied, “let us set to work. We must break up some of this furniture. We want a couple of hammers, a saw, and some big nails. Have you got them?”

“Yes, close handy, Jack. Eileen, fetch the bag, like a good girl, and bring the axe along.”

“Now break up the table and nail the boards across the window, Wilfred,” continued Jack. “Frank and I will see to the door. It must be firmly closed. Wait a minute, though, our ponies may be of some use to us. I will slip out and bring them in.”

Jack opened the door and ran round to the back of the house. A minute later he returned and led in the three ponies, taking them to a small kitchen. Then he brought in two of the Boer ponies, and drove the others out of the garden on to the veldt. That done, he shut the door, bolted it, and nailed two heavy uprights against it. A quarter of an hour later all the windows were firmly barricaded, a niche about three inches wide having been left between the planks through which the rifles could be pushed. Then with an auger he drilled a number of holes through the walls all round the house, driving three of them so as to form a triangle, the sides of which he completed with a chisel, thus forming apertures about five inches high and as much in breadth, which would give them a good view across the veldt.

“Now we’re ready,” he said, when all was at last completed, “and I expect we shall have the Boers here soon. Eileen, you had better go down into the cellar, I think, so as to be out of danger.”

“Thank you, Jack!” she answered calmly. “This house will require every rifle we have to defend it. I have used one many a time, and I shall stay up here and help you.”

“Brave girl, and it’s like you, dear!” exclaimed Frank Russel. “Stay if you wish, for we’ll not deny that three is a small number to garrison this place. I suppose we had better take our posts now. One at each wall will be the thing. Remember, it’s steady, quiet shooting we want, and only use the magazine when they make a rush. That will be our trouble. It wants more than three hours before we shall get daylight, and until then we shall have to trust to our ears to tell when the Boers get close to us.”

“Have you got a bell here?” Wilfred suddenly asked.

“Yes, there is one in the kitchen,” Eileen answered, “and the handle is just outside the door. We are the only colonists hereabouts who possess such a thing.”

“Then we’ll beat them yet!” cried Wilfred. “They are certain to ride into the garden through the opening in the rails. Open the door, Jack; and give me a long piece of string, someone. I’ll slip outside and run it from the bell-handle to the rails and across the opening. Then the first man who rides in will jerk it, and the bell will give us a warning.”

“Good, lad, good!” exclaimed Frank Russel with a grunt of satisfaction. “That will just save us. Set about it as quick as you can.”

Five minutes later Wilfred had carried out his plan, and not content with running a cord from the bell-handle across the opening into the garden, he passed others completely round the railings, so that anyone attempting to climb them, or pass through them, would almost certainly come in contact with one or other of the strings and warn those inside the house. Then he joined his friends again, and the door was safely nailed up as before.

About half an hour later, when the night had lifted a little, there was a faint tinkling of the bell, and Jack, who had chosen a position commanding the front of the house, caught sight of a dusky figure at the opening to the garden. His rifle spoke out instantly, and with a shriek of pain the man disappeared.

After that there was silence for many minutes, and then the bell jerked feebly once or twice, and afterwards pealed loudly.

“There are a crowd of them in front of me,” whispered Jack. “Give me a hand here, Wilfred, and leave Frank and Eileen to watch the rest.”

Wilfred at once darted across the floor, and, peering through a loophole, saw a number of dusky figures hurrying into the garden through the opening, while others suddenly appeared against the sky-line, and then became almost invisible as they climbed over the railings and jumped amongst the flowers.

“Let them have it with the magazine,” Jack whispered again, and waiting a moment for Wilfred to prepare, he aimed at a bunch of the enemy pouring into the garden, and discharged shot after shot amongst them. Meanwhile, Wilfred fired at the figures climbing the railings, while sharp reports from the side and back of the house told that Frank and Eileen were also engaged.

Once their magazines were empty, it took only a few moments to replenish them, and again they poured a stream of bullets through the loopholes.

But the Boers had already had sufficient. With shouts and shrill cries of fear they disappeared in the darkness, leaving many of their number dead or wounded in the garden.

“That will make them more careful next time,” muttered Jack. “I wonder what their next move will be!”

He had not long to wait, for almost before he had finished speaking there was a roar of musketry all round, and a hail of bullets flew through the house, piercing the walls as if they were merely composed of paper, and sending splinters flying in all directions. It was decidedly unpleasant, but all escaped by the greatest luck, the only injury sustained being a flesh wound by Jack. The bullet had passed through the calf of his leg, but so unimportant was it that a handkerchief tied round it was amply sufficient to staunch the blood which flowed, while the pain was so little that he scarcely felt it then, though later on he suffered considerably.

“Lie down, all of you!” shouted Frank at this moment. “They will be giving us another volley.”

All threw themselves on the ground close to their loopholes, through which they stared out at the veldt, which was now becoming more visible every moment.

A second later another storm of bullets tore through the house, while others struck the iron roof above, giving rise to an alarming noise. For five minutes the fusilade continued, and then suddenly ceased.

“To your posts!” cried Jack. “They will hope to have killed or wounded all of us, and will make a rush.”

Sure enough, a host of Boers now appeared in the growing light, running towards the house, and into them all four rifles poured a stream of lead, each shot of which, though hastily fired, was carefully aimed. At such close quarters it proved disastrous, and though a few of the bolder spirits amongst the enemy did manage to reach the house, the majority were either struck down or retired precipitately. For those who were attempting to kick in the door Jack’s Mauser pistol still remained, and he emptied it amongst them without pity.

At any other time the fact that he was taking human life, and sending fellow-beings to a last and sudden account, would have shocked him and filled him with lasting remorse. But now it was different. He had seen a crew of powerful men injuring and threatening a helpless girl. For that alone they deserved punishment, part of which had been summarily meted out to them. But the remainder had escaped, to return with other comrades, all enemies of the queen. They would not hesitate to take the lives of those who so gallantly defended the farmhouse, and he in turn would not spare a single one of them. Jack hardened his heart, and calmly loaded the magazines of his weapons again, in preparation for the next assault.

But they had read the Boers a severe lesson, and those of them who had escaped the hail of bullets fled from the neighbourhood of the little farmhouse, and, flinging themselves upon their ponies, galloped away across the veldt till well out of range of fire. Then they pulled up and collected together, solemnly swearing that, come what might, they would subdue those few English opposed to them, and wreak a fearful vengeance on their heads. The pluck and dauntless determination of the little band they fully recognised and admired; but they had already killed or wounded some forty or more of their brothers, and a price must be exacted for those lives.

With sullen and determined looks they parted to surround the house, while a few were despatched for reinforcements, and for guns with which to splinter the walls behind which the defenders lay.

Meanwhile Jack and his friends stood grimly at their posts, thankful for the breathing-space allowed them, and for the daylight which was fast stealing across the veldt. At last the day broke completely, leaving the plain in front of them partially obscured in a thin grey mist. But a few minutes later a golden glow lit up the eastern sky, and in course of time first a rim and then the whole of the morning sun rose above the steep spires and pinnacles of the range of mountains beyond the Vaal River, and poured a flood of warmth across the lonely veldt. Instantly the mist cleared away, and a glorious day had dawned.

“Now our first duty is to give the enemy permission to remove their dead and wounded,” exclaimed Frank. “Let us pull down one of these boards and shout to them.”

Accordingly a plank was wrenched from one of the windows, and a white flag waved through the opening. A Boer horseman at once galloped up, and, riding into the garden, reined in opposite the window.

“You can remove your dead and wounded,” said Jack, who had agreed to act as spokesman, so that Frank Russel should not appear. “Only ten of you must come for them, and on no account must anyone be armed. We will give you an hour to do the work. After that we shall fire on anyone who approaches.”

The Boer courteously expressed his thanks, and at once rode away.

Five minutes later a wagon was driven up to the railings, and the party who had come to pick up the dead and wounded entered the garden.

Those inside the house sat down at their loopholes and kept a close watch, for they had heard before of Boer treachery and slimness, and more than one incident of the abuse of the white flag had been clearly exposed during the opening days in Natal. As they watched they hastily ate a meal, and having finished looked to their rifles.

All this while the unhappy men who had been wounded were being gently conveyed to the wagons, and Jack and his friends pitied them, and admired them for their fortitude. Scarcely a groan did they utter. They bore their sufferings patiently and in silence, and won the unstinted sympathy and praise of those who, by the fortune of war, had been the cause of their trouble.

At last all were removed, the search-party retired, and the young Boer who had at first replied to the white flag trotted up to the window and once more expressed his thanks. Then he turned his horse and galloped away, leaving the four inmates of the farmhouse to resume the desperate and one-sided struggle.

Chapter Ten.Desperate Odds.The sun had climbed some way into the heavens, and the day had already advanced three hours on its course before Jack and his staunch little following saw a horseman galloping across the veldt towards the farmhouse.He was a big, handsome man, well-dressed for a Boer, and wore a long tawny beard. Attached to a stick which he held in his hand was a white flag, and having ridden to within two hundred yards of the house he waved it vigorously, and shouted to attract the attention of those within. A moment later a handkerchief was fluttering from the window, and Jack was waiting there in readiness to hold a parley.“Good morning!” said the Boer in excellent English as he pulled up alongside the window. “It’s a grand day, and far too fine to be spoilt by fighting. I’ve come from the commandant to offer you terms—liberal terms. We believe Frank Russel is with you after all, and if so, as a rebel he shall be shot. For the others, honourable captivity is offered, and the girl shall be in my special charge. I have known her for many years, and she shall be safe with my mother.”“Don’t trust him, Jack,” whispered Eileen, who had crept close up against the window, where she looked through one of the rifle apertures and listened intently to all that was said. “I know him well. He is an Africander, and a British subject. His farm lies ten miles to the north, and Father will tell you why he is anxious for me to be given over to his care.”“Yes, it’s true,” growled Frank Russel, joining in at this moment. “He is a rebel, and not to be trusted. He’s been pestering round here for many a day, and asking Eileen to become his wife. But she hates the sight of him, and for my part, though I’ve no doubt he’s smitten with her, it’s this farm and the fat acres attached to it he is more interested in obtaining. Don’t trust him, Jack; send him about his business!”“And what if we refuse these liberal terms of your commandant?” Jack asked coolly. “How will he guarantee all he promises? Words are not sufficient. Let him put it in writing, and we will consider it; but understand, we will not accept captivity, nor will we give up Miss Russel. As to Frank Russel, you did not find him here, and how can we have done so?”“Surely the word of Elof Visser is sufficient!” exclaimed the Boer. “You have heard the terms, and they are the only ones I have to propose. We will give you half an hour to discuss them, and then, if the white flag is not waving from this window, we shall open fire. Only, if you should foolishly still decide to resist us, I ask you to pass out the girl. We do not wish to war with her sex. Hand her over to me, and I swear, by the God who made us all, that she shall be safe from harm.”“We will consider your proposal,” answered Jack, “and if you do not see the flag at the termination of the time you mention, you are free to fire on us again. But I warn you we are well prepared, and you would do far better to leave us alone.”“Tush, boy, don’t lecture me!” exclaimed the Boer angrily. “Discuss the terms, and if you refuse, we will knock this house about your heads like a pack of cards, and shoot every one of you.”Giving an impatient jerk at his reins, he pulled his animal round and cantered away.“Well, what answer shall we give?” asked Jack, turning to his companions.“What answer!” retorted Frank Russel grimly. “Lads, if you’re ready and willing to stand by me and my child, as I believe you are, I say let us stand fast. The Boer promises aren’t worth the breath that’s wasted on them, and that fellow Elof Visser has his own ends in view.”“Then we’ll face it out,” exclaimed Jack, “and after all, things are not so very desperate. Last night was our worst time, and if we could beat them back then we ought to be able to do the same during daylight. We’ve lots of ammunition, food, and water. The only thing I don’t like the thought of is the shell which will soon be thrown at us, but the Boer gunners are not such good marksmen as to be able to strike us every time, and when the shell do strike, if they are like those used in Natal and do not burst, they will go clean through these walls and do no further damage. When they fire we shall have to take to the cellar, and it seems to me that the sooner we make it bomb-proof the better. It won’t be difficult. The kitchen is paved with big slabs of stone, and by forcing them up and placing them here on the floor, and half over the trap, we shall have a secure place to hide in. The ponies must take their chance, though I expect most of the poor beasts will be killed as soon as the bombardment commences.”“George! The very thing!” cried Frank Russel, smacking Jack on the back. “Now all hands to the job! There are plenty of tools to work with in the kitchen, and I fancy a good strong poker will be the best to use.”All at once went into the kitchen and set to work as only men can whose lives depend upon their exertions. Once the first slab was raised the rest was easy, and while Eileen kept watch the others laboured at the work, Frank Russel levering up the stones, while Jack and Wilfred carried them into the room and laid them over the cellar.“One will be sufficient to keep watch above, so the others had better go below,” cried Jack, as soon as the flooring was completed. “There is no saying when a shell may pitch into the house. Light the lamp and make all comfortable. Perhaps it will be a good plan to pass a few buckets of water down also, in case they make it too hot for us to come up and fetch it.”This was quickly done, and Eileen and her father climbed down the ladder into the cellar, while Jack and Wilfred remained on top to watch for the next attack by the enemy. The half-hour had already passed, and indeed double that period had gone by, but still there was no movement. Then Wilfred cried out that he saw a force of Boers approaching, and looking through his field-glasses Jack made out a body of about sixty men following a couple of guns. One of these was smaller than the other and had no limber attached. The larger one, which was drawn by six horses, galloped forward till within less than 1200 yards of the house and commenced to unlimber.“We’ll just teach those fellows to keep at a more respectful distance,” muttered Jack. “Put up your sights, Wilfred, and have a shot at them. There is a good big lump to fire at, and with a little luck we might pick a few of them off.”Both at once took a steady aim and fired, and a second later Jack seized his glasses and saw one of the horses in the gun team rear up and fall backwards.Another and another shot followed, one of the gunners and a second horse being hit. Then the gun was hurriedly limbered up again and galloped back out of rifle fire. Ten minutes later there was a puff of smoke, followed in about half a minute by a sharp report, and by the ominous hum of a shell overhead.“Ha, ha!” Jack chuckled coolly; “they’ll want to do a deal better than that to turn us out of this. Look out, here comes another!”As he spoke there was a second puff, and this was followed by a deafening thud overhead and by a loud explosion behind the house.“Not a bad shot that,” Jack remarked serenely. “It touched the roof, ricochetted off, and burst away behind.”The next shot proved almost more alarming, for it was a shrapnel shell, and exploded some hundred yards in front of the farmhouse, sending a hail of bullets spattering in all directions.“They’ve got the range now, and I think we had better get below,” said Jack. “We shall be quite safe from a rush, for the Boers cannot come close while their friends are shelling us. I expect they will continue firing till they have smashed the place to pieces, and then they will gallop up full-tilt. That will be our time. We will lie low, and make them think that the shelling has killed or wounded all of us. We will hold our fire till they are at the railings, and then we will blaze into them. I fancy we shall be safe enough till nightfall, but then, if help does not reach us, it will go hard with us. Tim must have slipped into the town by this, so we can hope for the best.”“I will play something for you, if you like,” said Eileen Russel at this moment. “You don’t want any cheering up, but just to show you that I feel quite safe in your hands, and have no fear of the Boers, you shall have some music. What shall it be?”“Let us have ‘God Save the Queen!’ Miss Russel,” Wilfred cried. “It will make us feel all the better.”Accordingly the brave girl stood up at one end of the cellar, and in that curious place, and with shell and bullets plunging through the walls of the house above, and occasionally exploding with a deafening noise which drowned the music for the moment, made the air throb with those strains which no Englishman worthy of the proud name can listen to unmoved. It was indeed a strange proceeding, and to the Boer horseman who galloped up just then, during a lull in the firing, and approached the farmhouse within fifty yards, it was totally inexplicable. Here were a few mad Englishmen listening to the strains of their national anthem with bullets flying all about them. “Surely they are a strange people!” he thought. And plucky too, for that violin he heard was played by a young girl’s hands.Eileen played right through the anthem, and was heartily applauded by the men, who sat round her, rifle in hand, their faces dimly lit by the rays from the oil-lamp which had been placed upon the floor.By this time the farmhouse had been drilled through and through with shell, most of which, however, had passed out without exploding. A few had struck directly upon the stone slabs above the cellar, but all save one had merely fizzled angrily and poured out a quantity of smoke. But one burst, and blew part of the roof of the house away, also shattering two of the stone slabs.“Volunteers to replace the damaged stone roof!” sang out Jack, pushing his head up through the trap and inspecting the havoc. “Two of the slabs above us have been blown to pieces and must be replaced at once, or else an unlucky shell will pitch through the boards and come in here on top of us.”Wilfred at once rose to his feet, and the two darted up the ladder and into the kitchen. Here they found that a brick wall, built to carry the cooking range, stood between the Boer fire and the ponies, so that the hail of Mauser bullets had for the most part failed to reach them. But one had entered through the wall at the back and had killed a pony, while a shell burst through the thin layer of brick just as Jack and Wilfred entered, and, throwing a shower of dust and débris in all directions, inflicted a fearful wound upon another of the captured ponies and flew out through the other wall.“Poor beast!” exclaimed Jack with a shudder. “I will put it out of its agony. They will not hear my Mauser from such a distance.”Stepping up to the wounded animal, he placed his pistol close against its chest and pulled the trigger. The bullet passed through its heart and killed the suffering animal instantly.“Now for the stones!” he said quietly. “I’ll lever them up, and then help you to put them in position. Hurry up! I see those fellows are getting the other gun into place, and preparing to fire it.”Jack took a hasty view through one of the loopholes with his glasses, and then proceeded to prise up the slabs from the kitchen floor. Five minutes sufficed to complete the work, and just as they were preparing to descend into the bomb-proof chamber once more, a loud and incessant rat, tat, tat sounded in the distance, followed an instant later by a continuous hum overhead, and then, as the range was found, by a stream of one-pounder shells which hurtled through the farmhouse, smashing walls, chairs, and everything in their way into matchwood.“Come down, lads!” cried Frank Russel anxiously. “That’s a quick-firing Vickers-Maxim barking. They’ll give us a long dose of that while the mounted men ride closer, and then there’ll be a rush. Get your guns ready, and immediately the firing ceases climb out of this and man the walls. I expect they’ll come mostly from the front, for they don’t know of this cellar, and will fancy we are all wiped out. Well, we’ll teach them something, that’s all.”“Then it is agreed we hold our fire till they are within a few yards of the railings,” said Jack. “A volley to start with will be the thing, and then when they reach the garden we will use our magazines.”“That’s it, lad!” Frank Russel answered. “We all understand, and we’ll hold our fire till you give the word. George! they are pouring it in this time!”There was good cause for this last remark, for above their heads there was a perfect pandemonium, in which the loud rip, rip, and scream of a flow of shells predominated, while now and again a dull, heavy thud, as one struck the slabs above, caused all to start nervously.But they were well protected, and although the position was not exactly pleasant, or devoid of danger, they bore the bombardment with a serenity which was wonderful. At any moment one of the iron missiles might find its way into the cellar, and deal a sudden and awful death to all. Indeed Jack began to wonder what would be the best course to adopt supposing one of the bombs did happen by ill-luck to find an entry, and lie in front of them fizzling and spluttering ere it shattered itself and its immediate surroundings to pieces. He had seen that some of them did no more than splutter and smoke, and he at once determined in his own quiet dogged way that he would take immediate action and remove it to the slabs above. If it burst in his hand—well—neither he nor his friends would ever know much about it. But if the fuse were not expended he might be able to remove it in time, and so save all their lives.But he was never called upon to take such a desperate risk, and instead sat silently in his corner, smoking furiously, and watching the smoke which Frank Russel and Wilfred blew out from their lips. It was quite fascinating to see it curling slowly up from the dark cellar into the bright light overhead, and then suddenly cut in twain by a rushing shell. Even Eileen was interested in it, and, catching Jack’s gaze fixed in the same direction, smiled at him just to show how steady she felt. “Look out, lads!” exclaimed Frank Russel a few minutes later. “They’ve done pumping those shells into us, and we had better get back to our posts.”All four at once scrambled up the ladder, and, darting across the floor, looked out over the sunlit veldt. In front it was covered by a number of galloping ponies, with wild-looking Boers upon their backs.Jack at once rushed to the other side of the house and gazed in that direction, but there was no one to be seen.“They are all in front,” he cried. “All the better for us! Each of you lie full-length on the floor and push your rifle a few inches only through the wall. That’s it! Now wait till I give the word.”Lying flat on their faces the gallant little band held their fire, and waited in dead silence while the horsemen galloped towards them. Soon, as they got within 200 yards, one of them gave a shout and threw his hand in the air. All at once drew rein and walked their ponies forward, laughing and shouting joyfully to one another; for the fact that no sharp reports had greeted their rush seemed to show that the shells they had poured into the farmhouse had been effective, and that all the defenders had been killed.Laughing, therefore, and smoking their pipes, they rode slowly towards the farm, gradually drawing close together as they directed their ponies towards the entrance to the garden.“Get your magazines ready!” whispered Jack. “We scarcely hoped for such luck. Wait till they reach the opening, and then fire into them as fast as you can.”His companions obeyed him silently, and then waited grimly for the word which would send a death-dealing stream of lead into the Boers.It seemed an hour before it was given, but Jack was not the lad to be flurried, or to allow excitement to get the better of his judgment. He waited calmly till some of the enemy had ridden through the opening, while the remainder were in a close body outside.Then he shouted, “Fire!” and instantly the four rifles spoke out, spouting forth a continuous stream of bullets and angry puffs of flame. Then they stopped as suddenly, as the magazines emptied.“Now volley-firing!” shouted Jack; and each, slipping in a cartridge, waited till he gave the word. Four times in rapid succession they emptied their rifles, but on the last occasion only into flying men, for the Boer slimness had for once been dormant, and neglect of ordinary precautions had led them into a trap which proved a bitter lesson to them. At such close quarters, and grouped together as they were, the long Lee-Metford bullets, with their tremendous velocity and penetrating power, had drilled through and through the mass, and had almost annihilated the band. Had a Maxim been turned upon them for a minute the slaughter could scarcely have been greater, and as it was, a pile of dead and wounded Boers blocked the entrance to the homely English flower-garden, while injured ponies struggled and lashed out madly with their heels, adding to the ghastly picture.It had been a sudden and terrible blow, and those of the enemy who yet lived turned their animals, and, extricating themselves from the heap of fallen comrades, galloped madly away in the desperate desire to escape from the murderous rifles of the few dauntless “Rooineks” whom they had hoped to find dead and mangled beneath the ruins of the farmhouse.“That will teach them something, my lads!” exclaimed Frank Russel hoarsely. “It’s awful to have to kill so many of them, but it’s their lives or ours, and besides, we’ve a glorious cause to fight for.”“It is truly awful,” murmured Eileen, sitting down on the floor and suddenly turning deadly pale. “Oh, I cannot bear to hear their groans!”“She’s done up, and no wonder, poor girl!” cried Frank. “Slip below, Jack, and fetch up a glass of brandy. There, that’s it, Eileen dear! pull yourself together, and remember it is all for our queen and country.”Jack at once dived into the cellar and reappeared with some brandy and water, some of which was poured between Eileen’s lips. But she was now in a dead faint, and it was some minutes before she regained consciousness again. Naturally a somewhat timid and gentle-mannered girl, to be called upon to use a rifle in earnest and deal mortal wounds was a sore trial to her. The need for strength, and the stern struggle in which she had so bravely borne a part, had, however, braced her for the work. But now, when it was all over, or rather when the hostilities had ceased for a time, and she saw the wounded and heard their groans, the terrible sight and the unusual sounds unnerved her, and she was prostrate in a moment.A little later she had recovered, and, stimulated by the brandy and soothed by her father’s kind words, was soon herself again and able to stand up.Meanwhile Wilfred and Jack had dragged a table from a corner in the kitchen, and having placed it beneath the gap in the iron roof, and lifted a chair upon it, the latter jumped up, and, standing on tiptoe, waved a handkerchief. It was answered from a distance, and as soon as one of the enemy had galloped up, Jack informed him that for an hour they were at liberty to send a party of fifteen men to remove the killed and wounded.The permission was again accepted with grateful thanks, and while the gruesome work was going on, the little garrison once more took advantage of the time to snatch a hasty meal. When all the Boers who lay in front of the house had been removed, a man with a grey beard and wrinkled face rode forward alone and asked for a parley.From his post in the roof Jack beckoned to him to advance, and asked him what he wanted.“Elof Visser is dead,” he began sadly, “and so are many more of my poor comrades; but, for all the loss we have suffered, we are none the less determined. We will capture you if we have to smash the house to pieces. But you are brave men, and I again offer you terms, and if you refuse them, beg that you will send out the girl. She shall be taken and handed over to the English pickets outside Kimberley. Think well of what I say. Frank Russel shall not be injured if he is with you. That is all; but I will remind you that they are honourable terms, which men such as you are might well accept.”“Thank you,” replied Jack courteously. “I will discuss your terms with my comrades. Draw off as far as the railing and wait till I call you.”“Now, what shall we do?” he asked, jumping from the table. “Whatever happens, I think Eileen had better trust herself to these men. The Boer outside looks an honest sort, and I am sure he will do exactly as he promised.”“I refuse to leave you!” exclaimed Eileen indignantly. “If you are not going to surrender, I shall certainly not say ‘good-bye’ now. My rifle has proved of some help to you, and will be wanted badly later on. You can settle the point as to surrender or not, Jack, but I am mistress of my own actions, and shall throw in my lot with you.”“George! then I expect there’s only one answer to be made!” cried Frank. “We’ve shown them that this is a precious tough nut to crack, and we’re no worse off now than we were early this morning. Let us stick to it, I say, and trust to the boys from Kimberley reaching us by nightfall.”“And I think the same,” exclaimed Wilfred excitedly. “We’ve got the cellar to hide in, and since it has already stood a long bombardment, it will serve our purpose for a few hours longer. We’ve plenty of ammunition and food and water. Yes, I quite agree. ‘Stick to it!’ is our motto.”“Very well, then,” said Jack, with a grim chuckle, “I’ll let this fellow know.”Jumping up on the table he called to the Boer, and as soon as he bad approached near enough told him the decision of the little garrison.“We are much obliged for your kindness and for the terms you offer,” he called out, “and are only sorry we cannot accept them. We are willing to retire from this house to Kimberley, if you will promise to let us go unmolested, but we will not surrender. Miss Russel, too, refuses to leave us. Now let me advise you again to leave us alone. We have already shown you that we are determined not to be taken, and we mean it more now than we did before. Grant us a free and safe passage into Kimberley and end the matter. If you refuse, then you must take the consequences, for my men are fully prepared to fight till they are killed.”“How many of you are there?” asked the Boer craftily.“Ah!” replied Jack with a knowing smile, “there are just as many here as there were last night. Promise us a safe pass into the town and I will give you our numbers.”“It is impossible,” was the curt answer. “I have done all that man can do. My comrades and I admire your bravery, and therefore have offered you these terms. You refuse for the second time. Very well, I am sorry, my young friend, for you compel us to kill you. It is a pity your wisdom does not match your bravery. I shall return now, and when I reach our lines the guns will commence again.”The Boer nodded and cantered away, and five minutes later the storm of shell had once more commenced to plunge through the farmhouse.First plugged shells were used, that is, shells without explosive contents and devoid of fuses; and these for the most part rushed through the walls, merely increasing the havoc already wrought. Then the one-pounder, quick-firing gun, familiarly known as the pom-pom, a terrible weapon against troops exposed in the open, joined in the awful din, and sent murderous projectiles hurtling through the house. But by some lucky chance the majority of the shells failed to explode (probably because the foreign contractors had filled a large proportion of them with saw-dust), and merely burst their way through the shattered house without doing much damage. For an hour the cannonade continued, and just before it finished it was increased by the firing of a Maxim, which had been galloped up to closer quarters.By this time Frank Russel’s farm was a ruin; doors, windows, and walls were in pieces, and the roof was gashed in all directions. Only the kitchen seemed by some chance to have escaped. And down below it all, in the bomb-proof cellar, Jack and his friends sat waiting for another rush, Eileen quietly boiling a kettle over a spirit-stove and preparing to make some tea, while the men smoked on serenely, laughing and chatting when a momentary lull allowed them to do so, and ready at any moment to hurry upstairs and man their posts again.“That is the last burst!” exclaimed Frank Russel, with an easy laugh as the distinctive rat, tat, tat, tat of the Maxim reached their ears. “Get ready, lads! they’ll be coming soon. When they find we’re still alive and kicking, they will be wondering whether we are ordinary men or not. It was a splendid idea of yours, Jack, to make use of this cellar. Tim and I, with another of the Kaffir boys, dug it out and bricked it round some years ago. It’s a good storehouse for cartridges, but I never thought it would mean the saving of our lives. Ah, that is the very last!” he added as a one-pounder shell burst overhead and carried away a good portion of the roof.Jack immediately pushed his head up through the trap, and as the Maxim had stopped, crawled across the floor, clearing a path through the scattered woodwork and débris. Then he peered through a small aperture made by a shell, and looked earnestly across the veldt. As he had expected, the Boers were advancing, bringing their guns with them.“They are pushing forward,” he cried, “but I fancy they do not mean to rush us. It looks as though they would shell us again. If they do we must still keep quiet, for if they attack at close quarters and in force, a surprise will help us more than anything.”By this time the horsemen were within 600 yards, and here the guns halted, while the Boers spread out and advanced towards the front of the little farmhouse. Almost immediately the Hotchkiss opened fire, and soon after the rattle of the Maxim and the continuous rip, rip of the bullets overhead told the defenders that it was as yet unsafe to venture up from their cellar. Jack had already slipped down there, but now, rifle in hand, with bayonet fixed, he stood close to the ladder, ready to rush up as soon as the time arrived. A glance at him was sufficient to show that this young Englishman had firmly made up his mind not to give in till the last drop of his blood had been shed; and Frank Russel and Wilfred were evidently determined to back him up through thick and thin. They were without doubt in a tight corner, and might expect to be rushed at any moment; but for all that, the dangers they had already passed through seemed only to have increased their doggedness.Dressed in corduroy riding-breeches, gaiters, and spurs, and with the sleeves of his shirt turned up over his elbow, Jack looked fit for any work. A pipe was in his mouth, and his thin lips encircled the stem closely with what was next door to a smile, showing that, however young and inexperienced he might be, Jack was certainly by no means dismayed at the thought of the coming struggle.“This is going to be the hottest and stiffest fight of all,” he cried, so that all could hear; “and mind you, it will not do for any one of us to show so much as a finger. They are coming from the front, and we three will look after them there, opening fire when they are about sixty yards away. Some of them who have the pluck will get close up to the house, and will try to force their way in through the broken walls. If we fail to shoot them down Eileen will be able to stop them, for she will take her post half-way up this ladder, so as to be out of the fire.”“But, Jack,” Eileen began to expostulate.“You will do as I say, or else we will show the white flag at once,” exclaimed Jack earnestly.“The lad’s right, Eileen,” Frank chimed in. “It’s going to be hot work up above, and you can help us far more by doing as Jack says than by taking a place by our sides. But—look out, lads! It’s time we hopped up again.”All three instantly scrambled out of the cellar and took their places, while Eileen climbed a few rungs of the ladder and stood there, rifle in hand, and with her head just below the level of the floor.Meanwhile Jack had darted to the back, and then to either side of the house, and having made sure that none of the Boers were in that direction, rejoined his comrades. Looking out through an aperture, he saw that about forty men had dismounted and were creeping forward in extended order, while in the centre was the Maxim, which had just stopped work for fear of injuring its own side.“Mark that Maxim!” said Jack sharply. “If we drive off these fellows we can easily make it next door to impossible for them to remove it, for at this distance we could shoot down any man who approaches it. But our duty now is to look after these fellows. Frank, you take those of the left. I’ll look after those directly in front of me, and Wilfred will manage those on the right. Let them get within sixty yards, and then fire fast and steady. Keep the magazine for closer quarters.”Lying full-length on the ground, they pushed the muzzles of their rifles a few inches through the loopholes and waited.“Now I think we can begin,” said Jack, when the Boers were well within the distance he had named. “Are you ready? Then fire!”Taking a careful aim, the three pulled their triggers, and as many of the Boers threw up their hands and fell forward upon their faces. The remainder at once dropped full-length upon the grass and wriggled forward, firing after going a few feet, for they were still ignorant of the force opposed to them behind the shattered walls of the house, and therefore abstained from rushing. Had they done so, there is little doubt that they would quickly have overwhelmed the little garrison; but the average Boer dislikes nothing more intensely than to fight in the open and attack a position in which the enemy lurks in complete concealment. But to take the house there was absolute need for this, and believing that after all there were not many opposed to them, they ventured to approach.And now the superiority of khaki clothing was fully sustained, for instead of being barely visible, each one of the Boers formed a black bull’s-eye against the waving veldt, and was an easy target for the rifles of Jack and his friends.Loading and firing rapidly and steadily, they picked off one recumbent figure after another, and after five minutes’ work, when their rifles were becoming so hot that they could scarcely hold them, the enemy stopped and hesitated, and then fled in confusion, pursued still by the merciless bullets. When they reached the Maxim they stopped, and three of their number commenced to place it in position so as to rake the farmhouse.But Jack and his two friends, helped now by Eileen, concentrated their fire upon it, and picked off the Boers. More at once rushed pluckily forward to take their places, but suffered the same fate, and soon, stung by the bullets which still spattered amongst them and struck puffs of dust from the ground, the enemy bolted out of range, leaving their Maxim behind them.“By Jove, if we only possessed a few more rifles,” exclaimed Wilfred impetuously, “we would go out and bring in that gun. But it’s impossible as things are, and I expect we shall have something else to think of shortly.”But, contrary to their expectations, nothing occurred, on shells flew overhead, and the Boers seemed to have disappeared from sight Jack climbed up on to the table and mounted on the chair. Then he searched all round with his glasses, and made out a number of men riding off in the distance towards Kimberley. He climbed up the iron sheets on to the top, and looked out behind. Here, too, all seemed deserted, but the sight of a half-hidden figure behind one of the low houses a mile away told him that they were still watched by the enemy.“They’ve left us alone for a little,” he said, “but there are men all round us. The guns have gone, and I expect our friends have ridden back for reinforcements. You may be certain, though, that they have left sufficient behind to make it impossible for us to approach that Maxim. Well, I suppose we have nothing to do but wait. To-night, if we can last out so long, the garrison in Kimberley will make a sortie, but I think we are too far out for them to reach us.”“That is so, Jack,” Frank Russel said. “We cannot expect direct help from them, but by making a sortie they will draw away some of these fellows who are watching us.”“Then I vote we make a bolt for it!” Wilfred cried excitedly. “It will be our only chance, and if we don’t take advantage of it we shall never get any.”“Yes, we must make a rush,” Jack agreed, “and by striking out here at the back, and away round to the left, we ought to manage it. To go straight ahead to meet a sortie party would mean that we should be surrounded.”“You’re right, lad, perfectly right!” Frank Russel cried. “We’re playing a move with men who are as slim as slim can be, and to get away we must beat them at their own game. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. It is just what any ordinary set of fellows would do if they were in a close fix like this. They’d rush towards the comrades who were coming out to help them. Our friends the Boers will expect us to do that, and we’ll disappoint them.”“Then it is agreed we make a rush,” said Jack. “Let us have a look at the ponies.”Going into the kitchen, they found that Prince and one of the Boer ponies alone remained alive, Vic and the others having been struck down by the shell.Jack stepped up to the body of the little animal which had proved a true friend to him, and patted her gently on the neck. Then he climbed on to the table again and out on to the roof.For three hours nothing happened, and then a large force of Boers appeared, and having reached their old position, out of range of the defenders’ rifles, they pulled up and put two big guns in position.For an hour they poured a perfect torrent of shell at the house, smashing it to pieces and bringing that part over the cellar down with a crash upon the ground.But though it was sufficiently terrifying to Jack and his friends below, it did not damp their ardour. Carefully popping up their heads, they ascertained that there were yet many posts in which they could kneel and fire and still not be exposed to the enemy. And if the worst were to happen, the cellar itself would form a last site for defence, from which they could hope to keep the Boers away for a considerable time.It was now getting dark, and after a short pause, probably to fetch up more ammunition and cool the guns, the bombardment again commenced, one of the shells setting fire to the wreckage above the bomb-proof chamber. In an instant big tongues of flame burst forth, and a dense volume of choking smoke eddied into the cellar.The sight filled the Boers with pleasure, as a faint cheer showed, and almost immediately afterwards they started forward, in open order, and rushed for the house.“Out with the fire!” Jack cried sharply. “Those fellows cannot reach us for some minutes yet. Quick! Pass up those buckets to me!”Standing on the top rung of the ladder, with the smoke blowing in his face and almost smothering him, he stretched down his hands, grasped the buckets passed up to him, and dashed the contents over the blazing timber. Two were sufficient, and in a minute the fire was subdued, and he had kicked out the surviving embers with his feet.Then all four took the best places they could find, and, waiting till the Boers were close enough to make their aim fairly certain, opened fire upon them. But the dusk was already almost turning into night, and, undeterred by the bullets, the enemy was rapidly closing in upon them. Things looked very black, and common sense would have suggested an honourable surrender. But the excitement of the struggle had taken fast hold of Jack and his friends, and their blood was thoroughly roused. They had defended the house for many hours, and now, just at the moment when help and rescue were expected, they were not going to give up the unequal struggle till the very last moment had arrived. Even Eileen was firmly determined upon this point. Encouraged by the resolute pluck of her father and these two young Englishmen, she seemed to have forgotten her sex for the time being, and now, crouched behind a tumbled portion of the iron roof, her rifle spoke out repeatedly and truly, and sent many a Boer to his last account, or limping from the field.But the impossible could not be expected. In spite of a gallant defence, the host of Boers were now close at hand, and a hail of bullets was directed at the house and at the four spitting points of flame which showed where the muzzles of the rifles were hidden.“It’s all up, lads,” shouted Frank Russel. “Shall I shout to them to cease their fire?”“Wait, what is that?” Eileen cried, clutching her father by the arm. “Guns in the distance, Father, and rifle fire. It is the sortie!”Pausing for a moment, the defenders crouched behind their shelter and listened eagerly and with beating hearts. Shouts and volley-firing reached their ears, together with the well-known rattle of a Maxim, and almost instantly the Boers who were attacking them called anxiously to one another, and, leaping to their feet, rushed in the direction of the sounds at their fastest pace.“Thank God, lads!” exclaimed Frank Russel earnestly. “It was a close shave, but He saw us safely through it.”“Amen!” muttered Jack and Wilfred in husky voices, while Eileen threw herself in her father’s arms and embraced him affectionately.“There’s no time to be lost,” Jack cried out hurriedly. “Wilfred, give me a hand with the ponies. Frank, you take Eileen outside and wait in front.”Hastening to the kitchen, they searched about for the ponies, but found to their grief and disappointment that all had been killed.“Well, it cannot be helped,” said Jack. “Come along, Wilfred. Let us get out of this.”Picking their way across the tumbled beams and roof, they were soon out in the garden, and, waiting for a moment to make sure that no one was about, they hurried off across the veldt, leaving the sounds of the conflict on their right. It was an adventurous escape, and more than once they were on the point of discovery. But they had the fortune to pass by the few Boers who were still hurrying up to help their comrades, and two hours later they approached a huge bank of débris and earth which had been removed from the mines, and which formed one of the outlying positions of the garrison.“Halt, who goes there!” was shouted. Then the dazzling beams of a search-light played upon their faces, and the same voice cried out in delighted tones, “Hooray, boys, it’s our friends right enough!”Such a welcome the soldiers gave them. On every side they pressed forward to shake them by the hand, till the officer in charge of the works advanced and rescued them from the enthusiastic “Tommies.”“We’re awfully glad to see you safe in our lines,” he exclaimed heartily. “Come into my tent and have some tea. We thought you would probably strike over for this spot, and so I had everything prepared. When you’ve had some refreshment I’ll pass you on to the commanding-officer. He has got quarters ready for you.”Jack thanked the officer for his thoughtful kindness, and all four having partaken of a much-needed cup of tea, they prepared to walk across to the centre of the town. On their arrival there, the electric light was once more switched upon them, and every man who could be spared, and was not on duty, turned out to look at the four strangers who had so gallantly kept the Boers at bay and taught them such a lesson. When it was seen that one of them was only a girl, and that she carried a rifle, hearty cheers burst forth, and the enemy outside, when they heard them, ground their teeth and muttered things beneath their breath. Nor were their tempers improved when, on the following day, a bearer was sent out with a note describing exactly how many of the English had been hidden in the cellar of the farmhouse.The commanding officer, the world-famous Cecil Rhodes, who had so pluckily stayed behind to take a part in the siege, and a score of officers of the garrison, all stepped forward and shook them by the hand. Tom Salter, too, was there, as well as Tim, and as soon as the excitement had abated the former led them away to quarters which had been allotted to them.“Now, Jack,” he said, sitting down on an empty case, “light up and give me the yarn. Things here are very old and stale, and a little news is always welcome. Pass along that bottle, Frank, and make yourselves comfortable all of you.”When Jack had given him the incidents of the attack upon the house, Tom’s face was a study, and the absolute amazement and wonder depicted upon it set the others in a roar.“Well, I’m blowed!” he stuttered hoarsely. “Who’d have thought it! It just makes a fellow proud to be an Englishman. Jack, I knew all along that you were a plucky young beggar, but this beats all! Your friend, too, has got some grit about him, and so has Frank; but the girl—well, I never did hear of such downright bravery;” and Tom passed his fingers through his hair and gulped down a pannikin of rum and water with a distracted air which seemed to say that the news had been altogether too much for him.

The sun had climbed some way into the heavens, and the day had already advanced three hours on its course before Jack and his staunch little following saw a horseman galloping across the veldt towards the farmhouse.

He was a big, handsome man, well-dressed for a Boer, and wore a long tawny beard. Attached to a stick which he held in his hand was a white flag, and having ridden to within two hundred yards of the house he waved it vigorously, and shouted to attract the attention of those within. A moment later a handkerchief was fluttering from the window, and Jack was waiting there in readiness to hold a parley.

“Good morning!” said the Boer in excellent English as he pulled up alongside the window. “It’s a grand day, and far too fine to be spoilt by fighting. I’ve come from the commandant to offer you terms—liberal terms. We believe Frank Russel is with you after all, and if so, as a rebel he shall be shot. For the others, honourable captivity is offered, and the girl shall be in my special charge. I have known her for many years, and she shall be safe with my mother.”

“Don’t trust him, Jack,” whispered Eileen, who had crept close up against the window, where she looked through one of the rifle apertures and listened intently to all that was said. “I know him well. He is an Africander, and a British subject. His farm lies ten miles to the north, and Father will tell you why he is anxious for me to be given over to his care.”

“Yes, it’s true,” growled Frank Russel, joining in at this moment. “He is a rebel, and not to be trusted. He’s been pestering round here for many a day, and asking Eileen to become his wife. But she hates the sight of him, and for my part, though I’ve no doubt he’s smitten with her, it’s this farm and the fat acres attached to it he is more interested in obtaining. Don’t trust him, Jack; send him about his business!”

“And what if we refuse these liberal terms of your commandant?” Jack asked coolly. “How will he guarantee all he promises? Words are not sufficient. Let him put it in writing, and we will consider it; but understand, we will not accept captivity, nor will we give up Miss Russel. As to Frank Russel, you did not find him here, and how can we have done so?”

“Surely the word of Elof Visser is sufficient!” exclaimed the Boer. “You have heard the terms, and they are the only ones I have to propose. We will give you half an hour to discuss them, and then, if the white flag is not waving from this window, we shall open fire. Only, if you should foolishly still decide to resist us, I ask you to pass out the girl. We do not wish to war with her sex. Hand her over to me, and I swear, by the God who made us all, that she shall be safe from harm.”

“We will consider your proposal,” answered Jack, “and if you do not see the flag at the termination of the time you mention, you are free to fire on us again. But I warn you we are well prepared, and you would do far better to leave us alone.”

“Tush, boy, don’t lecture me!” exclaimed the Boer angrily. “Discuss the terms, and if you refuse, we will knock this house about your heads like a pack of cards, and shoot every one of you.”

Giving an impatient jerk at his reins, he pulled his animal round and cantered away.

“Well, what answer shall we give?” asked Jack, turning to his companions.

“What answer!” retorted Frank Russel grimly. “Lads, if you’re ready and willing to stand by me and my child, as I believe you are, I say let us stand fast. The Boer promises aren’t worth the breath that’s wasted on them, and that fellow Elof Visser has his own ends in view.”

“Then we’ll face it out,” exclaimed Jack, “and after all, things are not so very desperate. Last night was our worst time, and if we could beat them back then we ought to be able to do the same during daylight. We’ve lots of ammunition, food, and water. The only thing I don’t like the thought of is the shell which will soon be thrown at us, but the Boer gunners are not such good marksmen as to be able to strike us every time, and when the shell do strike, if they are like those used in Natal and do not burst, they will go clean through these walls and do no further damage. When they fire we shall have to take to the cellar, and it seems to me that the sooner we make it bomb-proof the better. It won’t be difficult. The kitchen is paved with big slabs of stone, and by forcing them up and placing them here on the floor, and half over the trap, we shall have a secure place to hide in. The ponies must take their chance, though I expect most of the poor beasts will be killed as soon as the bombardment commences.”

“George! The very thing!” cried Frank Russel, smacking Jack on the back. “Now all hands to the job! There are plenty of tools to work with in the kitchen, and I fancy a good strong poker will be the best to use.”

All at once went into the kitchen and set to work as only men can whose lives depend upon their exertions. Once the first slab was raised the rest was easy, and while Eileen kept watch the others laboured at the work, Frank Russel levering up the stones, while Jack and Wilfred carried them into the room and laid them over the cellar.

“One will be sufficient to keep watch above, so the others had better go below,” cried Jack, as soon as the flooring was completed. “There is no saying when a shell may pitch into the house. Light the lamp and make all comfortable. Perhaps it will be a good plan to pass a few buckets of water down also, in case they make it too hot for us to come up and fetch it.”

This was quickly done, and Eileen and her father climbed down the ladder into the cellar, while Jack and Wilfred remained on top to watch for the next attack by the enemy. The half-hour had already passed, and indeed double that period had gone by, but still there was no movement. Then Wilfred cried out that he saw a force of Boers approaching, and looking through his field-glasses Jack made out a body of about sixty men following a couple of guns. One of these was smaller than the other and had no limber attached. The larger one, which was drawn by six horses, galloped forward till within less than 1200 yards of the house and commenced to unlimber.

“We’ll just teach those fellows to keep at a more respectful distance,” muttered Jack. “Put up your sights, Wilfred, and have a shot at them. There is a good big lump to fire at, and with a little luck we might pick a few of them off.”

Both at once took a steady aim and fired, and a second later Jack seized his glasses and saw one of the horses in the gun team rear up and fall backwards.

Another and another shot followed, one of the gunners and a second horse being hit. Then the gun was hurriedly limbered up again and galloped back out of rifle fire. Ten minutes later there was a puff of smoke, followed in about half a minute by a sharp report, and by the ominous hum of a shell overhead.

“Ha, ha!” Jack chuckled coolly; “they’ll want to do a deal better than that to turn us out of this. Look out, here comes another!”

As he spoke there was a second puff, and this was followed by a deafening thud overhead and by a loud explosion behind the house.

“Not a bad shot that,” Jack remarked serenely. “It touched the roof, ricochetted off, and burst away behind.”

The next shot proved almost more alarming, for it was a shrapnel shell, and exploded some hundred yards in front of the farmhouse, sending a hail of bullets spattering in all directions.

“They’ve got the range now, and I think we had better get below,” said Jack. “We shall be quite safe from a rush, for the Boers cannot come close while their friends are shelling us. I expect they will continue firing till they have smashed the place to pieces, and then they will gallop up full-tilt. That will be our time. We will lie low, and make them think that the shelling has killed or wounded all of us. We will hold our fire till they are at the railings, and then we will blaze into them. I fancy we shall be safe enough till nightfall, but then, if help does not reach us, it will go hard with us. Tim must have slipped into the town by this, so we can hope for the best.”

“I will play something for you, if you like,” said Eileen Russel at this moment. “You don’t want any cheering up, but just to show you that I feel quite safe in your hands, and have no fear of the Boers, you shall have some music. What shall it be?”

“Let us have ‘God Save the Queen!’ Miss Russel,” Wilfred cried. “It will make us feel all the better.”

Accordingly the brave girl stood up at one end of the cellar, and in that curious place, and with shell and bullets plunging through the walls of the house above, and occasionally exploding with a deafening noise which drowned the music for the moment, made the air throb with those strains which no Englishman worthy of the proud name can listen to unmoved. It was indeed a strange proceeding, and to the Boer horseman who galloped up just then, during a lull in the firing, and approached the farmhouse within fifty yards, it was totally inexplicable. Here were a few mad Englishmen listening to the strains of their national anthem with bullets flying all about them. “Surely they are a strange people!” he thought. And plucky too, for that violin he heard was played by a young girl’s hands.

Eileen played right through the anthem, and was heartily applauded by the men, who sat round her, rifle in hand, their faces dimly lit by the rays from the oil-lamp which had been placed upon the floor.

By this time the farmhouse had been drilled through and through with shell, most of which, however, had passed out without exploding. A few had struck directly upon the stone slabs above the cellar, but all save one had merely fizzled angrily and poured out a quantity of smoke. But one burst, and blew part of the roof of the house away, also shattering two of the stone slabs.

“Volunteers to replace the damaged stone roof!” sang out Jack, pushing his head up through the trap and inspecting the havoc. “Two of the slabs above us have been blown to pieces and must be replaced at once, or else an unlucky shell will pitch through the boards and come in here on top of us.”

Wilfred at once rose to his feet, and the two darted up the ladder and into the kitchen. Here they found that a brick wall, built to carry the cooking range, stood between the Boer fire and the ponies, so that the hail of Mauser bullets had for the most part failed to reach them. But one had entered through the wall at the back and had killed a pony, while a shell burst through the thin layer of brick just as Jack and Wilfred entered, and, throwing a shower of dust and débris in all directions, inflicted a fearful wound upon another of the captured ponies and flew out through the other wall.

“Poor beast!” exclaimed Jack with a shudder. “I will put it out of its agony. They will not hear my Mauser from such a distance.”

Stepping up to the wounded animal, he placed his pistol close against its chest and pulled the trigger. The bullet passed through its heart and killed the suffering animal instantly.

“Now for the stones!” he said quietly. “I’ll lever them up, and then help you to put them in position. Hurry up! I see those fellows are getting the other gun into place, and preparing to fire it.”

Jack took a hasty view through one of the loopholes with his glasses, and then proceeded to prise up the slabs from the kitchen floor. Five minutes sufficed to complete the work, and just as they were preparing to descend into the bomb-proof chamber once more, a loud and incessant rat, tat, tat sounded in the distance, followed an instant later by a continuous hum overhead, and then, as the range was found, by a stream of one-pounder shells which hurtled through the farmhouse, smashing walls, chairs, and everything in their way into matchwood.

“Come down, lads!” cried Frank Russel anxiously. “That’s a quick-firing Vickers-Maxim barking. They’ll give us a long dose of that while the mounted men ride closer, and then there’ll be a rush. Get your guns ready, and immediately the firing ceases climb out of this and man the walls. I expect they’ll come mostly from the front, for they don’t know of this cellar, and will fancy we are all wiped out. Well, we’ll teach them something, that’s all.”

“Then it is agreed we hold our fire till they are within a few yards of the railings,” said Jack. “A volley to start with will be the thing, and then when they reach the garden we will use our magazines.”

“That’s it, lad!” Frank Russel answered. “We all understand, and we’ll hold our fire till you give the word. George! they are pouring it in this time!”

There was good cause for this last remark, for above their heads there was a perfect pandemonium, in which the loud rip, rip, and scream of a flow of shells predominated, while now and again a dull, heavy thud, as one struck the slabs above, caused all to start nervously.

But they were well protected, and although the position was not exactly pleasant, or devoid of danger, they bore the bombardment with a serenity which was wonderful. At any moment one of the iron missiles might find its way into the cellar, and deal a sudden and awful death to all. Indeed Jack began to wonder what would be the best course to adopt supposing one of the bombs did happen by ill-luck to find an entry, and lie in front of them fizzling and spluttering ere it shattered itself and its immediate surroundings to pieces. He had seen that some of them did no more than splutter and smoke, and he at once determined in his own quiet dogged way that he would take immediate action and remove it to the slabs above. If it burst in his hand—well—neither he nor his friends would ever know much about it. But if the fuse were not expended he might be able to remove it in time, and so save all their lives.

But he was never called upon to take such a desperate risk, and instead sat silently in his corner, smoking furiously, and watching the smoke which Frank Russel and Wilfred blew out from their lips. It was quite fascinating to see it curling slowly up from the dark cellar into the bright light overhead, and then suddenly cut in twain by a rushing shell. Even Eileen was interested in it, and, catching Jack’s gaze fixed in the same direction, smiled at him just to show how steady she felt. “Look out, lads!” exclaimed Frank Russel a few minutes later. “They’ve done pumping those shells into us, and we had better get back to our posts.”

All four at once scrambled up the ladder, and, darting across the floor, looked out over the sunlit veldt. In front it was covered by a number of galloping ponies, with wild-looking Boers upon their backs.

Jack at once rushed to the other side of the house and gazed in that direction, but there was no one to be seen.

“They are all in front,” he cried. “All the better for us! Each of you lie full-length on the floor and push your rifle a few inches only through the wall. That’s it! Now wait till I give the word.”

Lying flat on their faces the gallant little band held their fire, and waited in dead silence while the horsemen galloped towards them. Soon, as they got within 200 yards, one of them gave a shout and threw his hand in the air. All at once drew rein and walked their ponies forward, laughing and shouting joyfully to one another; for the fact that no sharp reports had greeted their rush seemed to show that the shells they had poured into the farmhouse had been effective, and that all the defenders had been killed.

Laughing, therefore, and smoking their pipes, they rode slowly towards the farm, gradually drawing close together as they directed their ponies towards the entrance to the garden.

“Get your magazines ready!” whispered Jack. “We scarcely hoped for such luck. Wait till they reach the opening, and then fire into them as fast as you can.”

His companions obeyed him silently, and then waited grimly for the word which would send a death-dealing stream of lead into the Boers.

It seemed an hour before it was given, but Jack was not the lad to be flurried, or to allow excitement to get the better of his judgment. He waited calmly till some of the enemy had ridden through the opening, while the remainder were in a close body outside.

Then he shouted, “Fire!” and instantly the four rifles spoke out, spouting forth a continuous stream of bullets and angry puffs of flame. Then they stopped as suddenly, as the magazines emptied.

“Now volley-firing!” shouted Jack; and each, slipping in a cartridge, waited till he gave the word. Four times in rapid succession they emptied their rifles, but on the last occasion only into flying men, for the Boer slimness had for once been dormant, and neglect of ordinary precautions had led them into a trap which proved a bitter lesson to them. At such close quarters, and grouped together as they were, the long Lee-Metford bullets, with their tremendous velocity and penetrating power, had drilled through and through the mass, and had almost annihilated the band. Had a Maxim been turned upon them for a minute the slaughter could scarcely have been greater, and as it was, a pile of dead and wounded Boers blocked the entrance to the homely English flower-garden, while injured ponies struggled and lashed out madly with their heels, adding to the ghastly picture.

It had been a sudden and terrible blow, and those of the enemy who yet lived turned their animals, and, extricating themselves from the heap of fallen comrades, galloped madly away in the desperate desire to escape from the murderous rifles of the few dauntless “Rooineks” whom they had hoped to find dead and mangled beneath the ruins of the farmhouse.

“That will teach them something, my lads!” exclaimed Frank Russel hoarsely. “It’s awful to have to kill so many of them, but it’s their lives or ours, and besides, we’ve a glorious cause to fight for.”

“It is truly awful,” murmured Eileen, sitting down on the floor and suddenly turning deadly pale. “Oh, I cannot bear to hear their groans!”

“She’s done up, and no wonder, poor girl!” cried Frank. “Slip below, Jack, and fetch up a glass of brandy. There, that’s it, Eileen dear! pull yourself together, and remember it is all for our queen and country.”

Jack at once dived into the cellar and reappeared with some brandy and water, some of which was poured between Eileen’s lips. But she was now in a dead faint, and it was some minutes before she regained consciousness again. Naturally a somewhat timid and gentle-mannered girl, to be called upon to use a rifle in earnest and deal mortal wounds was a sore trial to her. The need for strength, and the stern struggle in which she had so bravely borne a part, had, however, braced her for the work. But now, when it was all over, or rather when the hostilities had ceased for a time, and she saw the wounded and heard their groans, the terrible sight and the unusual sounds unnerved her, and she was prostrate in a moment.

A little later she had recovered, and, stimulated by the brandy and soothed by her father’s kind words, was soon herself again and able to stand up.

Meanwhile Wilfred and Jack had dragged a table from a corner in the kitchen, and having placed it beneath the gap in the iron roof, and lifted a chair upon it, the latter jumped up, and, standing on tiptoe, waved a handkerchief. It was answered from a distance, and as soon as one of the enemy had galloped up, Jack informed him that for an hour they were at liberty to send a party of fifteen men to remove the killed and wounded.

The permission was again accepted with grateful thanks, and while the gruesome work was going on, the little garrison once more took advantage of the time to snatch a hasty meal. When all the Boers who lay in front of the house had been removed, a man with a grey beard and wrinkled face rode forward alone and asked for a parley.

From his post in the roof Jack beckoned to him to advance, and asked him what he wanted.

“Elof Visser is dead,” he began sadly, “and so are many more of my poor comrades; but, for all the loss we have suffered, we are none the less determined. We will capture you if we have to smash the house to pieces. But you are brave men, and I again offer you terms, and if you refuse them, beg that you will send out the girl. She shall be taken and handed over to the English pickets outside Kimberley. Think well of what I say. Frank Russel shall not be injured if he is with you. That is all; but I will remind you that they are honourable terms, which men such as you are might well accept.”

“Thank you,” replied Jack courteously. “I will discuss your terms with my comrades. Draw off as far as the railing and wait till I call you.”

“Now, what shall we do?” he asked, jumping from the table. “Whatever happens, I think Eileen had better trust herself to these men. The Boer outside looks an honest sort, and I am sure he will do exactly as he promised.”

“I refuse to leave you!” exclaimed Eileen indignantly. “If you are not going to surrender, I shall certainly not say ‘good-bye’ now. My rifle has proved of some help to you, and will be wanted badly later on. You can settle the point as to surrender or not, Jack, but I am mistress of my own actions, and shall throw in my lot with you.”

“George! then I expect there’s only one answer to be made!” cried Frank. “We’ve shown them that this is a precious tough nut to crack, and we’re no worse off now than we were early this morning. Let us stick to it, I say, and trust to the boys from Kimberley reaching us by nightfall.”

“And I think the same,” exclaimed Wilfred excitedly. “We’ve got the cellar to hide in, and since it has already stood a long bombardment, it will serve our purpose for a few hours longer. We’ve plenty of ammunition and food and water. Yes, I quite agree. ‘Stick to it!’ is our motto.”

“Very well, then,” said Jack, with a grim chuckle, “I’ll let this fellow know.”

Jumping up on the table he called to the Boer, and as soon as he bad approached near enough told him the decision of the little garrison.

“We are much obliged for your kindness and for the terms you offer,” he called out, “and are only sorry we cannot accept them. We are willing to retire from this house to Kimberley, if you will promise to let us go unmolested, but we will not surrender. Miss Russel, too, refuses to leave us. Now let me advise you again to leave us alone. We have already shown you that we are determined not to be taken, and we mean it more now than we did before. Grant us a free and safe passage into Kimberley and end the matter. If you refuse, then you must take the consequences, for my men are fully prepared to fight till they are killed.”

“How many of you are there?” asked the Boer craftily.

“Ah!” replied Jack with a knowing smile, “there are just as many here as there were last night. Promise us a safe pass into the town and I will give you our numbers.”

“It is impossible,” was the curt answer. “I have done all that man can do. My comrades and I admire your bravery, and therefore have offered you these terms. You refuse for the second time. Very well, I am sorry, my young friend, for you compel us to kill you. It is a pity your wisdom does not match your bravery. I shall return now, and when I reach our lines the guns will commence again.”

The Boer nodded and cantered away, and five minutes later the storm of shell had once more commenced to plunge through the farmhouse.

First plugged shells were used, that is, shells without explosive contents and devoid of fuses; and these for the most part rushed through the walls, merely increasing the havoc already wrought. Then the one-pounder, quick-firing gun, familiarly known as the pom-pom, a terrible weapon against troops exposed in the open, joined in the awful din, and sent murderous projectiles hurtling through the house. But by some lucky chance the majority of the shells failed to explode (probably because the foreign contractors had filled a large proportion of them with saw-dust), and merely burst their way through the shattered house without doing much damage. For an hour the cannonade continued, and just before it finished it was increased by the firing of a Maxim, which had been galloped up to closer quarters.

By this time Frank Russel’s farm was a ruin; doors, windows, and walls were in pieces, and the roof was gashed in all directions. Only the kitchen seemed by some chance to have escaped. And down below it all, in the bomb-proof cellar, Jack and his friends sat waiting for another rush, Eileen quietly boiling a kettle over a spirit-stove and preparing to make some tea, while the men smoked on serenely, laughing and chatting when a momentary lull allowed them to do so, and ready at any moment to hurry upstairs and man their posts again.

“That is the last burst!” exclaimed Frank Russel, with an easy laugh as the distinctive rat, tat, tat, tat of the Maxim reached their ears. “Get ready, lads! they’ll be coming soon. When they find we’re still alive and kicking, they will be wondering whether we are ordinary men or not. It was a splendid idea of yours, Jack, to make use of this cellar. Tim and I, with another of the Kaffir boys, dug it out and bricked it round some years ago. It’s a good storehouse for cartridges, but I never thought it would mean the saving of our lives. Ah, that is the very last!” he added as a one-pounder shell burst overhead and carried away a good portion of the roof.

Jack immediately pushed his head up through the trap, and as the Maxim had stopped, crawled across the floor, clearing a path through the scattered woodwork and débris. Then he peered through a small aperture made by a shell, and looked earnestly across the veldt. As he had expected, the Boers were advancing, bringing their guns with them.

“They are pushing forward,” he cried, “but I fancy they do not mean to rush us. It looks as though they would shell us again. If they do we must still keep quiet, for if they attack at close quarters and in force, a surprise will help us more than anything.”

By this time the horsemen were within 600 yards, and here the guns halted, while the Boers spread out and advanced towards the front of the little farmhouse. Almost immediately the Hotchkiss opened fire, and soon after the rattle of the Maxim and the continuous rip, rip of the bullets overhead told the defenders that it was as yet unsafe to venture up from their cellar. Jack had already slipped down there, but now, rifle in hand, with bayonet fixed, he stood close to the ladder, ready to rush up as soon as the time arrived. A glance at him was sufficient to show that this young Englishman had firmly made up his mind not to give in till the last drop of his blood had been shed; and Frank Russel and Wilfred were evidently determined to back him up through thick and thin. They were without doubt in a tight corner, and might expect to be rushed at any moment; but for all that, the dangers they had already passed through seemed only to have increased their doggedness.

Dressed in corduroy riding-breeches, gaiters, and spurs, and with the sleeves of his shirt turned up over his elbow, Jack looked fit for any work. A pipe was in his mouth, and his thin lips encircled the stem closely with what was next door to a smile, showing that, however young and inexperienced he might be, Jack was certainly by no means dismayed at the thought of the coming struggle.

“This is going to be the hottest and stiffest fight of all,” he cried, so that all could hear; “and mind you, it will not do for any one of us to show so much as a finger. They are coming from the front, and we three will look after them there, opening fire when they are about sixty yards away. Some of them who have the pluck will get close up to the house, and will try to force their way in through the broken walls. If we fail to shoot them down Eileen will be able to stop them, for she will take her post half-way up this ladder, so as to be out of the fire.”

“But, Jack,” Eileen began to expostulate.

“You will do as I say, or else we will show the white flag at once,” exclaimed Jack earnestly.

“The lad’s right, Eileen,” Frank chimed in. “It’s going to be hot work up above, and you can help us far more by doing as Jack says than by taking a place by our sides. But—look out, lads! It’s time we hopped up again.”

All three instantly scrambled out of the cellar and took their places, while Eileen climbed a few rungs of the ladder and stood there, rifle in hand, and with her head just below the level of the floor.

Meanwhile Jack had darted to the back, and then to either side of the house, and having made sure that none of the Boers were in that direction, rejoined his comrades. Looking out through an aperture, he saw that about forty men had dismounted and were creeping forward in extended order, while in the centre was the Maxim, which had just stopped work for fear of injuring its own side.

“Mark that Maxim!” said Jack sharply. “If we drive off these fellows we can easily make it next door to impossible for them to remove it, for at this distance we could shoot down any man who approaches it. But our duty now is to look after these fellows. Frank, you take those of the left. I’ll look after those directly in front of me, and Wilfred will manage those on the right. Let them get within sixty yards, and then fire fast and steady. Keep the magazine for closer quarters.”

Lying full-length on the ground, they pushed the muzzles of their rifles a few inches through the loopholes and waited.

“Now I think we can begin,” said Jack, when the Boers were well within the distance he had named. “Are you ready? Then fire!”

Taking a careful aim, the three pulled their triggers, and as many of the Boers threw up their hands and fell forward upon their faces. The remainder at once dropped full-length upon the grass and wriggled forward, firing after going a few feet, for they were still ignorant of the force opposed to them behind the shattered walls of the house, and therefore abstained from rushing. Had they done so, there is little doubt that they would quickly have overwhelmed the little garrison; but the average Boer dislikes nothing more intensely than to fight in the open and attack a position in which the enemy lurks in complete concealment. But to take the house there was absolute need for this, and believing that after all there were not many opposed to them, they ventured to approach.

And now the superiority of khaki clothing was fully sustained, for instead of being barely visible, each one of the Boers formed a black bull’s-eye against the waving veldt, and was an easy target for the rifles of Jack and his friends.

Loading and firing rapidly and steadily, they picked off one recumbent figure after another, and after five minutes’ work, when their rifles were becoming so hot that they could scarcely hold them, the enemy stopped and hesitated, and then fled in confusion, pursued still by the merciless bullets. When they reached the Maxim they stopped, and three of their number commenced to place it in position so as to rake the farmhouse.

But Jack and his two friends, helped now by Eileen, concentrated their fire upon it, and picked off the Boers. More at once rushed pluckily forward to take their places, but suffered the same fate, and soon, stung by the bullets which still spattered amongst them and struck puffs of dust from the ground, the enemy bolted out of range, leaving their Maxim behind them.

“By Jove, if we only possessed a few more rifles,” exclaimed Wilfred impetuously, “we would go out and bring in that gun. But it’s impossible as things are, and I expect we shall have something else to think of shortly.”

But, contrary to their expectations, nothing occurred, on shells flew overhead, and the Boers seemed to have disappeared from sight Jack climbed up on to the table and mounted on the chair. Then he searched all round with his glasses, and made out a number of men riding off in the distance towards Kimberley. He climbed up the iron sheets on to the top, and looked out behind. Here, too, all seemed deserted, but the sight of a half-hidden figure behind one of the low houses a mile away told him that they were still watched by the enemy.

“They’ve left us alone for a little,” he said, “but there are men all round us. The guns have gone, and I expect our friends have ridden back for reinforcements. You may be certain, though, that they have left sufficient behind to make it impossible for us to approach that Maxim. Well, I suppose we have nothing to do but wait. To-night, if we can last out so long, the garrison in Kimberley will make a sortie, but I think we are too far out for them to reach us.”

“That is so, Jack,” Frank Russel said. “We cannot expect direct help from them, but by making a sortie they will draw away some of these fellows who are watching us.”

“Then I vote we make a bolt for it!” Wilfred cried excitedly. “It will be our only chance, and if we don’t take advantage of it we shall never get any.”

“Yes, we must make a rush,” Jack agreed, “and by striking out here at the back, and away round to the left, we ought to manage it. To go straight ahead to meet a sortie party would mean that we should be surrounded.”

“You’re right, lad, perfectly right!” Frank Russel cried. “We’re playing a move with men who are as slim as slim can be, and to get away we must beat them at their own game. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. It is just what any ordinary set of fellows would do if they were in a close fix like this. They’d rush towards the comrades who were coming out to help them. Our friends the Boers will expect us to do that, and we’ll disappoint them.”

“Then it is agreed we make a rush,” said Jack. “Let us have a look at the ponies.”

Going into the kitchen, they found that Prince and one of the Boer ponies alone remained alive, Vic and the others having been struck down by the shell.

Jack stepped up to the body of the little animal which had proved a true friend to him, and patted her gently on the neck. Then he climbed on to the table again and out on to the roof.

For three hours nothing happened, and then a large force of Boers appeared, and having reached their old position, out of range of the defenders’ rifles, they pulled up and put two big guns in position.

For an hour they poured a perfect torrent of shell at the house, smashing it to pieces and bringing that part over the cellar down with a crash upon the ground.

But though it was sufficiently terrifying to Jack and his friends below, it did not damp their ardour. Carefully popping up their heads, they ascertained that there were yet many posts in which they could kneel and fire and still not be exposed to the enemy. And if the worst were to happen, the cellar itself would form a last site for defence, from which they could hope to keep the Boers away for a considerable time.

It was now getting dark, and after a short pause, probably to fetch up more ammunition and cool the guns, the bombardment again commenced, one of the shells setting fire to the wreckage above the bomb-proof chamber. In an instant big tongues of flame burst forth, and a dense volume of choking smoke eddied into the cellar.

The sight filled the Boers with pleasure, as a faint cheer showed, and almost immediately afterwards they started forward, in open order, and rushed for the house.

“Out with the fire!” Jack cried sharply. “Those fellows cannot reach us for some minutes yet. Quick! Pass up those buckets to me!”

Standing on the top rung of the ladder, with the smoke blowing in his face and almost smothering him, he stretched down his hands, grasped the buckets passed up to him, and dashed the contents over the blazing timber. Two were sufficient, and in a minute the fire was subdued, and he had kicked out the surviving embers with his feet.

Then all four took the best places they could find, and, waiting till the Boers were close enough to make their aim fairly certain, opened fire upon them. But the dusk was already almost turning into night, and, undeterred by the bullets, the enemy was rapidly closing in upon them. Things looked very black, and common sense would have suggested an honourable surrender. But the excitement of the struggle had taken fast hold of Jack and his friends, and their blood was thoroughly roused. They had defended the house for many hours, and now, just at the moment when help and rescue were expected, they were not going to give up the unequal struggle till the very last moment had arrived. Even Eileen was firmly determined upon this point. Encouraged by the resolute pluck of her father and these two young Englishmen, she seemed to have forgotten her sex for the time being, and now, crouched behind a tumbled portion of the iron roof, her rifle spoke out repeatedly and truly, and sent many a Boer to his last account, or limping from the field.

But the impossible could not be expected. In spite of a gallant defence, the host of Boers were now close at hand, and a hail of bullets was directed at the house and at the four spitting points of flame which showed where the muzzles of the rifles were hidden.

“It’s all up, lads,” shouted Frank Russel. “Shall I shout to them to cease their fire?”

“Wait, what is that?” Eileen cried, clutching her father by the arm. “Guns in the distance, Father, and rifle fire. It is the sortie!”

Pausing for a moment, the defenders crouched behind their shelter and listened eagerly and with beating hearts. Shouts and volley-firing reached their ears, together with the well-known rattle of a Maxim, and almost instantly the Boers who were attacking them called anxiously to one another, and, leaping to their feet, rushed in the direction of the sounds at their fastest pace.

“Thank God, lads!” exclaimed Frank Russel earnestly. “It was a close shave, but He saw us safely through it.”

“Amen!” muttered Jack and Wilfred in husky voices, while Eileen threw herself in her father’s arms and embraced him affectionately.

“There’s no time to be lost,” Jack cried out hurriedly. “Wilfred, give me a hand with the ponies. Frank, you take Eileen outside and wait in front.”

Hastening to the kitchen, they searched about for the ponies, but found to their grief and disappointment that all had been killed.

“Well, it cannot be helped,” said Jack. “Come along, Wilfred. Let us get out of this.”

Picking their way across the tumbled beams and roof, they were soon out in the garden, and, waiting for a moment to make sure that no one was about, they hurried off across the veldt, leaving the sounds of the conflict on their right. It was an adventurous escape, and more than once they were on the point of discovery. But they had the fortune to pass by the few Boers who were still hurrying up to help their comrades, and two hours later they approached a huge bank of débris and earth which had been removed from the mines, and which formed one of the outlying positions of the garrison.

“Halt, who goes there!” was shouted. Then the dazzling beams of a search-light played upon their faces, and the same voice cried out in delighted tones, “Hooray, boys, it’s our friends right enough!”

Such a welcome the soldiers gave them. On every side they pressed forward to shake them by the hand, till the officer in charge of the works advanced and rescued them from the enthusiastic “Tommies.”

“We’re awfully glad to see you safe in our lines,” he exclaimed heartily. “Come into my tent and have some tea. We thought you would probably strike over for this spot, and so I had everything prepared. When you’ve had some refreshment I’ll pass you on to the commanding-officer. He has got quarters ready for you.”

Jack thanked the officer for his thoughtful kindness, and all four having partaken of a much-needed cup of tea, they prepared to walk across to the centre of the town. On their arrival there, the electric light was once more switched upon them, and every man who could be spared, and was not on duty, turned out to look at the four strangers who had so gallantly kept the Boers at bay and taught them such a lesson. When it was seen that one of them was only a girl, and that she carried a rifle, hearty cheers burst forth, and the enemy outside, when they heard them, ground their teeth and muttered things beneath their breath. Nor were their tempers improved when, on the following day, a bearer was sent out with a note describing exactly how many of the English had been hidden in the cellar of the farmhouse.

The commanding officer, the world-famous Cecil Rhodes, who had so pluckily stayed behind to take a part in the siege, and a score of officers of the garrison, all stepped forward and shook them by the hand. Tom Salter, too, was there, as well as Tim, and as soon as the excitement had abated the former led them away to quarters which had been allotted to them.

“Now, Jack,” he said, sitting down on an empty case, “light up and give me the yarn. Things here are very old and stale, and a little news is always welcome. Pass along that bottle, Frank, and make yourselves comfortable all of you.”

When Jack had given him the incidents of the attack upon the house, Tom’s face was a study, and the absolute amazement and wonder depicted upon it set the others in a roar.

“Well, I’m blowed!” he stuttered hoarsely. “Who’d have thought it! It just makes a fellow proud to be an Englishman. Jack, I knew all along that you were a plucky young beggar, but this beats all! Your friend, too, has got some grit about him, and so has Frank; but the girl—well, I never did hear of such downright bravery;” and Tom passed his fingers through his hair and gulped down a pannikin of rum and water with a distracted air which seemed to say that the news had been altogether too much for him.

Back to IndexNext