"So it seems," said the officer above. "But hullo, you! You're
wounded."
"Pooh! stuff!" said Dickenson shortly; "bit picked out of my ear."
"But,"--began the head of the rescue party.
"Let it be," said Dickenson snappishly as he pressed his hand to the
injured place. "If I don't howl about it, I'm sure you needn't."
"Very well, old fellow, I will not. Ugh! what's that down there--that
fellow dead?"
The officer leaned out as far as he could so as to get a good look at
the motionless figure at the foot of the cliff.
Drew glanced at the figure too, and nodded his head.
"Who shot him--you or Dickenson?"
"Neither of us," said Drew gravely. "It was the work of one of your
fellows; he fell from up there. But what about the party who crossed by
the ford?"
"Oh, we've accounted for them. Cut them off from the ford and
surrounded them. Fifteen, and bagged the lot, horses and all."
"You were a precious long time coming, though, Roby," grumbled
Dickenson. "We seem to have been firing here all day."
"That's gratitude!" said the officer. "We came as quickly as we could.
Nice job, too, to advance on a gang well under cover and double covered
by the strong body across the river. There must have been sixty or
seventy of them; but," added the captain meaningly, "sixty or seventy
have not gone back. How many do you think are down? We've accounted
for a dozen, I should say, _hors de combat_."
"I don't know," said Drew shortly, "and don't want to."
"What do you say, Dickenson?" asked the captain.
"The same as Lennox here."
"Come, come, speak out and don't be so thin-skinned. We've got to
report to Lindley."
"Six haven't moved since," said Dickenson, looking uneasy now that the
excitement of the fight was at an end; "and I should say twice as many
more wounded."
"Serve 'em right. Their own fault," said the captain.
It was decided to be too risky a proceeding to cross the river, for the
Boers were certain to be only a short distance away, sheltered in some
advantageous position, waiting to try and retrieve their dead and
wounded; so a small party was posted by the ford to guard against any
crossing of the river, and then the prisoners were marched off towards
the village a couple of miles distant, where the detachment of infantry
and mounted men had been holding the Boers across the river in check for
some weeks past.
A few shots followed them from a distance at first; but the enemy had
received quite as much punishment as they desired upon that occasion,
and soon ceased the aggressive, being eager for a truce to communicate
with the little rear-guard posted in the scrub by the river so as to
recover their wounded and dead.
On the way back to the village the two young officer's had to relate in
full their experience, which was given in a plain, unvarnished way; and
then as a sharp descent was reached, and the rescued officers caught
sight of the well-guarded prisoners marching on foot, their Bechuana
ponies having been appropriated by their captors, Dickenson began to
grow sarcastic.
"Glad you've made such a nice lot of prisoners, Roby," he said.
"Thanks," said the officer addressed, smiling contentedly. "Not so
bad--eh? The colonel will be delighted. Nice useful lot of ponies--
eh?"
"Ye-es. The old man must be delighted. We're all about starving, and
you're taking him about a score more mouths to feed."
"Eh?" cried the captain, aghast. "Why, of course; I never thought of
that."
"Dickenson did," said Lennox, laughing. "A thing like this touches him
to the heart--I mean lower down."
"You hold your tongue, my fine fellow," growled Dickenson. "You're as
bad as I am. I don't like the fighting, but I'm ready to do my share if
you'll only feed me well. I feel as if I'd been losing flesh for
weeks."
"And done you good," said Lennox seriously. "You were much too fat."
"Look here, Drew," growled the young man addressed; "do you want to
quarrel?"
"Certainly not," was the reply. "I've had quite enough for one day."
Further conversation was prevented by their approach to the village,
which was built at the foot of a precipitous kopje, the spot having been
chosen originally for its fertility consequent upon the fact that a
copious spring of fresh water rose high up among the rocks to form the
little stream and gully at whose mouth the young officers had met with
their fishing experience.
This village, known as Groenfontein, had been held now for nearly two
months by the little force, the idea being that it was to be occupied
for a day at the most, and vacated after the Boers had been driven off.
But though this had been done at once, the enemy had, as Drew Lennox
said, a disgracefully unmilitary way of coming back after they had been
thoroughly beaten. They had come back here after the driving; others
had come to help them from east, west, north, and south, and as soon as
they were strengthened they had set to work to drive the British force
away or capture it _en bloc_; but that was quite another thing.
For, as Dickenson said, the colonel's instructions were to drive and not
be driven. So the Boers were driven as often as there was a chance; and
then, as they kept on returning, the force had to stay, and did so,
getting plenty of opportunities for making fresh drives, till the
colonel felt that it was all labour in vain and waste of time.
Under these circumstances he sent messengers explaining the position and
asking for instructions. But his despatches did not seem to have been
delivered, for no orders came to him, and their bearers did not return.
Consequently, like a sturdy British officer, he fell back upon his first
command to hold the Boers in check at Groenfontein, soon finding that
they held him in check as well, for even had he felt disposed to retire,
it would have been impossible except at the cost of losing half his men;
so he held on and waited for the relief which he felt would sooner or
later come.
But it did not come sooner, and he relied on the later, making the best
of things. Colonel Lindley's way of making the best of things was to
return a contemptuous reply to the demands made from time to time for
his surrender.
The first time this demand was made was when the enemy had him in front
and rear. The envoys who came informed him that his position was
perfectly hopeless, for he could not cross the river in face of the
strong body the Boers had lining the banks; and that they had him in
front, and if his people did not give up their arms they would be shot
down to a man.