"Then this isn't a well, after all," said Denham, who seemed struck with
wonderment.
"No," I said excitedly, as all kinds of Aladdin-like ideas connected
with wealth began to run through my mind; "but there's water in it, and
it will serve us as a well."
"Yes, of course," cried Denham. "I say, you two have made a discovery."
Then he lit a match, got it well in a blaze, and let it drop down the
square shaft, when it kept burning till, at about a hundred feet below
us, it went out with a faint hiss, which told that it had reached the
water.
"It'll do for a well, sir," said Briggs; "and I wouldn't mind getting
down it at the end of a rope. I've done it before now, when a well's
been rather doubtful, and we've had to burn flares down it to start the
foul air. That hole's as clear as can be."
"How do you know?" said Denham.
"By the way that match burned till it reached the water, sir. If the
air down there had been foul it would have been put out before it
reached the surface."
"But there will be no need for you to go down, sergeant," I said. "We
can reach the water with a few tether ropes."
"To get the water--yes, my lad," said the sergeant, with a queer
screwing up of his face; "but I was thinking about the gold."
"Oh, we've no time to think of gold," said Denham shortly. "But I say,
Val, isn't this all a mistake? Who could have built such a place and
worked for gold--making a mine like this?"
"I don't know," I said, "unless it was the ancient traders who used to
go to Cornwall in their ships to get tin."
"What! the Phoenicians?" said Denham.
"Yes," I said. "They were big builders too. They built Tyre and
Sidon."
"Val," cried my companion, slapping me on the shoulder, "you've hit it
right on the head. They were the builders. We know they went to Scilly
and Cornwall for tin. They must have come here for gold."
"Oh no," I said. "They could sail from Tyre and Sidon, keeping within
sight of land all the way along the Mediterranean, through the Straits
of Gibraltar, and then up the coasts of Spain and France, and across to
our country; but they couldn't sail here."
"Well, not all the way; but I can recollect enough of the map to know
that they'd most likely have ships at the top of the Red Sea, and could
coast down from there till they got somewhere about Delagoa Bay or
Durban, and gradually travel across country till they got here."
"Rather a long walk," I said.
"Long walk? Of course; but it was done by the people in the course of
hundreds of years perhaps--settlers who came into the country after its
products. There, I believe it, and we must have made a find. Here,
come back and let's have a look at the old furnace and chimney."
We went back, and were soon satisfied that we had the right idea. On
further examination we found that some of the stones were calcined, and
at a touch crumbled into exceedingly fine dust; while one corner at the
back--below the chimney opening, where it was a good deal broken--showed
signs of intense heat, the face of one angle being completely glazed,
the stone being melted into a kind of slag like volcanic glass.
"Oh, there's not a bit of doubt about it," cried Denham. "What do you
say, Sergeant?"
"Not a bit o' doubt about it, sir. I've seen smelting-furnaces enough
our way for copper and tin, and this might have been one of such places,
made by old-fashioned folks who didn't know so much as we know now.
It's an old smelting-shop for certain; but I don't see as we've anything
to shout about."
"What!" cried Denham; "when we've made a discovery like this? Are you
mad?"
"Not as I knows on, sir. It's only like coming to a corner of the beach
at home and finding a heap of oyster-shells."
"What do you mean?" said Denham angrily.
"Why, sir, it only shows as there was oysters there once, and that
somebody came and dredged them, opened 'em, and ate 'em, and left the
shells behind. Here's the shell, plain enough; but the old Tyre and
Sidems, as you call 'em, took away all the gold, sure enough. Trust
'em!"
"What!" cried Denham, laughing. "Is it likely? Here's a gold-mine,
sure enough; but if there's one here, don't you think there must be
plenty more places in this country where people could dig down and get
gold?"
"May be, sir," said Briggs, scratching his ear.
"Is there only one tin-mine in Cornwall, Sergeant?" I said.
"Only one tin-mine in Cornwall!" cried Briggs in disgust. "Whatcher
talking about? Why, the country's full of 'em. You find tin wherever
you like to cut down to one kind o' rock as is what they call quartz,
and where there's tin in it there's a lot o' red powder as well; and
when you break a bit there's the tin, all in pretty little black shiny
grains. Oh, there's plenty o' tin in Cornwall, only it costs a lot to
dig and blast it out o' the mine."
"So you may depend upon it there's plenty of gold here, sergeant," said
Denham, taking the piece of stone I had picked up and holding it out to
the sergeant. "There's a specimen of the ore, and I'll be bound to say
there's tons of it to be found."
"Humph!" said the Sergeant, examining the piece of stone; "p'r'aps them
bits o' threads and them scrappy bits may be gold; but if you broke that
up and melted it, the gold you'd get would be such a tiny bead that it
wouldn't be worth taking away."
"Perhaps not," said Denham, giving me a look; "but there'd be a
good-sized bead out of a ton. The ancient miners didn't work for
nothing, I'll be bound. But come along; we've found what we were
looking for, and--"
He stopped short, for just then a shot was fired, which made us start on
our return along the narrow passage.
"Mind the hole," I shouted to Denham, who was first.
"Jingo!" he cried, "I'd forgotten it;" and he made a bound which took
him clear, proving that I had spoken just in time.
Before we were out into the wider passage open to the sky, three or four
more shots rang out, followed by a volley, and then there was a cheer.
"Ahoy, there!" cried Denham, hailing the men on the top of the outer
wall. "What is it--enemy come on?"
"Eh? Oh, it's you, sir," cried one of our troopers, looking down.
"Yes, and no. Enemy, but not the Boers."
"What do you mean?" cried Denham sharply.
"Troop of those baboons got together and making a rush, barking like a
pack of dogs, at our fellows out yonder among the rocks. They had to
give 'em a few pills to scatter 'em. The savage little beasts have gone
off now."
"I thought we were going to be out of a fight," said Denham to me as we
quickly retraced our steps, to make our way to the Colonel, whom we
found at last in the court amongst the horses, talking anxiously to a
knot of officers.
"Oh, there you are, Mr Denham," said the Colonel as we went up. "I was
beginning to think you'd come to grief. I could have searched the place
half-a-dozen times over by now. You've come to say there's no water, of
course?"
"No, sir; I've found plenty."
"What!" cried the Colonel, whose whole manner changed in an instant.
"You've found plenty?"
"Yes, sir."
"Splendid news, my dear boy. There, I forgive you for being long," he
added good-humouredly. "The horses want a drink badly. Show the men
where to lead them at once."
"My news is not so good as that, sir. It's hard to get."
"What! At the bottom of a well?"
"Of a well-like place; and I think there's an ample supply."
"See to getting ropes, Sergeant," said the Colonel, "and--we have no
buckets with us?"
"No, sir; but there's a couple of those zinc-lined nose-bags in the
troop."
"Capital. They'll do. Take what men you want, and set to work drawing
water at once. You must try and clear out some hollow among the stones
near the mouth of the well, so that the horses can be led to drink as
fast as the men can haul the water up."
I was in the party told off to help; and the first thing to be done was
to find the nearest part of the court to the interior building where the
mine-shaft was. It proved to be an easier task than we anticipated.
What was better, we came upon a pile of stones in one corner, close up
to the wall, which looked as if they had been heaped up there by hand
for some reason or another; and they attracted me so that I drew
Denham's attention to them, and told him what I thought.
"You're right," he said. "Here, half-a-dozen of you, come and help."
He was about to set the men to work to drag the stones away; but I
proposed that the tethering raw-hide ropes of two of the horses should
be attached to their saddles and the ends made fast to the great rough
slabs of stone. This was done, and the horses set to draw, when one by
one a dozen massive pieces were drawn aside, leaving a little opening,
through which I dropped a stone, with the result that those who listened
heard a deep-sounding _plosh_! and set up a cheer. Then other two slabs
were dragged away, to lay bare a roughly squared hole six feet across,
from which the water could be easily drawn up.
"That communicates with our shaft, then?" said Denham to me in a
questioning tone.
"No doubt," I said. "I dare say there are tunnels running in several
directions. Did you tell the Colonel about the gold?"
"Not yet," he replied. "He thinks a good deal more about the water now
than he would do about gold. But, I say, do you think it will be good
drinking-water?"
"Certainly," I said. "Gold isn't copper."
"Thank you," he said sarcastically. "I found that out a long time ago.
I never could do anything like so much with a penny as I could with a
sov.--Here, Sergeant," he cried as the first water-bag was pulled up,
dripping, and with the sound of the water that fell back echoing
musically with many repetitions underground, in what seemed to be a vast
place. "Water good?"
"Beautiful, sir. Clear as crystal and cold as ice."
"Then I'll have a taste," said the Colonel, coming up. "Excellent!" he
continued, after taking a deep draught from the portable cup he took
from his pocket. "Now, what are you going to do?"
"Keep on pouring it into that hollow among the stones, sir," said
Denham, pointing to a little depression. Into this one of our makeshift
bags was emptied, and the impromptu trough proved quite suitable.
Then the men worked away at lowering and raising the nose-bag buckets,
drawing up sufficient in a few minutes for watering half-a-dozen horses
at a time.
While this was progressing the Colonel returned from where he had been
inspecting the top of the wall, and rearranging the men so as to take
the greatest advantage of our position, to make sure the Boers could not
break in through the weakest spot--the opening where the wall had
fallen.
"Ha!" he said to Denham and me, "you two deserve great credit for
hunting out the old underground tank of this ancient fortress. Now,
with plenty of provisions and fodder for the horses, we might hold this
place for any length of time. I think the General ought to know of it,
and place two or three companies of foot here. I see that good shelter
might be contrived by drawing some wagon-sheets across the top of these
double walls."
"Yes, sir--easily," said Denham. "As you say, there would be no horses
to keep if the place were held by foot."
"Exactly," said the Colonel, who seemed much interested in the drawing
of the water, and listened intently to the echoes of the splashing from
the impromptu buckets. "Why, Denham, that tank seems to be of great
size; quite a reservoir, and tremendously deep."
"It is, sir," said Denham dryly; "only it isn't a tank."
"What is it, then--a well?"
"No, sir: a gold-mine," said Denham in a low tone.
The Colonel looked at him sternly, and then smiled.
"Oh, I see. Metaphorical," he said. "Yes, to thirsty folk a perfect
gold-mine. Liquid gold--eh?"
"You don't understand me, sir," said Denham quietly. "I was not
speaking in a figurative way, but in plain, downright English. That
really is part of an ancient gold-mine, in which the water has collected
in course of time."
"Really? Are you sure?" said the Colonel.
"Yes, sir," replied Denham. Then in a few words he told the Colonel
that we had discovered two shafts within the walls, as well as the old
furnace-house and the ingot-moulds.
"You astound me," said the Colonel. "Here, come along and let me see."
He followed Denham, and I went too, as one of the discoverers. The
Colonel examined everything with the utmost interest.
"Not a doubt about it," he said at last. "You two lads have made a most
curious discovery. It may be valuable or worthless; but here it is. I
think that, besides being a splendidly strong place for a base, it is
otherwise worth holding."
"You feel sure it is an old gold-mine, then, sir?"
"Undoubtedly, and it must have been of great value. This explains why
it was made a favourite station by the ancient settlers who discovered
the riches on the spot. I've heard rumours of old workings about here
in the veldt; but I never thought much about them, or that they were of
any consequence. I shall begin to think now that we must fight harder
than ever to hold this part of the country. Which of you two made the
discovery?"
"Both of us," said Denham. "No; Moray first stumbled upon the hole
there."
"We were together," I said quietly; "and Sergeant Briggs helped."
"I didn't see much of his help," said Denham dryly. "We pushed, and he
did the grunting."
"You shall have the credit of the discovery, never fear," said the
Colonel, "and your share of the profit, if there is any; but we have
something else to think about now. Come up here; I want to see how our
enemies are going on."
He led the way back to the walls, and we followed him to the highest
part of our fortress. The strength of the place seemed to explain a
great deal, suggesting, as it did, that the builders must have had good
reasons for the tremendous labour expended in making the place the
stronghold it must have been.
"Ah," said the Colonel, shading his eyes and gazing over the walls at
the rocky part of the kopje, "I don't want to be unmerciful; but I'm
afraid we must clear the rocks of the enemy."
"The apes?" said Denham.
"Yes; the vicious little brutes have bitten two of the men; but they had
to pay for it, for three were killed and I don't know how many wounded
before the pack was driven off. You should both be well on the lookout
when wandering about, and ready to use your revolvers, for the apes have
steel-trap jaws, and muscles nearly as strong. It is astounding the
strength there is in an ape."
"But if you come to the question of strength, sir," said Denham, "it
seems to me that everything in nature is stronger than a man. Look at
insects."
"No, thank you, Mr Denham," said the Colonel sarcastically. "I have
something else to look at, and no time to listen to your lesson on
natural history. Some evening, perhaps, when there is no danger, and I
am sipping my coffee over a quiet pipe, I shall be happy to listen to
you."
"Thank you, sir," said Denham.
"Is that meant to be sarcastic, my dear boy?" said the Colonel,
laughing.
"Oh no, sir," said Denham in an ill-used tone.
"I say `Oh yes.' But I didn't mean to snub one of my smartest
officers.--Well, Moray, this is another reason for giving you your
stripes. Work away, my lad, and master all your drill. I would promote
you directly; but it would seem too much like favouritism in the eyes of
your seniors. You may rest assured that I am not forgetting you."
"I am quite satisfied, sir," I said warmly. "Every one treats me more
as a friend than as the latest recruit."
"I'm glad of it, and that Mr Denham here seems to look upon you as a
companion--a brother-in-arms, I ought to say."
"Yet I've a lot of trouble with him, sir," said Denham mockingly. "He's
a very impudent young brother-in-arms sometimes."
The Colonel made no reply, but took his field-glass from its case, and
sat down on the highest point of the old fortress, while he proceeded
carefully to examine the country round, dropping a word or two about his
observations from time to time.
"The Boers seem as if they mean to stop," he said softly, and there was
a pause as he swept the horizon with his glass. "A good twelve hundred
men if there's one," then came, and he had another good long look. "Let
it stand at twelve hundred," he muttered; "but I believe there are
more." There was another pause. "Take some grass to keep all those
horses," he muttered--"that is, if they stay." Another pause. "Be next
door to madness to try to cut our way through them."
"Yes, sir," said Denham.
"I beg your pardon, Mr Denham," said the Colonel, lowering his glass to
look at my companion.
"Beg pardon, sir; I thought you spoke," replied Denham, and he cocked
his eye comically at me as the Colonel renewed his observations.
"They evidently mean to stay; and if we made a rush for it, every man
would be down upon his chest delivering such a deadly fire as I dare not
expose my poor, fellows to."
"No, sir," said Denham to me silently--that is to say, he made a round
"O" with his mouth, and then shaped the word "sir" as one would in
trying to speak to a deaf and dumb person.
"They'd empty half our saddles, and kill no end of horses," continued
the Colonel, as he kept on sweeping the plain with his glass.
There was a long pause now; and then, still speaking in the same low,
distinct voice, and without doubt under the impression that he was only
expressing his thoughts in silence: "That's it," he said at last, as if
he had quite come to a decision as to the course he must pursue. "In
the dark. A quiet walk till we are discovered by their outposts, and
then gallop and get through them. Say to-morrow night, when the horses
are well rested."
Another pause, during which Denham shook his head violently. Then: "No.
The poor horses would be hungry. It will have to be to-night. Let me
see; there is no moon. Yes, it must be to-night."
_Click_! went the field-glass as it was closed, and at the same moment
the Colonel turned, to see Denham nodding his head violently at me in
acquiescence with our chief's remarks, but in profound ignorance, till
he saw my eyes, of the fact that the Colonel was watching him curiously;
then he met the Colonel's glance, and blushed like a girl.
"Don't do that, Mr Denham. You'll injure your spine."
"Oh!" went Denham's mouth, and he stamped his foot, as the Colonel
walked away--both movements, of course, in silence.
"There," said the Colonel loudly, as if for us both to hear; "I don't
think I need try to see any more. Ha!" he ejaculated as, with a sharp
movement, he began to open and focus his glass again, and looking
towards the west for some time. "Worse and worse. They mean to have
us. I suppose they look upon us as a danger that must be crushed out
once and for all."
"If they could do it, sir," said Denham.
"They evidently mean to try, Denham," replied the Colonel, with a sigh.
"Some of us will have to bite the dust before this business is over.
There's a fresh commando of quite five hundred men coming up yonder
under the sun, and before dark we shall be regularly ringed round."
"Well, let them come, sir," said Denham bitterly; "they can't all hit at
us at once. What you said was right."
"What I said was right?" replied the Colonel, staring. "Why, what did I
say?"
"Something about advancing to-night in the darkness; and then, as soon
as we were discovered by the outposts, making a gallop for it."
"Did I say that?"
"Yes, sir."
"Not a bad plan either," said the Colonel, his face wrinkling up.
"No, sir; just the exciting rush I love."
"Humph!" said the Colonel. "Well, gentlemen, we may as well go down."
"`Well, gentlemen,'" whispered Denham to me, with a laugh, as soon as he
had the opportunity. "I say, recruit--private--whatever you call
yourself--why don't you blush?"
No more was said then, as orders were given for every man to make a good
meal from his haversack; and as soon as the order was passed along, the
men looked at one another and began to whisper.
"We're not going to stop here for to-night," said one. "I had picked
out my corner for a good snooze."
"The Colonel was afraid the ruin would be too draughty for us, and
didn't wish to see his boys getting up in the morning with stiff necks,"
said another; and plenty of laughing and banter went on amongst the men,
who in all probability would be engaged in a deadly struggle before many
hours had passed.
I thought of this for a time, and I ate my bread and cold salt pork
slowly and without appetite, for the thoughts of the pleasant old farm
came back; and I began to wonder how father and Bob were, and what Aunt
Jenny would be thinking about. Then, between the mouthfuls, a vision of
Joeboy's black face and grinning white teeth seemed to rise up; and I
fell to thinking how disappointed he would be when he returned from the
foraging expedition to find that the corps had been suddenly called out.
"Poor old Joeboy!" I thought to myself; "it's a pity father didn't keep
him at home. It would be horrible if he were to be shot by the Boers."
But I was eating again heartily soon, the conversation of the men taking
up my attention, for they were discussing what was to be done that
evening.
"It's only a reconnaissance," said one. "We're going to give the
Doppies a stir-up to show them we're `all alive, oh!'"
"Nonsense," said another. "We shan't do anything; the Colonel don't
care about working in the dark."
"That's right," said another voice. "It would be absurd to move from
such a strong place as this. Why, we could laugh at twice as many as
they could bring against us."
"Don't you talk nonsense, my lads," said a familiar voice which made me
turn my head sharply.
"Who's talking nonsense, Sergeant?" said one of the troopers.
"The man who spoke," was the reply. "What's the good of a strong place
like this to us if we've got no provisions for selves and horses?"
"The horses might be driven out to graze under the fire of our rifles."
"How long would the scanty grass round here last? No: the chief's right
enough, and as soon as it's dark the orders will come, `Boot and
saddle.' We've got to cut our way through that mob of Dutchmen
to-night."
"Oh, very well," said one of the men who had not yet spoken; "this is
rather a dreary sort of place, so by all means let us cut."
The men grew very quiet afterwards as the twilight began to fall, and I
noticed that most of them, after finishing their meal and getting a
draught of water freshly drawn up out of the old mine, walked up to
their horses and began to make much of them, patting and smoothing, and
then examining girths, bridles, and every buckle and strap.
The night was coming on fast now, and the Boers began to mingle with the
haze in the distance. We saw they had filled up all the gaps between
their lines, opening out till they formed a complete hedge of dismounted
horsemen around our stronghold; and they looked a very formidable body
of men.
"Yes," said Denham, who had drifted to my side again, according to what
had now become a custom of his--for I could not go to him--"we're
regularly ringed round, Val."
"Yes, they're very strong," I said.
"No, they're not, lad, for a ring's very weak, and bends or breaks if
it's pushed from the inside; but if pushed from the outside it takes a
deal to break it. We'll both bend and break it to-night."
We sat talking for a bit, and watched the Boers till they were quite
invisible. Then we could do nothing but wait for orders, no one
believing that any attack would be made by our mounted enemy. However,
about an hour after it was quite dark an alarm was suddenly given; but
every man was on the alert, and the entrances to our fort were doubly
strengthened. For there was the sound of shouts and horses thundering
over the plain towards the fort; and at last the order was given to
fire, a sharp fusillade ringing out in the horsemen's direction. It had
its effect, for the enemy turned and galloped away, the sounds of their
retreat rapidly dying out; and all seemed quiet till one of the
defenders of the gap in the wall challenged, with the customary "Halt!
or I fire!"
"Um!" cried a familiar voice. "Don't shoot. On'y Joeboy. Want Boss
Val."