"Boss Val come close up to Joeboy," said the black a minute or two
later.
I had but to take two steps, and then I could touch the speaker, who was
standing with his back towards me.
"Joeboy no turn round," he said. "Boss Val keep close. Joeboy got to
keep seeing wagons, and not lose them."
"But you can't see the wagons now," I said softly.
"Um? Joeboy see um inside um head. Can't see with eyes. Too far away.
But Joeboy know jus' where they are, and feel see um. Come along and
no talk. Take hold, and no let go."
I grasped the long handle of Joeboy's assagai, which had touched me
lightly on the side as he spoke; so there was no chance of our being
separated in the dark and having to call to each other with probably
Boer outposts within hearing. The plunge had been made, and now I began
to see how terrible was the responsibility I had undertaken. For a few
minutes after leaving our friends I began to ask myself whether Denham
had not been right in calling it a mad project; but these thoughts soon
passed away as I pulled myself together with the determination to do
what my friends had told me: "Go in and win." There was too much to do
and too much excitement now to leave room for hesitation and thoughts
about risk and chances of discovery. Joeboy, too, was a splendid fellow
for a companion: he went steadily on as if the whole business was some
exciting game in which he played the chief part.
Fortune seemed to be favouring us so far as the weather was concerned,
for a brisk wind was blowing, and the clouds overhead veiled every star;
so the night was profoundly dark.
After tramping on for about ten minutes, Joeboy stopped and stood
motionless; then he whispered to me to come close up, without turning
his head when he spoke.
"Boss Val lissum with both ears," he said. "Tell Joeboy when he hear
Doppie. Joeboy tell Boss Val too."
"Right," I said; and we went on again so silently that I did not hear my
own footsteps in the sandy earth.
There was no risk of meeting with any impediment, for the veldt from the
old fortress right away to the place where I had marked down the wagons
was a smooth, undulating plain. What we had to dread was coming across
a Boer outpost or patrol; but I had little fear of that without ample
warning, for I had had frequent experience in hunting expeditions of the
keenness of Joeboy's senses of sight and hearing. I was just beginning
to wonder how long it would be before he gave me warning of any danger
being near, when he stopped short again. I closed up so that I could
lay my hands upon his shoulders. Then he whispered very softly:
"Hear Doppie soon. Boss Val go down when Joeboy kneel."
"Right," I said again, straining my eyes right and left to get sight of
the Boer camp; and, though I judged that their fires would be all out, I
expected to get a glimpse before long of one of their lanterns. All,
however, remained dark, and the time dragged slowly in the same
monotonous way, making me wish I could walk side by side with my
companion, who seemed to be far more cautious in the darkness than I
thought necessary.
We must have gone, as I hoped in a perfectly straight direction, for
what appeared to be nearly an hour, and I was getting desperate about
our slow progress, when suddenly the assagai-shaft was jigged sharply
and then dragged; and for a moment I saw a faint spark of light far
ahead, due to the fact that Joeboy had gone down suddenly upon hands and
knees. I followed suit, and lay flat, listening, but only hearing my
heart throbbing slowly and heavily. Not a sound was to be heard for
fully half-a-minute; and then came the familiar click of iron against
iron, caused, as I well knew, by a horse champing at his bit and moving
the curb-chain. Directly after there was the dull _thud, thud_ of
horses' hoofs coming from our right, and I knew that mounted men were
approaching us at right angles to our course, and thought we must be
discovered the next minute or else trampled on by the horses.
For a moment or two my heart seemed to stand still and then to go at a
gallop, for the horses came nearer and nearer; and I tried to press
myself closer and closer to the sand as one horse passed within two or
three yards of my feet, and another a little way in front.
I could hardly believe the men had gone by without seeing us, though I
had not seen them, and still crouched down, expecting to hear the riders
turn and come back. Hence it was like a surprise when I heard a faint
rustling which indicated that Joeboy was getting up; and, warned by a
jerk of the spear-shaft, I sprang up too.
"All ride by," said the black; and I realised now that a patrol must
have passed, with the men riding two or three horse-lengths apart to
keep guard against any surprise parties of our troop.
We went on again for a short distance, and then there was another
stoppage; for from the front came the murmur of voices talking in a low
tone, suggestive of a little outpost in front.
Joeboy made a brief halt, and then we went down on hands and knees, and
crawled to the right for about fifty yards before turning again in the
direction of the wagons; and this movement was kept up for quite a
hundred yards; then the black rose to his foot, and our walk
recommenced.
We must now, I thought, have kept on for above an hour, though I dare
say it was not more than half that time; but I fully believed it was
nearer three hours than two after we had left the fort when Joeboy
suddenly dropped down flat; and, as I followed his example, he backed
himself, walking quadrupedally on his hands and toes till he was able to
subside close to where I lay on my face.
"Boss Val tired?" he whispered. "Um?"
"Not a bit," I replied. "Are we near the wagons?"
"Um? Done know," he replied. "Close by Doppie. All quiet. Fas'
asleep. Lissum."
I listened, and all was very still. Now and then from a distance came a
faint squeal and a stamp from some horse; but there was no talking going
on, and it was hardly possible there in the darkness to conceive that
probably a thousand men were lying near at hand, spread out to right and
left, and ready at a call to spring up, mount, and dash across the
plain.
"I can hear nothing," I replied at last, with my lips close to his ear.
"Think they are gone, Joeboy?"
"Um? Gone?" he whispered back. "Gone 'sleep. Joeboy going to look for
wagons."
"Stop a moment," I whispered. "Are you going to leave me here?"
"Um? Boss Val lie still and have good rest. Joeboy come back soon."
"But do you think you can find me again?" I said.
He put his lips close to my ear again and laughed softly.
"Um? Oh yes, Joeboy find um sure enough. See a lot in the dark. Boss
Val lie quite still."
Before I could remonstrate against a plan which, it seemed to me, might,
ruin our expedition, he had crept away; and from the direction he took I
knew he had gone off to the left, going quite fast, and progressing in a
style which, in old days, I had often laughingly said was like that of
the crocodiles of the Limpopo. This time I did not hear him make a
sound, and I could, of course, do nothing but lie still, feeling in my
utter misery that all was over, and that I could only lie there till
near daybreak, waiting to be found again by Joeboy, and waiting in vain.
Then I would have to run the gauntlet of the outposts, and make a
desperate effort to return, shamefaced and miserable, to the camp.
I tried hard to fix my attention on listening and endeavouring to make
out how near I was to the Boer lines; but I could not hear a sound.
Again and again I fretted at my miserable position as the time glided
away and there was no sign of Joeboy.
"I should have stopped him," I reflected. "I ought not to have let him
take the lead."
Just then, however, my heart seemed to give a great jump; for without a
sound the black was alongside again, touching my leg, and then gliding
up till his lips were level with my ear.
"Boss Val 'sleep--um?"
"Asleep!" I whispered back indignantly. "No."
"Um!" he whispered. "Joeboy been very long way. No wagon there. Now
go this way."
"No, no!" I whispered back. "You must stay with me, or we must go
together, Joeboy!"
There was no reply, and in alarm I stretched out my left hand to seize
hold of him; but he had gone. I half-fancied I heard a faint rustle
some distance off as of a great serpent gliding across in front of my
head; but I dared not raise my voice to stop him. Now I realised that
he must have glided away from me the moment he had uttered the words
"this way;" and again I had to go through all that agony of expectation
and dread. Still, I began to feel a little more confidence in Joeboy,
and for the next half-hour I waited anxiously, hoping against hope, till
I was in despair and half-mad.
I was just at my worst again, and picturing the looks of Denham, and his
disappointment if I managed to get anywhere near where he was on the
lookout for us, when I jumped violently, quite startled, for Joeboy
seemed to rise out of the black earth on my light.
"Um?" he said softly. "Joeboy getting tired. Couldn't find wagon."
"Then it's all over?" I whispered, my heart sinking with despair.
"Um? Couldn't find at first," he said. "Joeboy went behind um. All
out before Doppies."
"Then you did find them?" I whispered joyfully.
"Um? Yes, Joeboy find um. Went long way and then come back."
"But how did you manage to find them in the dark?"
"Um? Smell um," he said quietly. "Now, wait bit. Boss Val know what
to say?"
"Oh yes, I know," I said.
"Get up," he whispered. "No Doppie here."
I was startled by his words, but I obeyed; and as soon as I was erect I
felt his hands about me, feeling whether my rifle was slung across my
shoulder, my bandolier in place, and my revolvers ready. Apparently
satisfied, he gave a grunt, and taking my hand, he whispered again:
"No Doppie here. Over this way and that way."
I yielded to his guidance, with my heart throbbing heavily now; but the
feeling of excitement returned as I began to act, and in a few minutes I
found that something big and dark had loomed up in front, which I knew
to be a great tilted wagon.
Joeboy bore to the left, and we walked silently on together till we had
passed the rears of six of the great vehicles drawn up at a fair
distance apart, but pretty regularly side by side. I now realised that,
though the wagons, as seen through the glass, had appeared to be in
touch with the Boer troops, they really formed a line some distance in
front.
From that moment everything seemed to be like a curious waking dream, in
which I was the chief actor; for, passing the last tail and going
forward, I walked with Joeboy to the front, all being silent about the
wagons. From beyond these came the peculiarly soft, chewing sound of
working jaws; and I made out, partly by hearing and partly by the
peculiar but not unpleasant odour, that there were the teams in their
places, all the great oxen crouching down, from the pair on either side
of the dissel-boom or pole to the foremost couple right in front, pair
after pair, along the trek-tow--that is, the great rope which, for the
team, serves as a continuation of the pole.
"Um?" whispered Joeboy as I stood listening to the dull cud-chewing of
the resting beasts. "Now make um come out."
I hesitated for a moment or two; then I made the great effort to play my
part as I felt it ought to be acted, and stood alongside the black and
close up to the wagon, between the wheels. Then taking a long breath,
and wondering at myself the while, I stooped down so that my voice might
go well beneath; but paused as I was about to speak, for I could hear in
duplicate a deep guttural snore. At that moment Joeboy pinched my arm;
and, drawing a deep breath, I growled out in the best imitation I could
of the Boer Dutch:
"Now then; rouse up, you lazy black beggars! Rouse up and trek!"
My heart sank as the last word passed my lips.
"Suppose they are not Kaffirs?" I thought.
There was not a sound, and Joeboy again pinched my arm.
I knew what he wanted; so, raising my voice, I said hoarsely, and in an
angry tone:
"Rouse up! Trek!"
There was a loud rattling noise at the same moment, for Joeboy had
reached under the wagon to strike here and there with the shaft of his
assagai.
In an instant, following a dull thud or two, there came low remonstrant
growls, there was a scuffle and a rush, and two big figures rose near
us; one Kaffir ran towards the front box of the wagon, and the feet of
the other went _pat, pat_ till he stopped by the foremost pair of oxen
in the team. Then the great beasts began to get upon their feet and
shake themselves.
"It's all over now," I thought, as I stood appalled by the noise made by
the bullocks, one of them lowing loudly; and, as if my despair was not
deep enough, I found from what I could hear that I had fired a train,
started a conflagration, or--to use another simile--touched one end of a
row of card houses and set all in motion. The action of rousing up the
blacks asleep beneath this one had communicated itself from wagon to
wagon on to the end. "Open sesame!" caused the cave of the Forty
Thieves to open; the magic word "Trek!" had started the wagon-drivers
and forelopers; and now I expected the next thing would be a rush of
Boer cavalry to surround us, unless Joeboy and I could hide.
"Yah! hor! whoo-oop! Trek!" cried Joeboy in his hoarsest voice, and he
ran from me towards the foreloper, leaving me half-stunned at the turn
matters had taken.
"Trek!" cried the black, who had climbed on to the box; then there was a
tremendous crack of the huge whip he wielded, the oxen jerked at the
trek-tow, the wheels creaked, and as I involuntarily took my rifle from
where it was slung and cocked it, the huge wagon began to lumber heavily
through the soft earth, and I walked by its side uninterrupted, finding
that in turn first one and then another of the six wagons started and
followed, till the entire row were in motion, following the lead of
Joeboy with the first foreloper, the whole business growing, in the
darkness, more and more like a feverish dream.