When he had spoken there was a faint, rustling sound, and I knew he had
thrown something from him, to fall with a dull sound upon the ground.
"Bother!" he whispered. "I didn't think it would make such a row."
"What was it?" I asked.
"About a dozen feet of hide rope. I cut it off as high as I could
reach; but, my word, wasn't it hard!"
"Why did you cut it?"
"So that no Boer, exploring, should run against it and take it into his
head to climb up. How do you feel?"
"Rather hot."
"So do I. We're precious weak yet. Now, look here; we'll keep on
walking as long as we dare; then we must go down on hands and knees;
last of all, we must creep on our chests, helping ourselves along with
our elbows."
"It will be very slow work," I said.
"Yes, but it's the only way. We shall do it, for it's gloriously dark.
If we come suddenly upon a sentry we must drop on our faces and lie
still till I see the way to circumvent him."
"I understand," I said.
"Not all yet. If we get close up you'll have to take the lead; and the
thing to do is to get close up among the sleeping Boers. That means
safety, for if any one wakes up and speaks you must answer in Dutch,
with your face close to the ground."
"It seems very risky," I said.
"So did your going to cut out six wagons with their teams; but you did
it. Now, don't talk; come on."
We moved forward again very slowly in what seemed to be a tedious
journey, though I knew perfectly well that, taken diagonally, it could
not be more than twelve hundred yards, it having been reckoned that the
Boers' advance-parties were about a thousand yards from the walls of the
fort. But we were getting nearer, for the lights seemed to grow, not
brighter, but less dim, and during the last few minutes we had noticed a
third light away to the right. I wanted to say that we were getting
pretty near to the enemy at last; but talking was now out of the
question, and I had to telegraph to my companion, by a pressure of the
hand, that we must be on the alert.
Then, with a suddenness that startled my composure, I heard an impatient
stamp close by on my left, followed by the sound of reins jerked, and an
angry adjuration growled out in Dutch between the teeth by a mounted
sentry. He was invisible; and, taking advantage of the startled
movements of the horse consequent upon the punishment it had received,
Denham dragged heavily upon my right hand with his left, when, as I
yielded, he bore off to his right, walking very slowly, till we had left
the sentry some distance behind.
Directly after that incident Denham seemed to alter our course again,
and once more we were walking straight for the dim lantern. This went
on for a short time, and then we had another check, for the sound of
tramping feet arose to our right--not the regular beat, beat of
well-drilled military, but a rough, heavy, anyhow walk of about a dozen
men. They were very near, and the chances were that, whether we stood
still, went back, or hurried forward, they might come right upon us.
But my companion did not hesitate. He chose to advance, hurrying me
forward half-a-dozen steps, and then lay down upon his face. For a few
moments I thought we were discovered, and that our attempt was a
failure; but the men just missed us, going on twenty or thirty yards,
and then a gruff Boer called "Halt!"
From what followed we knew that guard was being changed.
Everything was still succeeding, for, instead of walking right upon a
dismounted sentry, we had passed him to our left, and learned not only
where the new one was placed, but that we had succeeded in passing the
outer line of mounted men and an inner one of foot.
As if telling me of the delight he felt, Denham's pressure on my hand
was like the working of some military code; and I responded the best way
I could, as we lay listening to the resumed tramp of the guard.
Just as Denham signalled me to rise, there was a sharp crack, a flash of
light, and we dropped down again, to look in the direction of the flash,
and saw a pair of big hands lighted up as they were held lantern
fashion; and, directly after we had glimpses of the lower part of a
bearded face, at first seen distinctly, then it grew darker, and again
seen plainer as its owner puffed at the big pipe he was lighting. Then
all was in darkness once more, and the pungent smoke of coarse tobacco
floated to our nostrils.
We started again, crawling on all-fours side by side, and pressing close
like sheep so as to keep in touch; but always forward now towards the
lantern, which seemed suddenly to be very near.
Denham's lips were close to my ear directly, and he whispered, "We must
keep more away from the light. Now you take the lead, crawling very
slowly. I shall keep up by touching your heel regularly. If I leave
off, stop till I begin again."
I nodded, though it occurred to me directly afterwards that he could not
see the nod; but I showed him that I fully understood by bearing off to
the left, crawling steadily and softly, and feeling Denham's hand come
_tap, tap_ regularly upon my heel. All the time I had a presentiment
that the Boers must be lying around by the hundred.
In another minute I knew we must be close to oxen, for I could hear them
ruminating; and, convinced that a wagon would be before us, with perhaps
a dozen men underneath, I bore still more to my left, with Denham
following close, till I stopped once more, knowing that horses must be
just in front.
I made a short pause now, longing to ask my comrade's advice; but I
dared not whisper. So, feeling that probably there would only be about
fifty yards of perilous ground to pass over before we had cleared the
Boer lines, I did what I imagined was best--bore off a little to the
right as I advanced--my idea being to get back towards the oxen and pass
softly by the side of the wagon which I believed must be close at hand.
"They'll be asleep," I thought, "and I may get past."
It was all a chance, I knew; but we had been lucky so far, and I hoped
that fortune would still favour us. In this spirit I still kept on,
crawling now very slowly, till suddenly I let myself subside, for my
hand had come in contact with the butt of a rifle lying on the ground.
Denham too must have taken the alarm, for I felt him drawing steadily at
my heel, which I read to mean retreat. But I felt there was no retreat,
knowing that we had crept right in among a number of sleeping men. So I
let myself slowly subside, lying on my chest; and in the effort to cross
my arms and let them rest beneath my chin my left elbow struck sharply
against a sleeper's face, making him start so violently that he kicked
his neighbour, and in an instant there was a furious burst of Boer Dutch
oaths and imprecations.
"Quiet!" said a deep, severe voice in Dutch. "There, you've roused the
patrol."
My heart sank, for there was the hurried tramp of footsteps approaching,
and, worse than all, the gleaming of a lantern, which lit up the heavy
body of a man lying right across the way I sought to go, while right and
left, and within a foot of me, were two more burly figures. They were
all in motion now, and as the lantern was borne closer it was thrown
open, and, in what one of my neighbours would have called an
_augenblick_, I saw in the background on one side the tilt of a wagon,
and on the other the dim forms of horses.
My agony, in spite of feeling Denham's hand pressing firmly on my heel,
seemed to have culminated; but the worst was to come, and I shivered,
for a high-pitched voice cried in Dutch:
"Hwhat's all this? Didn't I tell ye to loy still and slape till it was
time to start? Why, ye blundering, thick-headed idiots, you have made
enough noise to rouse the Englanders."
Denham pressed my heel now so that it was painful; but I did not stir,
only listened to the grumbling apology of the two men.
"Don't go to sleep again," said the abusing voice. "We start in an
hour, if you haven't put the enemy on the alert."
Just then the light was softened, for the door of the lantern was closed
and the fastening clicked.
Then I felt that all was over, for the man on my left suddenly started
up and seized me by the arm.
"Open that lantern again, Captain Moriarty," he cried. "I want to see
who this is we've got here."
"Yes," said another voice; "two of them. I'll swear they weren't here
when we lay down."