by G. A. Henty
the aggressors, the subsequent attack upon their camp, and theirrelief by Mangrope.
"I think you have got remarkably well out of the affair, and althoughthe attack of the Boers has cost you the life of one of your followersand twelve oxen, as you have killed eight or ten of them you have madematters more than even, and have, moreover, given them a lesson whichmay be useful. I will take down your depositions, as it is as well thatyour friends here, and the hunters you speak of, should testify to it.It is hardly likely that I shall hear any more of the matter; the Boerswere clearly in the wrong, and in any case they would not be likely atthe present moment, when the country is in a state very closelyapproaching insurrection, to seek redress in an English court.Fortunately 250 men of the 94th Regiment leave here to-morrow morning,on the way to Pretoria. Their road will, for some distance, be the sameas yours; their colonel is at the present moment in the next room withseveral of his officers, and I will request permission for your waggonsto follow his baggage-train. Thus you can keep with him until the roadseparates, by which time you will be well out of the district of theBoers who attacked you. You will, I suppose, go through Utrecht andkeep the eastern road, as that will be shorter than going round byStanderton and Newcastle. If you will wait here for a few minutes, Iwill speak to the colonel."
In a short time the magistrate returned, saying that Mr Harvey's sixwaggons might join the baggage-train of the 94th on the followingmorning.
At eight o'clock the 94th marched from Leydenberg, and Mr Harvey'swaggons fell in the rear of the column. As they had a considerableamount of baggage and stores, the column would not proceed at a fasterrate than the ordinary pace of the bullock-train.
When the column was once on the march, the colonel rode down the lineand entered into conversation with Mr Harvey and the lads, who wereriding with him, and after having heard the narrative of the fight withthe Boers, he said to the lads, "You have had a baptism of fire early."
Mr Harvey smiled.
"They have had some very much more serious fighting in the country northof the Limpopo; besides, they were both present at Isandula, Kambula,and Ulundi."
"Indeed!" the colonel said; "then they have seen fighting. Perhaps youwill ride on with me to the head of the column again; we have a longday's march before us, and if your young friends will give us some oftheir experiences it will while away the time."
The four cantered together to the head of the column, where the doctorand one or two other officers were riding. After a word or two ofintroduction the colonel asked the lads to tell them how they came to beat Isandula, and how they escaped to tell the tale.
"You had better tell it, Dick," Tom said; "you are a better hand attalking than I."
Dick accordingly proceeded to relate their adventures during the Zuluwar, and the story excited great interest among the officers. When thecolumn halted for the day, the colonel invited Mr Harvey and the ladsto dine at the mess, and would not listen to any excuse on the groundthat their clothes were better suited for travelling among the nativetribes than for dining at a regimental mess.
The dinner was a very pleasant one, and after the cloth had been removedand cigars were lit, Mr Harvey, at the colonel's request, related theiradventures north of the Limpopo.
"Your life is indeed an adventurous one," he said, when the trader hadfinished. "It needs endurance, pluck, coolness, and a steady finger onthe trigger. You may truly be said, indeed, to carry your lives in yourhands."
"Our present journey has been an exceptionally adventurous one," MrHarvey said, "and you must not suppose that we are often in the habit offighting our way. I have indeed on several occasions been in veryperilous positions, and some other evening, before we separate, I shallbe glad, if it will interest you, to relate one or two of them."
"By the way," the colonel said, when they took their leave, "remember,the word for the night is, `Newcastle.' You will probably be challengedseveral times by sentries before you get to your waggons, for, althoughthere is no absolute insurrection at present, there is no saying whenthe Boers may break out. They will hardly think of attacking a body oftroops marching peaceably along; still, it is as well to neglect noprecautions. If you are challenged, `Who comes there?' you will reply,`Friends.' The sentry will then say, `Advance and give the word.' Youwalk forward and say, `Newcastle,' and you will pass all right."
The march was continued for four days. At the end of this time theyarrived at the spot where the direct road for Pieter-Maritzburg throughUtrecht left that which they were following.
"Look here, lads," Mr Harvey said; "this road will take youconsiderably out of your way. If you like you can follow the column foranother couple of days. You will then cross the south road, and canthere leave them and gallop on by yourselves to Standerton in one day,and home the next. That will take you back by the 23rd; whereas, if yougo on with me, you will not be back by New Year's Day. We are gettingnow to a part of the colony where the English element is pretty strong,and the Boers are not likely to be troublesome; so I shall have nodifficulty in passing down with the waggons. You can tell your fathersthat we have had a most satisfactory trip, and I expect when I have soldour goods at Durban they will have good reason to be content."
The lads gladly accepted the offer; they were longing to be at homeagain, and especially wished to be back by Christmas.
The colonel on hearing of the arrangement heartily invited the lads tomess with the regiment for the time that they continued with them, andoffered to have a spare tent pitched for their accommodation.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
A TERRIBLE JOURNEY.
That evening Mr Harvey and the lads were again invited to dine at mess,and after dinner the colonel asked Mr Harvey if he would be good enoughto tell them some of his adventures in the interior.
"I have had so many," the trader said, "that I hardly know which wouldbe most interesting. I have been many times attacked by the natives,but I do not know that any of these affairs were so interesting as thefight we had in the defile the other day. Some of the worst adventureswhich we have to go through are those occasioned by want of water. Ihave had several of these, but the worst was one which befell me on oneof my earliest trips up the country. On this occasion I did not asusual accompany my father, but went with a trader named Macgregor, aScotchman, as my father was ill at the time. He considered me too youngto go by myself, and when he proposed to Macgregor that I should joinhim with the usual number of waggons he sent up, Macgregor objected,saying,--I have no doubt with justice,--that the double amount of goodswould be more than could be disposed of. He added, however, that heshould be glad if I would accompany him with a couple of waggons. Itwas; as it turned out, a very good thing for my father that his venturewas such a small one. Macgregor was a keen trader; he understood thenative character well, and was generally very successful in hisventures. His failing was that he was an obstinate, pig-headed man,very positive in his own opinions, and distrusting all advice given him.
"Our trip had been a successful one. We penetrated very far in theinterior, and disposed of all our goods. When we had done so, westarted to strike down to Kimberley across a little-known and very sandydistrict. The natives among whom we were, endeavoured to dissuadeMacgregor from making the attempt, saying that the season was a very dryone, that many of the pools were empty, and that there would be thegreatest difficulty in obtaining water. Macgregor disregarded theadvice. By taking the direct route south he would save some hundreds ofmiles. He said that other caravans had at different times taken thisroute in safety, and at the same time of the year. He insisted that theseason had not been a particularly dry one, and that he was not going tobe frightened by old women's tales. The natives were always croakingabout something, but he did not mean to lose a month of his time fornothing.
"Accordingly we started. The really bad part of our journey was about150 miles across a sandy country, with low scrub. The bullocks, whendriven to it, would eat the leaves of this scrub, so that we d
id notanticipate any difficulty in the way of forage. In the wet season manystreams run across the country and find their way into the Limpopo. Insummer they dry up, and water is only obtained in pools along theircourses. There were twelve waggons in the caravan--ten belonging toMacgregor, and my two. I had with me a servant, a native, who had beenfor years in the employment of my father, a very faithful andtrustworthy fellow.
"At the end of the first day's march of fifteen miles we found water atthe spot to which our native guide led us. The second day the pool wasfound to be dry. We got there early, having started before daybreak,for the heat was tremendous. On finding the pool empty I rode ten milesdown the course of the stream, and Macgregor as far up it, but found nowater, and on getting back to the camp the oxen were inspanned, and wemade another march; here we
