"They say they're splendid pieces; but it would be a terrible theft, because I should take the bandoliers too."

West was still silent.

"I say, lad," whispered Ingleborough, laughing gently: "you couldn't object to my stealing the rifles that would be used to kill our men."

"How would you manage?" whispered West.

"Hah!" sighed Ingleborough, relieving his breast of a long pent-up breath, as he looked up at the arched-in wagon-tilt: "this fellow's very nearly as wicked as I am."

"Don't--don't joke!" said West: "the matter is too serious. How would you manage?"

"Never you mind, old Very Particular! Leave that to me! By the way, though, before I lie down and have a good nap, in case I should be out all night, I don't think there is the slightest probability of our joining the Boer forces, do you?"

"Not the slightest!" answered West drily. "There'll be plenty of traitors to their country without us!"

Five minutes later Ingleborough, whose head troubled him more than he owned to, was sleeping soundly, leaving West thinking deeply over the prospects of a daring escape, and every now and then glancing out and across the laager to make sure that the ponies had not been moved, as well as to fix the position of every wagon well in his mind ready for the time when his comrade and he would be stealing across in the dark, and thinking at times that the Boers must be mad to leave their prisoners' mounts tethered in sight of their temporary prison.

"But they're altogether mad!" he mused, "or they would never have dared to defy the power of England in the way they have done!"

This thought had hardly pa.s.sed through his mind when he saw a group of the laager's occupants come by the prison wagon, each with a couple of well-filled bandoliers crossbelt-fashion over his breast, and rifle slung, making for the range forming one side of the laager. They broke up into twos and threes, and as they approached they unslung their weapons and took off their cartridge-belts to place them beneath the wagon-tilts, while they settled down to prepare a meal before having a rest.

"Just come off duty!" thought the prisoner, and, with his heart beating fast, he sat watching two of the men and then gazing hard at the nearest wagon, piercing in imagination the thick canvas covering spread over the arching-in hoops, and seeing, as he believed, exactly where two Mauser rifles and the Boers' bandoliers had been laid.

"Why, if it were dark," he thought, "I could creep out and secure those two rifles as easily as possible--if they were not taken away!"

West's face turned scarlet, and it was not from the heat of the sun upon the wagon-tilt, nor from the sultry air which pa.s.sed in from one end and out at the other.

He drew a deep breath and moved towards Ingleborough to tell him of the burning thoughts within him; but his comrade was sleeping so peacefully that he shrank from awakening him.

"He'll want all his strength!" thought West, and then he fell to wondering whether or not they would succeed.

The plan was so wonderfully simple that it seemed very possible, but--

Yes, there were so many "buts" rising up in the way. The slightest hitch would spoil all, and they would be detected and subjected to the roughest of usage, even if they were not shot. But it was worth the risk, and the thinker's heart began to beat faster, and his hand stole to the part of his jacket where he had hidden the despatch, and as he did so he mentally saw himself and his companion riding through the darkness with the Boers, and waiting for an opportunity to dash off, taking the enemy so by surprise that they would be off and away and well into the gloom before they could be followed.

Once well mounted, with the open veldt before them, and the darkness for their friend, he felt that it would go hard if they did not escape.

He had come to this point, and was full of a wild exhilaration, feeling at heart that the venture only wanted the dash with which they would infuse it, when his attention was taken up by seeing the Boer leader with about half-a-dozen of his field-cornets pa.s.s by the open end of the tent and cross the laager.

He watched them with some anxiety, and then all at once his heart began to sink with a sudden attack of despair, for two of the party went off in front, unfastened the reins by which the two Basuto ponies were tethered to the wagon-wheels, and led them to where the Boer leader and the rest had halted, prior to putting the little animals through their paces as if to test their powers in connection with some object in view.

A castle in the air dashed down into nothingness, and he uttered a low groan, which made Ingleborough start up with a wondering look in his eyes.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

HOW TO ESCAPE.

"What's wrong?" said Ingleborough, in a whisper.

"Look out at the bottom of the wagon," was West's reply.

Ingleborough rose to his knees, and at a glance grasped the meaning of his companion's troubled look.

"Going to adopt our little Basutos for their own use, eh?" he said coolly. "Well, I wonder they haven't done it before! Bah! There are plenty more horses about! What worries me is how I'm to get a couple of rifles and the ammunition. I was rather too c.o.c.k-a-hoop about that when I talked to you, for these beloved Dutch cuddle up their pieces as if they loved them with all their hearts."

West smiled.

"Oh, don't do that because I said cuddled."

"I smiled because I see the way to get a couple of rifles as soon as it's dark," said West, and he told what he had noted.

"Then there's no reason for you to look glum. I'll get a couple of horses somehow if you'll get the guns. Here, I'd whistle or sing if I were not afraid of taking the sentry's attention. We're all right, lad, and that bit of sleep has taken away the miserable pain in my head which I keep on having since my fall. Now then, what are they going to do with those ponies?"

Sitting well back, the prisoners watched all that went on, and saw the ponies mounted and put through their paces by a couple of big Boers of the regular heavy, squat, Dutch build.

"Bah! What a shame!" whispered Ingleborough; "it's murdering the poor little nags. A regular case for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Those fellows want a couple of dray-horses to carry them."

"Yes, and they've found it out," said West softly.

For as they looked on they saw the two Boers pull up after a canter up and down the full length of the laager, and then drop clumsily off, with the result that the ponies spread out their legs and indulged in a good shake which nearly dislodged their saddles.

Then a couple more of the onlookers tried the little mounts, but stopped after one trot up and down, and a general conversation ensued, resulting in the ponies being led off and tied up again in the same place, making West's heart beat as fast as if he had been running hard, while all the time he tried to crush down a feeling of elation, lest he should be premature in his hopefulness and be met with a fresh disappointment, for, though he saw the reins fastened in the same places, there was plenty of time before dark for the ponies to be removed.

Just then their examination of the Boers' proceedings was brought to an end by one of their captors bringing the roughly-prepared portion of food that was served out to them every day.

It was rough, but good of its kind, for the Boers seemed to like to live well, and they did not stint their prisoners, who, at a word from Ingleborough, fell to at once.

"Appet.i.te or no appet.i.te, eat all you can," he said. "We may have to work very hard to-night, and shall need all our strength."

There was a fair amount left after they had done, and this was carefully tied up ready for taking with them if they were successful that night.

After this there was nothing more to be done but to wait till darkness fell, and they sat back watching while the sentry was again changed, when the fresh man visited the wagon, to climb in, look carefully round, and eye them suspiciously before returning to his post.

"Does that fellow suspect anything?" whispered West.

"Of course; but nothing fresh. He comes on duty under the full impression that we mean to escape if we can, and he feels that if we attempt it his duty is to send a bullet through each of us."

"Then you don't think he suspects that we are going to make an attempt to-night?"

"Pooh! How could he? But look! There goes Anson! Not coming here, is he?"

"No: going to his own wagon! I say, Ingle, do you think he has any illicit-diamonds with him?"

"I'm sure of it! He could not, according to his nature, have come away without robbing the company somehow. I only wish I had the searching of his wagon! I suppose Norton did not have a chance!"

"Yes, look! He has gone to his wagon. Where should you search if you had the chance?"

"Not quite sure yet!" said Ingleborough gruffly. "But don't talk to me.