"Why don't we strike a light and examine it now?" said West eagerly.

"Because we haven't a match!" replied Ingleborough. "Didn't our st.u.r.dy honest captors take everything away but my knife, which was luckily in my inner belt along with my money?"

"To be sure!" sighed West.

"And if we had matches we dare not strike them for fear of the light being seen by one of the Boer patrols."

"Yes," said West, with another sigh. "I suppose they are everywhere now!"

At that moment the ponies stopped short, spun round, almost unseating their riders, and went off at full speed back along the way they had come; and it was some minutes before they could be checked and soothed and patted back into a walk.

"The country isn't quite civilised yet," said West; "fancy lions being so near the line of a railway. Hark; there he goes again!"

For once more the peculiar barking roar of a lion came from a distance, making the air seem to quiver and the ponies turn restless again and begin to snort with dread.

"Steady, boys, steady!" said Ingleborough soothingly to the two steeds.

"Don't you know that we've got a couple of patent foreign rifles, and that they would be more than a match for any lion that ever lived?"

"If we shot straight!" said West banteringly. "There he goes again!

How near do you think that fellow is?"

"Quiet, boy!" cried Ingleborough, leaning forward and patting his pony on the neck, with satisfactory results. "How far? It's impossible to say! I've heard performers who called themselves ventriloquists, but their tricks are nothing to the roaring of a lion. It's about the most deceptive sound I know. One time it's like thunder, and another it's like Bottom the Weaver."

"Like what?" cried West.

"The gentleman I named who played lion, and for fear of frightening the ladies said he would roar him as gently as a sucking dove. Now then, what's to be done?"

"I don't know," said West. "We did not calculate upon having lions to act as sentries on behalf of the Boers."

"Let's bear off more to the north and try to outflank the great cat."

Changing their course, they started to make a half-circle of a couple of miles' radius, riding steadily on, but only to have their shivering mounts startled again and again till they were ready to give up in despair.

"We'd better wait till daybreak," said West.

"There's no occasion to," said Ingleborough, "for there it is, coming right behind us, and we're going too much to the west. Bear off, and let's ride on. I don't suppose we shall be troubled any more. What we want now is another kopje--one which hasn't been turned into a trap."

"There's what we want!" said West, half-an-hour later, as one of the many clumps of rock and trees loomed up in the fast lightening front.

"Yes," said Ingleborough sharply, "and there's what we don't want, far nearer to us than I like."

"Where?" asked West sharply.

"Straight behind us!"

"Why, Ingle," cried West, in despair, "they've been following us all through the night!"

"No," said Ingleborough, shading his eyes with his hand; "that's a different patrol, I feel sure, coming from another direction."

"What shall we do?"

"Ride straight for that kopje; we're between it and the patrol, and perhaps they won't see us. If they do we must gallop away."

"But suppose this kopje proves to be occupied?" said West. "We don't want to be taken prisoners again."

"That's the truest speech you've made for twenty-four hours, my lad,"

said Ingleborough coolly, "but, all the same, that seems to be the wisest thing to do."

"Make for the kopje?"

"Yes, for we want water, shelter, and rest."

"But if the Boers are there too?"

"Hang it, lad, there aren't enough of the brutes to occupy every kopje in the country; some of them must be left for poor fellows in such a mess as we are."

"Ride on and chance it then?"

"To be sure!" was the reply; and they went on at a steady canter straight for the clump in front, a mile or so away, turning every now and then to watch the line of hors.e.m.e.n which seemed to be going at right angles to their track. Just as they reached the outskirts of the eminence the leading files of the patrol bore off a little and the fugitives had the misery of seeing that the enemy they wished to avoid seemed to be aiming straight for the place they had intended for a refuge, while to have ridden out to right or left meant going full in sight of the patrol.

To make matters worse, the sun was beginning to light up the stony tops of the kopje, and in a very few minutes the lower portions would be glowing in the morning rays.

"Cheer up!" said Ingleborough; "it's a big one! Now then, dismount and lead horses! Here's cover enough to hide in now, and we may be able to get round to the other side without being seen."

"And then?"

"Oh, we won't intrude our company upon the enemy; let's ride off as fast as we can."

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

FALSE ALARMS.

The bottom and surroundings of the eminence afforded plenty of cover, and the fugitives pushed on in and out among dense patches of low growth, and, leading their sure-footed little ponies, they climbed over and around piles and ma.s.ses of stone that would have been difficulties even to mules, while twice over West scaled a slope so as to carefully look down and backward at the enemy.

This he was able to do unseen, and came down again to report that the patrol was still making for the kopje as if for rest, but that their movements were too careless and deliberate for those of an enemy in pursuit.

The far side of the pile of granite and ironstone was reached in safety, placing the fugitives about a quarter of a mile from the Boers in a direct line, but quite a mile of intricate climbing if measured by the distance round; and they paused in a green patch full of refreshing beauty, being a wide ravine stretching up into the height, and with a bubbling stream of water running outward and inviting the ponies at once to take their fill.

"This settles it at once!" said Ingleborough, letting his bridle fall upon his mount's neck.

"Yes; we can go well in yonder, leading the ponies along the bed of the stream. There is plenty of cover to hide half a regiment."

"Of Boers," said Ingleborough shortly. "It will not do for us."

"Why?" said West, staring. "We can hide there till they have gone."