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"Then they are there," I muttered as I swung Sandho round again. Joeboy laid his left hand on the saddle, and away we cantered forward to circumvent, if possible, the party in front whose horse had answered Sandho's challenge. The men behind yelled to us to stop. We paid no heed, but, regardless of the stones, cantered on, Joeboy taking them at a stride in company with Sandho's bounds.
Long practice had made us quick; and in an incredibly short time I was standing like the rest with my rifle slung across my back, holding Sandho's bridle ready to lead him out through the gateway, military fashion, though he would have walked at my side like a dog.
"They'll have a long one," I thought; for, though I was in great pain, I found, to my intense delight, that I could accommodate myself to Sandho's long swinging gallop as he spurned the soft loose earth behind him, the ascent being exceedingly slight; and we were progressing in a series of antelope-like bounds.
"Sandho's somewhere at the bottom of this slope," I thought, and I called him by name; but I was horrified to hear my words go reverberating from me with strange, whispering echoes which died slowly away. "How strange!" I muttered, as the intense darkness made my feeling of confusion return. "Where am I? What place is this?"
There was a soft mistiness in the great arch above me, and it was some minutes before I could pick out a few of the familiar stars; but at last I was certain, and made out that the Boers had galloped on nearly due north, while Sandho's nose was pointed east. North meant home; and without doubt they would keep on in that direction, feeling sure that I should make for the farm.
Still, that spurred me into effort; and as I pressed Sandho's sides lightly, he began to amble gently along, while I raised my eyes to the stars, and endeavoured to make out which way we were travelling.
And I had cause for my nervous sensation. In fact, what followed proved that, in the darkness and confusion caused by our ignorance, Joeboy backed the horse along the edge of the precipice instead of right away from it; for there was a sudden slip, and one of Sandho's hind-legs went down, making the poor beast give a frantic plunge which nearly unseated me and drove Joeboy backwards.
The next minute he was leading the horse in and out among the rocks, Sandho's hoofs striking a stone with a sharp click; after which he checked the active little animal, and we stood together listening. But all was still, and the night looked as if a black cloud had been drawn across the sky.
Do you know" I was going to say something about the rising of one of the rivers up in the mountains somewhere near, but I stopped short, for my companion suddenly darted to Sandho's head and pressed him sidewise towards a pile of rocks which offered plenty of shelter from anything in front. "What is it, Joeboy?" I said. "A good shot at something?"
Then, as the horse leaped up again, he made three or four bounds before standing snorting and trembling; while I heard the rush and rattle of the dislodged stones as they went hurtling down into the gorge. "Um! Mustn't try any more," said Joeboy coolly as he took hold of Sandho's bridle again, and petted and caressed the poor beast till he was calm once more.
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