With Buller in Natal A Born Leader

in the gorge than the Boers appe

"the farther they have to come und

ir position, their aim was deadly. Five or six of the leading Boers fell and several horses, the rest came to an abrupt pause, galloped back some little dista

hance. Fire in rotation, it is no use wasting a dozen bullets on one man; if the first misses, let the next shoot instantly,

ght had fallen, as they were trying to make rushes across pieces of ground where boulders af

t between two fires. Let four on each flank crawl back; keep well among the rocks, and don't let them catch sight of you. We will fire occasionally to let them know that we are still here. When you have got the horses up and everything is ready, whistle, a

treat could not be seen from the valley below. They cantered along in high glee; not one had received a scratch, while some twelve of th

our turning the tables upon them. They must have seen that we are better mounted than they are, and have been afraid that we should in turn

s it has done. This is the second fight we have had with the Boers, and we have thrashed them well each time, although the first time they were twice as strong, and in the second something like four times, a

two hours before they overtook the party with

ly, when they came up, "but the Kaffirs said that unless we gave them a

, we can go on as quietly as we like. I have some sort of respect for men like those we met at Dundee and Elandslaagte, who fight manfully and stoutly, but for these

eneral chorus

get near y

nd if the whole hillside had been covered with boulders we might have had some sharp fighting, but there were some open spaces to be cros

siness unmistakably. There was, however, no alarm, and two days later, travelling by easy stages, they arrived at Estcourt, where their arrival with so large a number of cattle created quite a sensation. They at once put up a notice at the post-office, that all persons who had been raided by the Boers could come and inspect the herd and take all animals bearing their brand. It soon appeared that the cattle were the property of fou

nd gave him an outline of their adventure, upon which he was warmly con

you had better write and post it to the officer commandi

osed to Ladysmi

rt here, and have been throwing up entrenchments, but if they come in any force there is not much hope of our getting off. We have an armored train, which yesterday ran to within a mile or so of Colenso without being interfered with, though several parties of the enemy could be seen in the distance. I have great hopes that we shall get half a battalion up from Maritzburg to-morrow; if so, by loopholing the houses and throwing up some breastworks, we ought to be able to keep the Boers out of the pla

n to Durban, but some still remained, and from these they received a hearty welcome. All found letters awaiting them, for it had been arranged that as it would be impossible to give any address, these sho

brigade there. Chris called upon the brigadier and presented General Yu

. What are your wishes now? There are two or three troops of volunteer horse here; would you wish to be attached to one of them? Of course, i

e frontier, where there was a bridge across the Komati river-and thence by rail to Pretoria. Chris heard that it was generally known that the Portuguese officials, who had long been influenced by Boer money extracted from the Uitlanders

rques. Now, at present we don't see much for us to do here. My idea is, that if we could manage to blow up the bridge across the river that

ed at each oth

t, Chris?" Peters said; "it w

tions as to the time when it can be relieved are a good deal short of the mark. There must be at least twenty thousand men collected here to do it, and I think it is more likely to be the end of January than the end of December before the Boers are driven off. We have in the one case s

g Irish fellows. We know there are lots of them already up there, and Germans too, fighting in the Boer ranks and I am glad to know that they got peppered at Elandslaagte, although that is not to the point. We should go as four Irish lads who have come across from America to fight for the Boers. We have heard plenty of Irish in the mines and at Johannesburg, so shall be able to put enough brogue in our talk to p

o Lorenzo Marques. Once landed, we should of course take a train for Komati-poort, and slip off it after dark at some station a few miles from there. Then, you know, we could first reconnoitre the bridge, and when we had settled on the best place for the dynamite,

ith increasing surp

er plan?" Peters aske

ziland, which extends to within a short distance of Komati-poort. Both tribes are friendly enough with us, and hate the Boers like poison. Of course in

ou would manage it. There can be no doubt that it would be a grand thing if we could do it. I have heard my father say that the river is a terribly bad one, and that sometimes it is altogether impassable for w

s a sort of forlorn hope, will continue to do well after we have started on it, and of course I shall, if I get back, rejoin them. My scheme would, no doubt, be considered a very wild one, but I can see no reason why, with good luck, it should not succeed. Indeed, I believe that it will succeed, if, when we arrive there, we do not find that the Boer

be trying to induce the Zulus and Swazis to do the same; and even if we fail in the principal object, I should say that the time would not be wasted. When I am up there, I can, of course, get news as to how the war is going on, and if I find that our forces are pushing up into the Transvaal, I shall make straight across the country and join them. I have been thinking over the ma

ers, and will no doubt keep them acquainted with every movement of troops here, and can have no difficulty in communicating with them by native runners. Were one of our friends even to mention it casually that we had gone north, suspicions might be aroused. Therefore I beg that no one will breathe a word about the matter, but that you will d

e easily in case we were pursued. On the other hand, with a stronger party we could repulse an attack if chased by the Boers. So you see I really do not want more than three of you to join. I think

afternoon without any allusion being made to the subject. When they met the next day Chris said cheerfully, "We

t," Brown said. "When I

about the

nd Sankey would all go with you if you wanted to take more than four, and all would go if you wanted t

xpenses. In the first place we shall want, I should say, a couple of hundred pounds of dynamite; then we shall have to take some natives with us, a couple of Zulus and two or three Swazis. There will be no difficulty in getting them, as so many have been thrown out of employment owing to the farmers losing their herds. We may find it useful to

a chorus o

d said. "It won't be the same without you at all. We have

"Everyone has done equally well, and it is a qu

ble to fix on one. Suppose our votes were divided between four and five I don't think we should feel more co

discussed and decided by vote, then draw all the names from a hat and let each be leader for a week in the order in which they come out, with the proviso t

n might not seem to us at all the best. In the two fights we have had there was not that difficulty, for everyone felt that the plan you adopted was the best, and indeed much better tha

said on the matter. If both disagreed with him there must be a general vote. I should hope such a thing would never occur, because the loss of five minutes would sometimes be disastrous, though in some cases it might not make any difference. Still, that

on. It was agreed that at any rate the first leader should be

"as we have settled to remain here until the ad

well mounted if we are hampered with a pony that cannot keep up with us. We have only to light

d are accustomed to our ways. I don't care which I have, but I should certainly like to have one of them. He would

like two spare

if they broke down we could always replace them. Certainly there would be no danger if we go through Zululand, and, I should think, not until we get north of the Swazis' country; for though I

ve settled t

oking out for news to send to the Boers. I think the best plan will be to keep a little to the east of the road to Greytown, where no doubt there are some Dutch, and strike the road that runs from there to Eshowe. A little west of Krantzkop there must be either a drift or a bridge or a ferry where it crosses the Tugela. I shall of course avoid Eshowe, and then keep along inside the Zulu frontier as far as the Maputa, which is its northern boundary, then we shall cross the Lebombo range into Swaziland. I don't know how far it would be

ield laughed, "as if you were go

d, "except that it will be longer, a bit

ill you

so on, and a lantern that will burn paraffin. We will fill up our pouches with a hundred rounds of rifle cartridges and fifty for our revolvers, and then I think we shall be ready. Now mind, the success of our enterprise depends entirely upon your all keeping the secret absolutely. Neither Willesden, Brown, nor Peters have friends here to bother themselves about their absence. We are not likely to be missed, but if any questions are asked, you can say casually that we are off on a scouting expedition. I

m. He had been so well treated since he joined them that he had become quite attached to Chris, who gene

Zulu and two Swazis. Do you t

hem here, baas. I look

l them that they

the march to look after two or three ponies. We shall onl

ns, baas? All men

well carry guns, a

guns, baas. They would be tho

be no difficulty about that;

previously used and obtained those of Government pattern and carrying the regulation cartridge, so that for ten

em; "and I shall tell the men I engage that if at the end of the journey I am well

employment by the events of the past fortnight, they were glad of a fresh job, and were highly satisfied when they were offered wages considerably higher than those they had befo