On the Firing Line

hed speaking, when the voice of t

t, Captain Frazer. Kemp is a man wo

ldon," the Captain to

een glance incl

an ride? I must have some despatches at Krugersdorp bef

n the General's keen glance was on them both; t

answered to its u

is forty miles, and the rain w

s no dif

elt himself surveyed

. It will be better to wait until dusk before starting, for

can learn

ed a re

d the little

wise, I prefer this. I can tr

te and eager beneath its streaks of red-brown dust. Then, as Weldon s

man there, Captain Fraze

t have lasted longer than he had thought. It had been hot and heavy; but at least he had not funked it. For so much he could be thankful. In so far as he could recall any of his emotions as he had dashed into range of the pitiless firing, they had been summed up in a dull rage against the enemy, mingled with a vague hope that no harm should come to the plucky little mount. Just on

os

tened in h

pecial providences, wh

ger Bobs come br

bs, you're

vanished beh

replied then. "

all

s no kill

N

heart of it. Of Weldon's being in the very heart of it, no doubt had once stained the loyal whiteness of his soul. To assure himself of Weldon's safety, he ambled around the gray broncho in a clumsy c

rt Boss," he

he

for sternness, the voice of Kru

of his leg, just before he had started the gray broncho on her last mad rush across the lead-swept plain. In the excitement that followed

for doctor?" the

ughed rea

Bobs. I've no time to

Boss

up Mr. Carew and then get to the

de big bos

want

Bobs demand

e a des

s is war, and I've given my word to the General. It was an order, and I had to do it." Backing his horse off for a st

s go, too," he said,

swept up across the sky, and already the rain was pattering drearily over the hunched-up shoulders of Kruger Bobs. Inside the tent, the colloquy was brief. Twice Weldon repeated over the substan

t, bringing me a fresh mount," he

t is

Kaf

m wh

tberg

ou tru

the General steadily. "As I wo

f a blanket. Muffled in the thick folds, the horses' feet would make no sound on the hard-baked earth. Krug

evitable weariness. Now, refreshed by their supper, both he and the broncho had come to their second wind, and they faced the storm pluckily and with unbowed heads. Beside him, The Nig, fresh and fit as a horse could be, galloped onward steadily under the weight of Kruger Bobs. It had been at Weldon's own command that Kruger Bobs had abandoned his raw-boned steed and placed himself astride the sacred body of th

in the recesses of the Kaffirs scanty garments. Then, snatching a hasty meal, with the last of it still in his hands, Weldon strode away to look for Carew. He found him, bandaged but jovial, a shattered bone in his foot and his pipe in his shut teeth. Fortunately the pain bore no rel

m glue to the consistency of cream. Bottom there was none; the bottomlessness of it only became more apparent when one or other of the horses stumbled into the hole of an ant-bear. Twice the gray broncho was on her knees; once The Nig came down so sharply that Kruger Bobs rolled forward out

edged closer

ick?" h

her content,

oy questione

and some ot

elp B

I'd better let

sted, in the hushed tone in which

tter not

hoofs in the ever-deepening mire, and by the sighing squeak o

oft parcel into Weldon's dangling hand

avory bits which Paddy must have gleaned here and there from the general mess,

and the same errand. With impartial hand, Weldon tore the paper across and divided its contents. He only regretted that convention had forbidden him the trick

ed, he straighte

s in these hills," he warned his companion;

came close

take despatch. Boss say to Kruger Bobs where de despat

a little, as the s

e best was always his for the asking. Of his own condition he took no heed. It was all in the game. He would play the game out as long as he could; but his last move should be, as his first had been, strictly according to rule. Meanwhile, for two facts he was at a loss to account. Dawning was still hours distant.

at the challenging

nswered, in a voice which seemed to his

d give the

gathered hims

ted countersign. I've despatches from Dixon

again that fierce and throbbing pain below his knee. He left the sentry in no doubt, either of the truth of his statement, or of his m

d drooped pitifully, as Weldon sat waiting for the inevitable challenge. It came at

's column. Take me to

nt of a gray stone building, Weldon dimly heard the tingling of many bells within, then the hurried opening of a window, and a voice demanding the ca

l Kekewich between the

forward on his