"That certainly
alters your appearance altogether, and as far as your figures could be
made out through a glass, it could be seen that you are an irregular
body of some sort. And this can be still more plainly seen if, as I
should advise you, you always ride in fours when you are approaching our
lines; there will then be little chance of a mistake being made. Where
did you pick up all those horses?"
"We bought them yesterday from a farmer named Duncan, who has brought
them down from his place near Dundee."
"Ah! that accounts for it; he is one of the best-known horse-breeders in
the colony. I had not heard that he had come down."
"He only arrived two days ago, sir. We were fortunate to hear of it, and
some of us rode over early yesterday and were lucky enough to secure
them."
"You were lucky. There are several mounted corps being formed here and
at Durban, and horses will go up in price rapidly. Where is he
staying'?"
"About a mile and a half farther out, sir. If you want horses I should
think that you had better go on at once, for he told me that he had sold
sixty yesterday, but that very few of them were anything like as good
horses as these."
"No. People are subscribing handsomely, but we cannot afford to mount
our troopers on such horses as these.
Pages:
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72