As Brown had said, the farmhouse stood at the
foot of the line of hills they were crossing, and was fully a mile
nearer to those on the right flank than to the point from which he was
looking at it, but hidden from their view. Bringing his glass to bear
upon it, he could distinctly make out that some forty or fifty men were
moving about, and that a large quantity of cattle were collected near
the house.
"It is certainly a raiding party," he said to his companion. "They are
too strong for us to attack openly, at least if they are all Boers. It
would not do to lose half our number in our first fight. Still, we may
be able to frighten them off, and save the farmer, who is certainly a
loyalist, and cattle. You gallop along the line as far as it extends and
order all to come over to the right. I shall go on at once and get a
view of the ground close by. By the time they have all assembled we can
see what had best be done."
Going back to their horses they started in opposite directions. In a few
minutes Chris reached a point which he believed to be nearly behind the
farmhouse, picking up some of the scouts by the way.
"I expect I shall be back in about a quarter of a hour," he said as he
dismounted. "You, Peters and Field, may as well come with me, I may want
to send back orders.
Pages:
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102