No more of the Boers dropped, but
the watchers, who had their glasses directed upon them, thought by their
movements that two had been hit. The Boers, when the firing ceased,
stopped, and for some little time remained clustered together. Then they
took a long sweep round to a point where the ground was broken, and a
shallow donga ran up in a direction that would bring them within a
hundred yards of the position occupied by their hidden assailants. There
they were seen to dismount, and, after some talk, leaving all the horses
in the charge of one man, probably one of the wounded, they entered the
donga. Its course was irregular, and once or twice the two lads were
able to get a shot at them. The Boers did not return the fire but
hurried past the exposed points. As they approached a head was
occasionally raised above the bank to view the position, and then
disappeared again. The ground between the camp and the nearest point of
the donga was thickly strewn with boulders, with bushes growing between
them. The lads had all shifted their position to this side.
"Don't open fire till I give the order," Chris said quietly. "We have
got them now."
Except for a slight movement of the bushes, it would not have been known
that the Boers had left the donga.
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