"They are not more than six or seven
hundred yards away," he said, "and it would be better to fight it out
here than to take to our horses. Some of us would certainly not get off
without a bullet. You need not mind showing yourselves when they come
up. They won't be able to make out what we are."
The Boers, indeed, reined in their ponies when they saw Chris appear on
the brow of the eminence, and as a preliminary some of them rode off in
both directions and endeavoured to ascertain the position. Those on the
right soon caught sight of the clump of horses.
"They will soon know all about it," Chris said, as two of them galloped
off. "We may as well teach them to keep their distance. Take your places
behind rocks, and then open a sharp fire with your magazines. They
cannot know how many of us there are here. Now, are you all ready? Yes?
Well, then, set to work!"
In a moment an almost incessant rattle of musketry broke out upon the
astounded Boers, who, turning their horses, scattered at full gallop to
escape the hail of bullets; but more than a dozen had fallen before they
were beyond the range of the Mausers and were fully two thousand yards
away.
"I don't think we need stop," Chris said. "Fill up your magazines again,
and then make for the horses.
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