Five or six of the
leading Boers fell and several horses, the rest came to an abrupt pause,
galloped back some little distance and then dismounted, and leaving
their horses in shelter, disappeared from sight. In a short time a
dropping fire was opened from both sides of the valley.
"Don't fire unless you see a man," Chris ordered, "there are gaps on the
hillside that they can't pass without giving you a chance. Fire in
rotation, it is no use wasting a dozen bullets on one man; if the first
misses, let the next shoot instantly, and so on. When they learn that it
is death to leave shelter, they will soon get sick of it. Keep
yourselves well under cover."
The rifle duel continued for an hour. As Chris had said would be the
case, after seven or eight had fallen, as they were trying to make
rushes across pieces of ground where boulders afforded no cover, the
rest became very cautious, and at last only an occasional shot was
heard.
"We will fall back now," Chris said, "for aught we know a party of them
may be working round somewhere to take us in rear. We know that they
have not got their horses with them, for we can see the spot where they
hid them. Still, we do not want to be caught between two fires. Let four
on each flank crawl back; keep well among the rocks, and don't let them
catch sight of you.
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