His instructions to Chris were that he was to
detach two of his party at each mile, choosing points where they could
best make their way to the river unobserved. As he himself with the main
body would go up considerably farther, each pair, when they had searched
their section, were to ride a mile or so back from the river and fall in
with the main body on its return.
Riding rapidly along, Chris carried out his instructions, until, when
some twelve miles from the camp, he remained with only Sankey with him.
The country they had passed was rolling, and from time to time he had
caught sight of small parties of Captain Brookfield's scouts. Arriving
at a spot where there was a slight depression running down towards the
river, he said, "We may as well follow it, Sankey. It will deepen into a
donga presently, no doubt, and we can leave our horses there and go on
on foot. It looks to me as if this had been used as a path. Of course it
may only have been made by cattle going down to the water, but it may
lead to a drift. If it is, we must be all the more careful, for it is
just at these points that the Boers are very likely to be on the look-
out."
They rode for some distance and then dismounted, knee-haltered their
horses and moved forward cautiously.
Pages:
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304