"
The other Boer had picked up the two rifles. They now entered the river.
The stream in the middle was breast-high, and the Boer with the rifles
told Sankey to hold on to him, which he was glad to do, for the force of
the stream almost took him off his feet. The other Boers had now left
their hiding-places, and received them when they reached the opposite
bank. The one who seemed to be their leader said not unkindly, "You have
given us a great deal of trouble, young fellows, and killed one of our
comrades and badly wounded another."
"If you had left us alone we should have been very glad to have let you
alone," Chris said.
The Boers laughed at the light-heartedness of their prisoner, and then
examined their wounds. Chris had, as he said, been hit in the calf. The
ball had entered behind, and had come out close to the bone. Chris
believed that he could walk, but thought it best to affect not to be
able to do so. The wound had bled very little, and the two holes were no
larger than would be made by an ordinary slate-pencil. Sankey had been
hit just below the shoulder. The ball had in his case also gone right
through, and from the position of the two holes it was evident that it
must have passed through the bone.
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