"
"Thank you, sir," both boys said; and Sankey added: "We are great
friends, sir. Though I don't care for myself, it would be a great
comfort to us to be together, and my wound really hurts me a good deal."
"I have no doubt it does," the surgeon said. "You can't expect a ball to
pass through muscle and bone without causing pain."
Half an hour later some natives came into the tent, and under the
directions of the surgeon carried out Chris and three others whose
wounds were all comparatively slight, and placed them in a waggon which
already contained eight other wounded prisoners. Sankey, with his arm in
a sling, walked out and was lifted into the waggon, into which he could
indeed scarcely have climbed without assistance. Seven more were
collected at other tents, and the waggons then moved off and joined a
long line that were waiting on the road. Some more presently came up,
and when the number was complete, the native drivers cracked their whips
with reports like pistols, and the oxen got into motion. Some twenty
mounted Boers kept by the side of the waggons. They followed the road
until within four or five miles of Ladysmith, then turned off, crossed
the Klip river, and came to a spot where a hospital camp had been
erected; here they halted for the night.
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