Wait till they strike up
another song with a chorus, none of them are likely to leave the room
while that is going on, and it will drown the sound of hoofs."
There were few people about in the streets; and even had anyone passed
as they were mounting, he could not tell that they were not the
legitimate owners.
"If anyone should come out," Chris said, "don't try to ride away. We
should have the whole lot after us in a minute, and it is not likely we
should have got hold of the fastest ponies. Besides, they would shoot us
before we got far. So if anyone does come out and raises an alarm, jump
off at once and run round the nearest corner, and then into the first
garden we come to. We should be in one before they could come out, mount
their ponies, and give chase. Once among the gardens we should be safe.
If the man who comes out does not shout we would pay no attention to
him, but ride away quietly. If the ponies don't happen to belong to him
or some friend of his, he would not be likely to interfere, for he would
suppose that we were two of the party who had left the place without his
noticing them. But if he gives a shout, jump off at once, and rush round
the corner of the nearest house."
They waited for a minute or two, and then two Boers came out, mounted a
couple of the ponies, and rode quietly down the street.
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