"
"I hope so indeed. You see, the Boers were quiet when I started, and I
should hardly think that they would make an attack again after I left.
They seemed to have settled down to starve us out; but it is quite
possible that now I have got away they will grow nervous lest I should
bring help up, and are very likely to make another attempt this evening.
They would be pretty sure to succeed this time, for there are only seven
of us left there; and though they could make a good fight in daylight,
they would have no real chance if the Boers went at them in earnest,
which they are sure to do next time. We agreed before I started that it
would not do to try to defend the yard. After I left they were going to
pile everything movable against the doors and windows and fight hard to
keep the Boers out, and would then go upstairs and sell their lives
dearly."
"How far are the Boer horses out?"
"About five hundred yards away, in a dip. We know they always keep three
or four men on guard there, for we have seen them come out of the hollow
sometimes."
"And the cattle, have they driven them off yet?"
"Yes; four of the Boers and twenty or thirty natives went straight on
with them as soon as they had driven us into the farmhouse.
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