"
"With this moon we ought to be able to find some of the men without
waiting for daylight," Chris said. "It would be an immense thing if we
could be after them before they have got too long a start."
"It would indeed. Well, we will feed our horses at once, and by the time
we have had a cup of tea they will be ready to start. If we have luck,
we ought not to be away more than a couple of hours."
"It would make our success pretty well a certainty if we could get the
ponies by that time," Chris said.
In less than half an hour the seven farmers started. Only one of the
horses had been killed, and they rode away at a rate that showed that
the others were none the worse for their three days on somewhat short
rations.
"Now," Chris said, after seeing them off, "we will get a couple of
hours' sleep. I wish Peters and his party could do the same, but it
would not do to trust to the Boers not coming back again."
All were asleep in a few minutes, but an hour later they heard a shot
fired, followed by several others. They leapt to their feet, seized
their rifles, and ran out into the yard. There was, however, no
repetition of the firing, and a few minutes later Peters came in and
reported that the Zulus had discovered a number of Boers making their
way cautiously forward.
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