Any one hurt, sergeant? said Captain Roby.
No, sir, wonderful to relate. Our lads were too sharp for them, and dropped at once. My heart rose to my mouth, sir, for I thought three of ours were hit; but it was only their sharpness, for they were returning the fire the next moment, and we kept it up as hot as the enemy did till they fell back.
Quite time the Boers were taught the meaning of civilised war, Bob, said Lennox as they returned to their quarters.
Quite; but Im out of heart with them, replied Dickenson. Theyre bad pupils such a one-sided lot.
What about the corn and sheep and beef those fellows are to bring to-morrow or next night? said Lennox grimly.
Well, what about it? Im afraid theyll be too much offended with the colonels treatment to come.
Yes, said Lennox; so am I.
Chapter Six. Pleasant Supplies
Time was gliding on without any sign of help from outside, and the beleaguered party would have concluded that they were quite forgotten by their friends if they had not felt certain that the different generals were fully engaged elsewhere.
Lets see, said Lennox one evening; weve been attacked every day since our fishing-trip.
Thats right; and the Boers have been beaten every day for a week.
And yet they are as impudent as over. They think that we shall surrender as soon as we grow a little more hungry.
Then theyll be sold, said Dickenson, for the hungrier I grow the more savage and full of fight I get. You know about the old saying of some fellow, that when he had had a good dinner a child might play with him?
Oh yes, I know, said Lennox. Well, these children of the desert had better not try to play with me.
Ought to have a notice on you, Take care; he bites eh? said Lennox merrily.
M, yes; something of the kind. I say, I wish, though, I could sleep without dreaming.
Cant you?
No; its horrible. I go to sleep directly I lie down, and then the game begins. Im at Christmas dinners or banquets or parties, and the tables are covered with good things. Then either theyve got no taste in them, or else as soon as I try to cut a slice or take up a mouthful in a spoon its either snatched or dragged away.
Oh, dont talk about food, said Lennox impatiently; it makes me feel sick. Theres one comfort, though.
Is there? cried Dickenson excitedly. Where? Give us a bit.
Nonsense! I mean we have plenty of that beautiful spring water.
Ugh! cried Dickenson, with a shudder. Cold and clear, unsustaining. I saw some water once through a microscope, and it was full of live things twizzling about in all directions. Thats the sort of water we want now something to eat in it as well as drink.
Lennox made an irritable gesture.
Talk about something else, man, he cried. You think of nothing but eating and drinking.
Thats true, old man. Well, Ill say no more about drinking; but I wonder how cold roast prisoner would taste?
Bob! shouted Lennox.
Well, what shall I talk about?
Look about you. See how beautiful the kopjes and mountains look in the distance this evening; they seem to glow with orange and rose and gold.
There you go again! Youre always praising up this horrid place.
Well, isnt it beautiful? See how clear the air is.
I dare say. But I dont want clear air; Id rather it was thick as soup if it tasted like it.
Soup! There you go again. Think of how lovely it is down by the river.
With the Boers popping at you? I say, this ear of mine doesnt heal up.
You dont mind the doctors orders.
So much fighting to do; havent time.
But you grant it is beautiful down by the river?
Yes, where only man is vile very vile indeed; does nothing all day but try to commit murder. But there, its of no use for you to argue; I think South Africa is horrible. Look at the miles of wretched dusty desert and stony waste. I dont know what we English want with it.
Room for our colonists, and to develop the mines. Look at the diamonds.
Look at our sparkling sea at home.
Look at the gold.
I like looking at a good golden furzy common in Surrey. Its of no use, Drew, my lad; its a dismal, burning, freezing place.
Why dont you throw it up and go home, then?
What! before weve beaten the Boers into a state of decency? No!
Bob Dickensons No! was emphatic enough for anything, and brought the conversation between the two young men to an end; for it was close upon the time for the mess dinner, which, whatever its shortcomings, as Bob Dickenson said, was jolly punctual, even if there was no tablecloth.
So they descended from where they had perched themselves close up to the big gun, where their commanding position gave them the opportunity for making a wide sweep round over the karoo, taking in, too, the wooded course of the river and the open country beyond in the possession of the Boers.
But they had seen no sign of an enemy or grazing horse; though they well knew that if a company of their men set off in any direction, before they had gone a quarter of a mile they would be pelted with bullets by an unseen foe.
They had seen the walls and rifle-pits which guarded the great gun so often that they hardly took their attention. All the same, though, soldier-like, Drew Lennox could not help thinking how naturally strong the kopje was, how easy it would be for two or three companies of infantry to hold it against a force of ten times their number, and what tremendous advantages the Boers had possessed in the nature of their country. For they had only had to sit down behind the natural fortifications and set an enemy at defiance.