'll answer for this fellow. Why, Val, you were
commandoed, and cutting away?"

"Yes," I cried excitedly. "Here, Joeboy, this is Boss Denham."

"Um!" ejaculated the black, showing his teeth.

"I was running away from the Boers so as not to serve, Mr Denham," I
said eagerly, for I wanted to wipe off the slurs of coward and spy.

"Well, quite right, my lad," said the Lieutenant. "But what were you
going to do?"

"Get into Natal, sir, and join the Light Horse."

"Well done!" laughed the Colonel, clapping me on the back; "then you've
regularly fallen upon your legs, my lad. That your horse?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good," he cried, looking me over, "and you ride him well. We're the
Light Horse. I'm the Colonel, at your service, and I accept you at once
as a recruit."

"You can go through the swearing-in business some other time, Val," said
the Lieutenant. "Now then, are the Boers in force and coming down the
pass?"

I told him all I knew, and the Colonel laughed.

"You've seen a sentry and heard a few shots fired, my lad," he said.
"Why, you're not worth calling a spy."

"Am I one of the Light Horse now, sir?" I said eagerly.

"Certainly."

"Then send me back up to the Nek, and I'll try and prove myself a better
one."

"I'll send you up, sir," said the Colonel stiffly, "with a vidette, to
feel for the enemy and try to draw him out; but we don't call members of
the Light Horse spies. If you go on such an adventure it will be a
reconnaissance."

I felt humbled, and was silent.

"This is an old friend of yours, then, Denham?" continued the Colonel.

"Oh yes," replied the Lieutenant. "His father, Mr Moray, was a most
kindly host to me during a long shooting expedition, and I am very glad
to have his son with us. I hope, sir, you will place him in the same
troop as I am."

"Certainly," said the Colonel, who then turned to me in a frank, bluff
way, and held out his hand.

"Glad to have you with us, Mr Moray," he said; "and I beg your pardon
for being so rough with you. Your appearance was a bit suspicious,
though. But what about this black fellow?"

"He is my servant, sir," I replied.

"Humph! But we can't allow privates in this corps to bring their
servants. It is not a picnic nor a shooting expedition."

Some one who heard these words cried "Oh!" loudly.

"I beg your pardon, gentlemen," said the Colonel, smiling; "it is. I
should have said this is not a hunting expedition. We all have to r