and the third was cut down a second
later by a man galloping along close behind Jack.

But many of the Boers had managed to reach their ponies, and were
galloping away to join their friends; and after them the gallant little
body of horsemen spurred, determined to teach them a lesson if they
could only reach them. A mile farther on, as they were passing some
rocky ground, a line of fire spurted out from some bushes, and Lord
O'Farnel, who had kept close to Jack, was thrown senseless to the
ground, a bullet having killed his pony. Jack at once pulled up and
dismounted, to find his friend huddled upon the ground with one leg
twisted suspiciously beneath him.

A glance told Jack that it was broken, and that it would be impossible
to move his friend until something had been done. As a preliminary he
straightened the limb out, and then turned Farney on his back and opened
his collar. That done, he sprinkled some water on his face, obtaining
it from his friend's bottle, and looked round to see what had become of
the column with whom they had charged.

They were out of sight, and it looked as though the two young fellows
were alone, but the phit, phit of two bullets flying past his head, and
the loud thuds and spurts of dust which followed, told him that some of
the Boers were still in the neighbourhood and were firing at him. But
he could see no one, though he searched all round. He and his friend
lay in a wide hollow about half a mile across, and close to an isolated
patch of boulders which cropped up in the centre.

"There are some Boers over there," thought Jack, "and if I am not
precious careful they will bag me. But I'm not going to get hit or
taken if I can help it."

Determined to make a fight for it, and protect his unconscious friend,
he took Farney by the shoulders and dragged him across the ground as
gently as possible till he was in a spot with an almost complete barrier
of boulders round him. Then he called Prince and ordered him to lie
down, which the obedient animal did at once.

A few moments later Jack himself was hidden behind the rocks, and was
busied in loading his own and Farney's rifle, and in laying cartridges
close at hand. "That's all right," he muttered. "Both magazines are
full, so I ought to give a good account of myself. Now I'll pile up a
few more boulders, or I shall be getting some of those bullets flying
closer to my head than I like."

Keeping his body sheltered as much as