his knife, commenced cutting
a big armful of grass and weed which grew beneath many of the boulders.
Then, still hidden from the Boers, he hacked at a small tree which stood
near at hand, and crawled back to the fort dragging it after him.
Bundling the reeds and grass into as close compass as possible, he bound
them round with others. Then he cut the branches off the tree and
thrust the slim pole it left up through the centre of his bundle. With
his friend's hat on top his dummy was completed, and a few moments later
he had arranged a heap of stones with which to prop it up.

"There," he said, surveying the reeds with satisfaction, "as soon as it
gets dusk we will put that up. That will make them think I am still
here, and when night really falls I shall lift you as well as I can, get
on Prince, and ride away in the direction in which we were galloping.
If they look for us anywhere, it will be towards the camp, so that by
going the opposite way, and leaving our dummy up, we shall put them
completely off the scent."

"Well, you are a 'cute one!" chuckled Farney. "Put them off the scent!
I should think it would! But you'll find me an awful weight, old chap.
Still, I've no doubt you'll manage it. You've stuck to this business
like a brick, and as you've said you'll get me back to the camp I
believe you'll do it."

It was already late in the afternoon, and the sun had sunk behind the
sharp ridge of the Drakenberg range. But there was still sufficient
light to see across the open ground to the circumference of the hollow,
and since Jack had nothing more to do than to keep a good lookout, he
opened his haversack and made a hearty meal of biscuits and a piece of
cheese. Lord O'Farnel wouldn't touch a mouthful. Poor fellow! though
evidently suffering acute agony from his broken leg, he never allowed so
much as a groan to escape him. But his knitted forehead and the
perspiration on his face showed that he was in pain, which was so severe
that, though he had not touched a morsel since the previous night, he
refused even to nibble a biscuit. But he drank all that remained in his
water-bottle, and seemed much refreshed.

"Now, I think it is about time to stick our dummy up," said Jack, when
it became so dark that the edges of the hollow were indistinct.

Slowly lifting the bundle, he perched it above the rocks, and wedged the
stake between the stones; as he did so, a volley fired from some twenty
rifles, showing tha