h us."

"That is so, Jack," Frank Russel said. "We cannot expect direct help
from them, but by making a sortie they will draw away some of these
fellows who are watching us."

"Then I vote we make a bolt for it!" Wilfred cried excitedly. "It will
be our only chance, and if we don't take advantage of it we shall never
get any."

"Yes, we must make a rush," Jack agreed, "and by striking out here at
the back, and away round to the left, we ought to manage it. To go
straight ahead to meet a sortie party would mean that we should be
surrounded."

"You're right, lad, perfectly right!" Frank Russel cried. "We're
playing a move with men who are as slim as slim can be, and to get away
we must beat them at their own game. Put yourself in their shoes for a
moment. It is just what any ordinary set of fellows would do if they
were in a close fix like this. They'd rush towards the comrades who
were coming out to help them. Our friends the Boers will expect us to
do that, and we'll disappoint them."

"Then it is agreed we make a rush," said Jack. "Let us have a look at
the ponies."

Going into the kitchen, they found that Prince and one of the Boer
ponies alone remained alive, Vic and the others having been struck down
by the shell.

Jack stepped up to the body of the little animal which had proved a true
friend to him, and patted her gently on the neck. Then he climbed on to
the table again and out on to the roof.

For three hours nothing happened, and then a large force of Boers
appeared, and having reached their old position, out of range of the
defenders' rifles, they pulled up and put two big guns in position.

For an hour they poured a perfect torrent of shell at the house,
smashing it to pieces and bringing that part over the cellar down with a
crash upon the ground.

But though it was sufficiently terrifying to Jack and his friends below,
it did not damp their ardour. Carefully popping up their heads, they
ascertained that there were yet many posts in which they could kneel and
fire and still not be exposed to the enemy. And if the worst were to
happen, the cellar itself would form a last site for defence, from which
they could hope to keep the Boers away for a considerable time.

It was now getting dark, and after a short pause, probably to fetch up
more ammunition and cool the guns, the bombardment again commenced, one
of the shells setting fire to the wreckage above the bomb-proof chamber.
In an