eful and lovely country, and on that fine summer's morning
appeared perhaps even more beautiful than it might have done had Jack
and his friend not so recently escaped from a flat and cheerless part,
where hills were scarcely to be met with. And yet, much as they admired
it all, the presence of a large force of Boers marred the scene, and
filled them with forebodings for the future. Two miles south of them
there was a large camp, mainly composed of bullock wagons, and to the
left of this another could be seen; while crawling across the plain were
strings of vehicles laden with supplies.

In every part, too, galloping about singly or in knots, were mounted
Boer patrols, searching every foot of the country, and making it a
practical impossibility for anyone to slip across it unseen.

Still farther south the tops of other hills could be seen, and as Jack
looked at them through his glasses there were two sudden bursts of smoke
and flame, closely following one another, while the faint reports which
reached him almost a minute later told him that another day of
bombardment had commenced for the troops in Ladysmith.

"Now, what's to be done, Guy?" he asked, shutting the glasses with a
snap and slipping them into the case. "We are fairly surrounded now,
and this will be the hardest part of our journey."

"Humph! It doesn't look over promising," Guy answered slowly. "But
we're going to get through, old chap! Luck has been on our side up to
this, and will be yet. Remember, if it had been any other Boer who
caught you when trying to slip out of the farm, all our plans would have
been hopelessly ruined. Ladysmith cannot be more than seven miles from
here, and during the darkness we must manage to get through these
fellows and reach our friends."

"We'll do it!" Jack answered shortly; "and now, as there seems to be no
need for us both to keep awake, I propose that we take it in turn to
have a snooze. But first of all, we'll have breakfast and a smoke."

Accordingly, taking the greatest pains to keep below the boulders and
not expose themselves to anyone who might be on the plain below, they
breakfasted off some bread which they still had left, and washed it down
with water. Then they lit their pipes, and smoked for an hour or more.

As soon as darkness had fallen again, they picked up their rifles and
stole down the hill on to the veldt. Then, keeping slightly to the
right, they marched on in silence, listening for