were seven men
missing. And now for the first time something like a feeling of blank
uneasiness spread through the whole force.

Was there ground for it? We shall see. Some three hours earlier Lamont
and a mere handful of men were pursuing a disorganised mass of the
fleeing Matabele. The latter were thoroughly demoralised;
panic-stricken beyond all thought--and seemingly, all power--of
resistance. They would allow themselves to be shot down as they ran,
sullenly, doggedly, not even begging for quarter; and little mercy had
the avengers on the murderers and mutilators of women and children. The
horses were getting blown, and then it occurred to Lamont that he was
allowing his excitement to outstrip his prudential instincts. Quietly
he conveyed the recommendation to retire--he could not give an order,
for none of these were his own men.

Some of them acted upon it, and some did not. And then as the former
reined in their panting steeds, an unpleasant discovery was made. In
the eagerness of the pursuit they had wandered afield. They made out,
as well as the mist would allow, that they had got among hills, and
assuredly, judging by the entire absence of sound, they had got right
away from the main body. In short they did not know where they were,
and until the mist should lift did not know whether to bear to the right
or the left. The situation was growing awkward.

And to render it more awkward still, they could hear the savages calling
to one another on either side of and rather above them. This looked as
though the weakness of the party had been discovered. And just then, a
curtain of mist rolled backward and upward, revealing granite-strewn
slopes, and along them, resting after their wild and headlong flight,
crouched masses of armed warriors. These, seeing the mere handful of
whites, sprang up immediately and came for them, uttering wild yells.

But not at once did they close. This might be but the advance party of
the force which had meted out to them such terrible punishment, and
might again whirl down upon them in the mist as it had done before. So
they kept a parallel course, as they ran in pursuit, loth to quit the
welcome refuge of rock and boulder in the event of surprise.

The party now realised that it was in a tight place. The horses were
far from fresh, and the fleet-footed savages could keep pace with them
on the upper slopes. Even then all might have turned out well, but the
mist, w