his body quivering with the
greater strain placed upon it by what was happening, till every nerve
and muscle seemed to harden into steel. For the long expected--whatever
it might prove to be--the mystery was about to unfold itself, and in his
intense feeling it seemed to Lennox as if the glittering stars were
flashing out more light.

It was only a noise, but a noise such as Lennox felt that he must hear--
a low, dull, harsh, grating noise as of stone passing over stone; and
though he could see nothing with his eyes, mentally he knew that one of
the great time-bleached and weathered blocks of granite that helped to
form the cyclopean face of the kopje wall had begun to turn as on a
pivot.

This grating sound lasted for a few seconds only, and it came apparently
from a couple of yards away to his right, as he stood with his back
pressed against the rugged natural stones.

Then the noise ceased as suddenly as it had begun, and he listened, now
holding his breath in the vain hope that it would silence the heavy,
dull beating of his heart, whose throbs seemed to echo painfully in his
brain.

He pressed Dickenson's hand again, to feel from the return grip how
thoroughly his comrade was on the alert.

Then all was perfectly silent again, while a dull feeling of despair
began to assert itself as he felt that they were going to hear no more.

At last, with head wrenched round to the right, his revolver feeling wet
in his fingers and his eyes seeming to start with the strain of gazing
along the shelf at the brilliant stars before him, his nerves literally
jerked and he felt perfectly paralysed and unable to stir, for here, not
six feet away, he could make out against the starry sky the dimly-marked
silhouette of a heavily-built man.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

A STRANGE FIND.

It seemed to Drew Lennox that he was staring helplessly at the dark
shadowy shape for quite a minute--but it was only a matter of a few
seconds--before, snatching his left hand from his companion's grasp, he
let his revolver drop to the full extent of its lanyard, and sprang
open-handed at the man.

The movement warned the latter of his danger, and turning sharply round
from where he was watching the direction taken by the detachment, he
made a desperate effort to catch the young officer by the throat.

But Lennox was springing at him, and the weight of his impact drove the
man back for a yard or two; but he recovered himself, got a grip, and