sky position he
occupied that night. Dickenson was flat upon his back with his hands
under his head, going over again the scene in the cavern when he was
looking down the chasm and watching the movement of the light his friend
had attached to his belt.

"Not a pleasant thing to think about," he said to himself, "but it makes
me feel savage against that corporal, and it's getting my monkey up, for
we've got to fight to-night as we never fought before. We've got to
whip, as the Yankees say--`whip till we make the beggars run.' What a
piece of impudence it does seem!" he said to himself a little later on.
"Here we are, about a hundred and fifty hungry men, and I'll be bound to
say there's about fifteen hundred of the enemy. But then they don't
grasp it. They're beggars to sleep, and if we're lucky we shall be on
to them before they know where they are. Oh, we shall do it;" and he
lay thinking again of Corporal May, feeling like a boy once more; and he
was just at the pitch when he muttered to himself, "What a pity it is
that an officer must not strike one of his men!--for I should dearly
like to punch that fellow's head.--Ha! here's the major. Never mind,
there'll be other heads waiting over yonder, and I dare say I shall get
all I want."

He turned over quickly, not to speak, but to grip his comrade's hand,
for the word was being passed to fall in, and as he and Lennox gripped
each other's hands hard and in silence, a soft, rustling movement was
heard. For the men were springing to their feet and arranging their
pouches and belts, before giving their rifles a thorough rub to get rid
of the clinging clew.

"Fall in" was whispered, and the men took their places with hardly a
sound.

"Fix bayonets!" was the next order, and a faint--very faint--metallic
clicking ran along the lines, followed by a silence so deep that the
breathing of the men could be heard.

"Forward!"

There was no need for more, and the officers led off, with the one idea
of getting as close to the Boers as possible before they were
discovered, and then charging home, keeping their men as much together
as they could, and knowing full well that much must be left to chance.

The next minute the men were advancing softly in double line, opening
out and closing up, as obstacles in the shape of stone and bush began to
be frequent. But there was no hurry, no excitement. They had ample
time, and when one portion of the force was a little entangl