ant to fight--we want
to get Mr Lennox safely back. If they don't ride straight off, and are
coming round here and see us, we can try the panic plan while they're
mounted. They're pretty well sure to scatter then. If we fire now
they're not mounted, they'll take to cover, and that'll be bad, sir."

"Yes. It means a long, dull time," replied Dickenson. "We'll wait,
sergeant; but how long it will be before they know we're here I'm sure I
don't know. I've been expecting to hear one of the ponies neigh every
moment, and that will be fatal."

"Oh, I don't know, sir. You never can tell. They may take fright even
then after the startlings we've given them. They're brave enough chaps
so long as they're fighting from behind stones, or in ambush, or when
they think they've got the whip-hand of us; but a surprise, or the
thought that we're getting round their flank and into their rear, is
more than they can stand."

"Silence!" whispered Dickenson. "I think they're on the move."

But they were not, and the sun was well up before sundry sounds pointed
to the fact that the enemy were preparing to start.

For sundry familiar cries were heard, such as a man would address to a
fidgety horse which declined to have its saddle-girth tightened. The
men were laughing and chatting, too, until a stern order rang out, one
which was followed by the trampling of horses--so many that the sergeant
turned and gave a significant glance at Dickenson.

"Now then, which way?" thought the latter. "If they come round this
side they must see us, and they are bound to, for here lies their
laager."

He was right, for the trampling came nearer, and it was quite evident
that the little party were riding round in shelter of the patch of wood,
so as to get it between them and the English camp before striking
straight away.

They were only about a dozen yards distant, dimly seen through the
intervening trees, and Dickenson was in the act of glancing right and
left at his men when a chill ran through him. For Lennox, who had lain
perfectly still in the shadow beneath the bush where he had been laid,
suddenly began to mutter in a low, excited tone, indicating that he was
just about waking up. It was impossible to warn him, even if he had
been in a condition to be warned; and to attempt to stir so as to clap a
hand over his lips must have resulted in being seen.

There was nothing for it but to crouch there in silence with hearts
beating, an