by G. A. Henty
direction in which Tom and Dick were posted,that being the only side open to them. An instant later Tom and Dickappeared on horseback on the brow, and dashed down towards the herd;these, alarmed at the appearance of a fresh enemy, broke into twobodies, scattering right and left, giving both lads an opportunity for agood shot. Both succeeded in bringing down their mark. They thendismounted, and giving their horses to the native joined the hunters.They had bagged six deer, and the hunters at once proceeded todisembowel them; one was to be slung behind each of the saddles, and theothers would be carried by the hunters and native.
While they were so engaged they were startled by a shout, and saw thenative running down towards them, leading the horses and gesticulatingwildly.
"We are attacked," Blacking said, and almost at the same moment three orfour arrows fell among them.
They had collected the dead deer at one spot, and were standing in agroup; looking round they saw a large number of natives crowning the lowhills all round them, and saw that while they had been stalking the deerthey themselves had been stalked by the natives. Without a moment'shesitation the hunters disposed the bodies of the deer in a circle;seizing the two horses they threw them beside the deer, fastening theirlimbs with the lassoes which they carried, so that they could not move;then the six men threw themselves down in the circle.
All this had been done in a couple of minutes. The arrows were fallingfast among them, but none had been hit, and as soon as the preparationswere complete they opened a steady fire at the enemy. With theexception of the man who had come out with the horses all were goodshots, and their steady fire at once checked the advance of the natives,whose triumphant yelling ceased, as man after man went down, and theyspeedily followed the example of their opponents, and, throwingthemselves down on the grass, kept up a fire with their arrows in acircle of seventy or eighty yards round the hunters.
Gradually, however, their fire ceased, for to use their bows they wereobliged to show their heads above the grass, and whenever one did so thesharp crack of a rifle was heard; and so often did the bullets fly trueto their aim that the natives soon grew chary of exposing themselves.
"What will they do now?" Dick asked, as the firing ceased.
"They are cowards," Jumbo said contemptuously. "If they had been Zulus,or Swazis, or Matabele, they would have rushed in upon us, and finishedit at once."
"Well, I am very glad they are not," Dick said; "but what is to bedone?"
"They will wait for night," Tony answered; "then, when we cannot seethem, they will creep up close and charge."
"In that case," Dick said, "the best thing will be for us to keep in abody, and fight our way through them, and make for the camp."
Jumbo shook his head.
"They quiet now because they think they got us safe; if we try to getaway, they rush down upon us; we shoot many, but we all get killed."
"Then," Dick said, "the best thing will be for me to jump on my horseand ride straight through them; if I get off alive, I will make for thecaravan and bring back Mr Harvey and the rest to your assistance."
"No good," Blacking said; "your horse would be stuck full of arrowsbefore you get away; he drop dead; they kill you. I go."
"But it would be just as dangerous for you as for me, Blacking."
"No," the hunter said; "directly you stand up to get on horse they seeyou and get ready to shoot; the horse fall dead before he reach them. Iwill crawl through the grass; they will not see me till I get to them--perhaps I get through without them seeing at all; if not, I jump upsudden and run; they all surprised, no shoot straight; once through linethey never catch me."
Jumbo and Tony assented with a grunt, and Dick, seeing that no betterplan could be suggested, offered no opposition to the young hunterundertaking the task.
Leaving his gun and ammunition behind him, the black at once without aword crawled out between the carcases of the deer, making his way, likea snake, perfectly flat on his stomach, and soon it was only by a veryslight movement of the grass, which was nearly two feet high, that Dickcould follow his progress. But he could not do this for long, an arrowwhizzing close to his head warned him that he was exposing himself, andhe lay down behind his stag and listened with intense eagerness for theoutcry which would arise when Blacking was discovered.
It seemed a long time, so slow and cautious was the black's advance. Atlast there was a sudden yell, and the little party, sure that theattention of their assailants would for the moment be diverted, raisedtheir heads from the shelter and looked out. They saw Blacking boundingat full speed up the slope; a score of natives had sprung to their feet,and were discharging their arrows in the direction of the fugitive, whozigzagged, as he ran with rapid bounds, to unsteady and divert theiraim. One arrow struck him in the side; they saw him break off thefeather-head, pull it through the wound, and throw it away without amoment's pause in his flight.
"Is it a serious wound?" Tom asked eagerly.
Jumbo shook his head.
"Not kill him," he said; "too near skin."
By this time Blacking's pursuers had thrown their bows across theirshoulders, and grasping their assegais had started in pursuit.
"They no catch him," Tony said confidently; "Blacking clever man; he notrun too fast; let them keep close behind him; they think they catch him,and keep on running all the way to camp. People here watch, not tink toattack us; then they wait again for the oders to come back; half of demgone, a good many killed, they not like to attack us now."
"What do you say, Tony?--shall we get up and follow in a body slowly?"
"That would be good plan," Tony said, "if sure no more black men come;but if others come and join dem, dey attack us out on plain, we got nostags to lie behind. Dey fight hard 'caus they know that Blacking havegot away, and that help come; make bad affair of it; better stop here."
Presently two or three of the natives were seen coming back over thebrow, having given up the pursuit. Dick's rifle was a good one, and thebrow was not more than 400 yards away; he took a steady aim and fired,and one of the natives fell. A yell of astonishment broke from theothers, and they threw themselves instantly on the grass. This,however, although long enough to shelter them in the bottom, was shorterand scantier on the slope. The inclined position too enabled Dick tosee them, and he again fired. He could not see where the ball struck,but it must have been close to the two natives, for these leapt to theirfeet and bounded back again over the brow.
"That was a capital shot of yours, Dick," Tom said. "I will try nexttime. Our rifles will carry easily enough as far as that, although thehunters' won't. If we can but prevent any of these fellows who havegone after Blacking from coming down and rejoining those round us, weare safe enough, for if they did not dare to make a rush when there wereabout sixty of them they will not try now when there are not half thatnumber."
An hour later a party of some ten or twelve natives appeared again onthe brow. Dick and Tom at once fired. One of them fell, and the restagain retired behind the brow, shouting something to those below, whichTony at once translated that Blacking had got away. The news, added tothe effect of the fall of their comrades on the height, dispirited thenatives below, and one or two were to be seen stealing up the slopes.
Dick and Tom were on the alert, and one of the natives fell with abroken leg; this completed the uneasiness of the party below. Creepingaway from the deadly rifles to the foot of the slopes, they suddenlyrose and bounded up it. A general volley was fired by the beleagueredparty, and two more natives fell; the rest dashed up the slope, two ofthem on the way lifting and carrying off their wounded comrades.
"We all right now," Jumbo said; "dey no attack us here any more; likeenough dey wait and lie in ambush in grass, in case we move away; but wenot do that; we sit here quietly till the caravan arrive."
"Do you think Mr Harvey will bring the whole caravan?"
"Sure to do dat," Jumbo said. "He no able to leave party to protect thewaggons and to send party here to us; he bring t
he caravan all alongtogether. If he attacked, he make laager; but me no tink dey attack.The people ready to cut off little party; den the chief say he notresponsible, but if his people attack the caravan dat different thing."
The hours passed slowly; the heat in the bottom, as the sun, almostoverhead, poured its rays down into it, was very great. As the hourspassed on the heat became less oppressive, but it was with intensepleasure that the boys saw Mr Harvey suddenly appear on the brow, andchecking his horse gaze into the valley.
They leapt to their feet and gave a shout, which was answered by MrHarvey.
"Are they round you still?" he shouted.
"No; they have all gone," Dick replied; and Mr Harvey at once rodedown.
By the time he