“I knew it,” he said; “I knew when those fellows took the trouble to speak to our boys on the sly that there was some devilment afoot, but I thought they had missed their chance of playing some spiteful trick on us and had gone back. They must have had us in view all along until the opportunity offered. Last night their chance came, and they have gone off under cover of the ‘Dopper’ trail.”
“If they are with the ‘Doppers’ we can easily overtake them.”
“No; they would keep ahead of the trek for a mile or so to hide their spoor, then they would fall behind and make off by some side-path or through the veld. Now, you skirt along the left side of the road, keeping watch for any waggon-track turning aside, while I go along the right.”
They went on rapidly, in complete silence, with bent brows, and a fierce eagerness at the thought of soon meting out punishment. The task was not difficult. For the greater part the road passed through thickets of mimosas near enough together to prevent a lumbering waggon from passing; at other parts there were small banks where the ground had been cut into by the heavy wheels, and these would at once have shown signs where a waggon turned off; and, at long intervals only, were stretches of hard, sun-baked ground, on which the track of wheels could only be faintly seen.
Mile after mile they went, kicking up the dust, which stained their clothing red and caked on their hands and faces, until their eyes glared as if from masks. Sometimes they would pause to straighten themselves and to rub their eyes because of the strain upon them, and once Webster gave a shout; but Hume, after one glance at wheel-tracks a week old, went swiftly on, and gradually their shadows lengthened out before them as the sun stood lower and the great heat was tempered by cool breezes.
At last Hume made a sign to Webster, and turned sharply off to the right, along the track of a solitary waggon, and just at dusk they saw the gleam of white, amid a cluster of thorns. Forgetting their weariness, they started off at a run, which did not slacken until they came within a hundred yards, when Hume, with a gasp, drew up.
The waggon was theirs truly; but there was an unusual silence about. No fire shed its welcome light, the sails were down, the oxen were away, and there were no signs of life.
Slowly they went up, with a nameless fear at their hearts, to find the tent empty, and the contents tumbled about and rifled.