“Let us stop here a few moments, Guy,” said Jack, when the two had advanced some twenty yards from the mimosa clump in which they had left Mrs Robb and her infant to wait for them. “That is evidently the gun up there at the top, and tied to the wheels are, I suppose, Mr Hunter and your father. Now how are we going to rescue them! It isn’t likely that the Boers will have left them unguarded. You can see for yourself that there is a camp away there on the left, for their fires are burning brightly. And in addition to the men there within easy call, there are certainly others near the gun.”
“Yes, there are sure to be pickets close to the top, for the garrison of Ladysmith might make a sortie at any moment,” Guy answered in a low whisper. “In Pretoria I heard that more than one gun had been put out of action in that manner. But about these pickets—we must slip between them. They are not likely to be awake at this hour. About three o’clock in the morning finds them astir.”
“Very well then, unsling your rifle, Guy, but do not load it. If there is trouble you can open the magazine in a moment, but with a cartridge in the breech, and the bolt pulled back, the slightest touch on the trigger would ruin all. Are you ready? Then keep close behind me, and if any of the Boers challenge I will leave it to you to answer them.”
“Trust me, Jack, old boy,” Guy whispered back. Then, feeling for his friend’s hand, he gave it a cordial grasp, which was returned as eagerly with a squeeze which almost made him cry out with pain. “If things go wrong, Jack,” he said earnestly, “we’ve been good pals. You’re a real brick, old man!”
“Things are not going wrong,” Jack answered grimly. “I’m going to get them both away, or I’ll know the reason why!”
For a moment longer the two young fellows stood facing one another in the darkness, gripping each other by the hand in a manner which said better than words could do that they were determined on one thing at least, and that was to be true to one another to death. Then Jack whispered, “Come along!” And, followed closely by Guy, he commenced to climb the steep and rugged side of the hill.
At any time it was no easy task, but now, when the displacement of a stone, or a footstep upon a piece of exposed rock, would easily have betrayed them, it was a matter of the utmost importance that only soft and grassy spots should be selected to put their feet upon.
By this time both were on hands and knees, and, feeling carefully in front of him, Jack wound from side to side, sometimes going a considerable way out of the direct course in his endeavour to find soft ground.
It was a long and tedious climb, but at last they were within fifty feet of the summit, where they came to a halt and looked cautiously round.
There was no one near them as far as they could see, but above them, standing dimly silhouetted against the sky, was an immense Creuzot gun, looking like some gigantic animal crouching on all-fours.