"What made you so late, Mr. Blount? We were fighting for three quarters of an hour, before you came up."
"I am very sorry," Mr. Blount replied; "somehow or other, we went wrong altogether. There is nothing to guide one in this flat bush, and the tracker who was leading the way said he was certain he was going as you ordered him. Just before six o'clock we halted, and looked in the direction in which we expected to see your smoke, but there were no signs of it. Presently one of the constables exclaimed:
"'There's the smoke, sir, right behind us.'
"I looked around and, sure enough, there was a column of smoke, and a long way off it was.
"'What have you been doing, you rascal?' I said to the black. 'There's the smoke right behind us. You have been leading us wrong, altogether.'
"The black insisted that he was right, and that the fire must have been made by the black fellows. I didn't know what to make of it. It was two or three minutes past six; and I noticed, when we halted before, that your watch was exactly with mine. So I said to the men:
"'We will wait five minutes longer and, if we see no other smoke, you may be sure that that is made by Captain Whitney.'
"We waited the five minutes, and then I gave the word to start, when one of the men exclaimed:
"'The black fellow's gone.'
"Sure enough, he had slipped away without being noticed, while we were looking for the smoke. I felt sure, now, that something must be wrong; and we galloped towards your smoke, as fast as the horses could lay their feet to the ground. When we were about half way, we heard the sound of firing, and I can tell you that we didn't lose a moment on the way, after that. Have you had any losses?"