"What men are these?" he asked; "the general wishes to know."
"We are the Johannesburg Scouts," Chris said.
"Are you in command, sir?"
"Yes."
"Then, will you please to accompany me at once to the general."
On arriving at the spot where the general was standing a little in advance of his staff, the latter at once recognized Chris. "Oh, it is you, Mr. King!" he said. "I was afraid some of the men had left their stations. And what are you doing here?"
"We are trying to lend a hand to the troops over there, and as we are all good shots, I think we are being of some assistance."
"You had no right to leave the camp, sir. I suppose you call this independent service?"
"I do, general. I hope that we are affording some help here, and we should not be doing any good in camp; and as we have been nearly out of it through all this fighting, and there were no orders for the corps to do anything to-day, we thought we might be of use."
"You did wrong, sir," the general said, his face relaxing into a smile at the lad's defence of himself. "Well, as you are there, you may as well stop."