"I have sent him into the town on an errand."
"Well, when he returns, will you manage to send him somewhere else that will keep him from going to the stables for the next hour. I have a particular reason for wishing that no one shall enter them for at least that time. It is just as well that I should not tell you why."
The landlord nodded. "The best thing you can do, sir, is to lock the door and bring me the key, in case any Boers ride up and want to put their horses there. I may mislay it for a quarter of an hour. If they are only staying for a short time, they will probably content themselves with leaving the horses in the yard when they find they cannot get into the stables."
"Thank you very much. I think an hour will give us a fair start, for at any rate we could not be overtaken before it gets dark."
Five minutes later Yorke and Hans rode out into the yard, followed by Peter, and were soon clear of the town. They now put their horses into a trot, the native keeping eight or ten lengths behind. They slackened their pace a little as they passed between two hills, on which parties of Boers were posted. There was nothing unusual in their riding out to join the scouting parties, and no attention was paid to them. When well beyond this point, they again quickened their pace.
"It is a pity you did not kill Dirck, Master Yorke," Hans said; "he will always be a trouble."
"I could not kill him in cold blood, Hans; though, if it had been a fight, I should have done so without hesitation. He has tried to kill me twice, and I should feel myself perfectly justified in taking his life. However, we can congratulate ourselves on having got out of that scrape so easily. If the alarm had been given, nothing could have saved us. You and I would have been denounced as spies, and shot without the semblance of a trial. We will endeavour to cross the river to-night, if we can get down to the bank without interruption. If we were to meet any party now, our story that we have just joined the commando, and have been sent by Moens on outpost duty to begin with, would do as long as we are posted on the river. But this would hardly be good enough if we cross, especially as we do not know whether any parties are beyond it; and as we may have a lot of them out in pursuit of us in half an hour, we cannot risk being detained. Besides, it will be quite dark by the time we get there, and naturally we should wait till morning before crossing the river. So we will go on till we believe we are about a mile from it, and then turn off, strike the river, and if it is too dark then to choose a place for crossing, wait till morning. But if we don't find the banks too steep, we will swim the horses over. I sha'n't be comfortable until we are on the other side.
"We need not worry ourselves, but will let the horses go at their own pace, so as to be fresh if we are chased. Besides, if we are going at a leisurely pace, we shall not attract any particular attention should we be seen by the scouts on the neighbouring hills."
They went at a fast canter now.
"I am afraid that it is too light to go on," Yorke said, when he guessed that they were within three miles of the river. "We will turn off to the left, and when we get to a place where we cannot be seen from any of the hills, we will halt till it is nearly dark, then we will turn back, recross the road, and keep along on the north side of it. If anyone in search of us comes along and questions the Boer outposts, if they get any information at all, it will be that we were seen to turn off to the left of the road, and they will think that we intend to cross either by the Hanover Road, or that of Philipstown, or to swim the river between them. Of course that would be our natural line to De Aar, and it is at these points their scouts will be most vigilant, for any hostile movement would come from De Aar, and not from the north road through Petrusville. This is so evident, that I have great doubts whether they would even place a guard at that crossing."