This plan was carried out. Recrossing the road after dark, they kept close to it, pausing and listening occasionally for the sound of horsemen.
"They have gone by other roads," Yorke said. "Now, Peter," he went on, "you have better ears than any of us, and your footsteps will not be heard. We will keep half a mile behind you, and will lead the horses. When you get near the river, you must go very cautiously, and find out whether there are any men on guard there. When you have discovered that, run back with the news. Of course, if no one is there, we shall come straight on and cross. If there is a guard, we will turn to the right and strike the river a mile higher up, and cross if we can."
Peter at once set off at a run, the others following at a leisurely walk. In half an hour he rejoined them.
"No one is there, baas, and the water is low, and we can cross the drift easily enough."
"That is good. We will push on at once, then, for if those fellows in the stables were discovered soon after we left, we may have a party in pursuit of us along this road, as well as the others, even now."
They mounted and went on at a trot to the river. It was of some width, but it was not too deep for the horses to ford. They had gone a quarter of a mile on the other side, when Peter said, "Listen, master, horses coming." They drew rein, and sat listening for two or three minutes. They could hear nothing. Then there was a low sound, which rapidly increased in volume until it came to an abrupt halt. Then on the still night air they could hear a volley of execrations.
"They have reached the river. We only had ten minutes to spare," Yorke said. "I don't think they will pursue us any farther, as they cannot be sure that we have come by this road, though they must have learned from the men on the hills that we started for it; but we might easily have crossed to the Philippolis side after we got out of sight. At any rate, they know that they would have no chance of catching us to-night, as we should only have to move two or three hundred yards off the road to be well out of sight. Now, Peter, tear up one of the blankets and muffle the horses' feet; they could hear us a long way off in the stillness."
"I will do that, baas; but they too angry and talk too much to hear us."
"That is likely enough, Peter; but there is nothing like being on the safe side."
Five minutes sufficed to muffle the feet of the horses, and then they continued their journey, keeping on the road, sometimes going at a trot, and sometimes walking, until they had covered, they calculated, some twenty miles from the river. Then they moved off a few hundred yards, opened the saddle-bags, and had a good meal, gave the horses a feed of mealies, and lay down for the night. They were on the move again at daybreak. Yorke had decided to go on as far as the little stream called the Hondebloss, where they could give the horses a drink and fill up the water-bottles, which they had not had time to do before leaving, though fortunately they had watered their horses at the small stream that runs through Colesberg. It was possible that there might be a Boer force at Petrusville, and therefore he determined to strike due west from the river for Potfontein Siding. The distance was too far to be traversed in a day, without the risk of knocking up the horses. Consequently they camped out on the veldt that night, and arrived at the little railway-station the next morning.