"We have done with them now Peter, till we get near those round the town."
They went fast now, for the night was nearly over, and the sky was beginning to lighten in the east when, leaving the road, they ascended the hill and saw a level plain stretching before them.
"It is too late to get through," Yorke said, "another quarter of an hour and it will be light, and that dark mass of houses we see there must be nearly three miles away."
"Yes, baas, that is Beaconsfield; Kimberley is more away to the left, I can just make it out. What will you do now, baas? Go back a bit and hide, or go on to that little house half a mile away close to the road?"
"I think we had best go on. We should have to go a good bit back to a place where the boulders are thick enough to give us a good hiding-place; it will certainly be light before we get there, indeed I am afraid it will be light enough before we can gain that hut, if there are any Boers on the look-out on that kopje to the right."
They started at once, and had gone but half-way when they found that the distance had been deceiving, and that it was nearer a mile than half a mile to the hut, which, being white-washed, had seemed much nearer than it was. The light was broadening out rapidly and they ran at the top of their speed, but just before they reached the place a shot rang out from a low hill some four hundred yards away. For a moment Yorke hesitated, but he knew that where there were Boers there were ponies, and that they would be overtaken long before they could reach the British camp.
"We had better fight it out here, Peter. The firing may bring up help; we can certainly keep the Boers off for some time."
A RACE FOR LIFE.