“The prisoner is a bit saucy!” said Anson contemptuously. “You did not bleed him enough!”
“You know these two?” asked the officer.
“Well, in a way,” said Anson, in a haughty, indifferent tone. “They were a pair of underlings where I was engaged at the diamond-mines. Insolent bullying fellows, both of them! But you’ll tame them down.”
The Boer leader nodded.
“A bit sore at being taken prisoners!” he said.
“No,” cried West; “it is the fortune of war, sir. We are Englishmen, and we made a dash to escape Kimberley, and got through your investing lines.”
“To carry despatches to the rooineks?”
“No,” replied West. “Your men searched us and found no despatches.”
“Messages then. You were going to the British forces?”
“We should have joined them after a time, perhaps,” said West, speaking more coolly.