“Silence!” said the other sternly. “I am going back. Had I known of this, I would not have let you come!”
“Look here,” said the other insolently, “we are not on duty now, and once for all I tell you that while I serve I am not going to put up with bullying from any man who is a step above me in the ranks.”
The first speaker looked at him sternly, and Ingleborough placed his lips close to West’s ear.
“Look here,” said Ingleborough, “if we shoot, both take aim at that obstinate brute, and give the other a chance to run for his life!”
A nod was the only answer, as both listened to what was said further.
“You fellows, because you get made field-cornets by a bit of luck, don’t know how to contain yourselves, and—”
“Back to your horse!” said the first speaker, the veins in whose forehead stood out in a network beneath his flap-brimmed hat, while his voice sounded full of suppressed fury.
“Back yourself!” cried the other. “I’ll obey your orders in the field, but we of the Free State are getting tired of the overbearing ways of you men of the Transvaal. Put down your rifle, sir! By all that’s holy, if you hold it towards me in that threatening way, I’ll send a Mauser bullet through you. If I die for it, I will.”
At that moment, just as there seemed to be every possibility of a deadly encounter between the two men, there was a loud hail from beyond the rock, and, as it was not replied to, another cry was heard, in company with loud echoing splashes in the water, and half-a-dozen Boers waded into sight, evidently in a high state of excitement.
“Hullo there!” shouted the foremost, “didn’t you hear us call? We began to think you had fallen into an ambush! Quick, back with you: there’s a patrol of the rooineks out yonder coming this way, the mounted men with the spiked poles.”