“I’ll answer for him, sir,” I said eagerly.
“Here, Mr Denham,” said the Colonel, “stay in your place. Yes—send the black scout on at once to creep forward far in advance of the column, and tell him to come back and give us full warning of how near we are to the enemy.”
The Colonel drew rein as soon as he had spoken, and we passed on, while as soon as we were getting out of hearing Denham gripped my arm.
“You brick!” he whispered. “Now then, send on your Joeboy.—Do you understand what for?” he now asked the black.
“Um!” replied Joeboy. “Find the Doppies, and come back.”
“That’s right,” said Denham eagerly. “Creep up as close as you can, and then come and warn us. Oh, what a blessing to have a black skin, and no clothes to hide it!”
“Joeboy go now?”
“Yes. Off,” whispered Denham, and the black uttered a peculiar click with his tongue, leaped out sidewise, and then bounded forward without a sound. One moment we saw his black figure dimly; the next he seemed to have melted away or been absorbed into the blackness right ahead, and for some time we were following the track of what had been like a shadow.
I listened as our horses tramped quietly on through what was, now that the kopje had been left behind, like a sandy desert, whose soft surface completely muffled the hoofs. Once in a while there was a faint rustling as the horses brushed through a patch of thick bush or the yellow-flowered thorn; but not a stone was kicked away or sent forth a sharp metallic sound. So quiet was it that Denham turned to me and whispered:
“Who’d ever think there were four hundred of our fellows on the march behind us?”