The next morning the Boers made a fresh attack for the purpose of recapturing the gun or seizing the kopje where it was mounted. But this advance, like several more which followed, only resulted in a severe repulse, and at last their attacks formed part of a long blockade in which they hoped to succeed by starving the little British force into subjection.
Chapter Five.
The Boer Prisoners.
It was to this village and kopje, turned after its long occupation into what proved to be an impregnable stronghold—one which so far, to the Boers’ cost, maintained its promise—that Drew Lennox and Bob Dickenson returned after their unfortunate fishing expedition, the colonel, a bluff, sun-burnt, stern-looking officer, meeting them with a frown as they came up. “How many men hurt, Roby?” he said.
“Only one, sir. Dickenson had his ear nicked by a bullet.”
“Humph! Might have been worse, my lad,” said the colonel. “Show it to the doctor.—Where are your fish, Lennox?”
“In the river, sir,” said the young officer, with a shrug of the shoulders. “How was that?”
The young man briefly explained, and the colonel nodded his head.