"You shall try her. See, it is nearing daybreak. At sunrise you shall satisfy yourself as to your mount."
The sounds of clattering hoofs arrested the officer's attention, and a Boer presently rode up.
"The veldt-cornet?" inquired the new-comer.
"I am here," said Steyn. "You have ridden over from the commandant, Du Plessis?"
"I have ridden on the spur, Veldt-cornet," answered the Boer. "Du Boisson was stabbed last night by a young rooinek whom we caught yesterday, just as you marched out of camp. The rooinek has escaped, and——"
"He is here," said Steyn, and he looked round for Jack; but the ostrich farmer's son was already on the roan mare's back and scudding like the wind down the donga.
"The devil!" cried Steyn. "No, don't shoot; it might bring a hornet's nest around our ears. He has gone in an opposite direction to that from which we expect the New Zealanders. Maartens, you were too premature in bringing the mare;" and Maartens had the good sense to look abashed.
"He is the rooinek who killed Du Boisson," said Du Plessis. "Van Donnop knows him well. He is the son of an ostrich farmer named Lovat."
"The man from whom the five hundred sovereigns were taken?" exclaimed Steyn excitedly.
"The same, Veldt-cornet," replied the Boer scout.