Major Salkeld on hearing the sergeant's narration of the brief interview with the Boers, exclaimed, "We do not surrender. Not an Aucklander yet has been captured by the enemy. We will fight to a finish."
A few minutes later, the Boers again opened fire upon the brave New Zealanders, now sadly diminished in number.
CHAPTER IX
THE RESCUE
We must now return to Trooper Morton, whom we left bound in a cave in Diamond Valley. His wound was a painful one, and having lost a quantity of blood, he naturally felt somewhat weak.
The Boers had taken good care to secure his ankles. The hide with which they were bound was tied and knotted while wet, and, quickly drying, caused great pain by its contraction.
He raised himself into a sitting posture and began fumbling with the hide rope. He might as well have tried to snap bands of wrought iron. He was hungry as well, so he turned to the strip of biltong which the Boers had thrown to him when they departed.
"I suppose they take me for a cannibal," he muttered, looking at the dried ox-flesh. "However, I'll see what it is made of. I daresay I shall need all the strength I can muster before I reach my troop—if ever I do. I really don't want to make another acquaintance, while alone, with these beggars."
The biltong proved palatable, and Morton, possessing a healthy digestion and not being fastidious, made a satisfying meal of the unaccustomed food.
His next action was to crawl out of the cave, and with some difficulty he made his way to a little rivulet that ran along the base of one of the sides of the donga. In the bed of the stream were pebbles of various sizes, and after assuaging his thirst, he began to search for a sharp-edged stone.