Charge! | Page 9

George Manville Fenn
he had hunted me--finding me, too, when I hid from him; and
he answered when out grazing on the veldt with a cheery neigh before
galloping to meet me. Why, there had been times when we had both
lain down to sleep together on the distant plains, my head resting on his
glossy neck; so, now that he was bearing me along, comparatively
helpless, and I felt his elastic, springy form beneath me, I was ashamed
of my despair, convinced that if I gave the word he would snap that rein
at the first bound, and bear me safely away.
I made up my mind that if I could defer my attempt till it was dark I
should be safe. If, however, I were obliged to venture in daylight, I
would make my dash by some rocky pass or kopje on the way, where
Sandho would easily leave the Boers' horses behind, he being almost as
sure-footed as a goat.
The captain drew rein a little, so that I came alongside during the first
part of our ride, and he cast his eye over my bonds and gave the Boer
who had the leading-rein a sharp order or two about keeping a good
lookout. To this the dull, heavy fellow responded with a surly growl.
After this the Irishman banteringly asked me if I was comfortable.
My answer was an angry glare--at least, I meant it to be--but the only
effect was to make him laugh.
"Ye've got a bad seat in the saddle, and it will be a good lesson to ye in
riding, bhoy. Make ye sit up. I hate to see a military man with his
showlders up and his nose down close to his charrger's mane. Faith, I'm
half-disposed to make ye throw the stirrups over the nag's neck, and I
would if we'd toime. But we've none to spare for picking ye up when ye

came off.--Here," he cried to the two men next behind, for we now rode
two and two; "why are your carbines not full-cocked--rifles, I mane?
That's right. Fire at wanst if he tries to bowlt; don't wait for ordhers."
I listened to the sharp clicking of the rifle-locks as the men cocked their
pieces; but somehow I did not feel scared, for a feeling of desperation
was upon me, and I was strung-up to dare anything to get my liberty;
and, besides, my father's orders were that I should make a dash.
"They can't hit me," I said to myself; and wherever the track was fair
going we went on at a canter, drawing rein wherever the ground grew
bad. At these latter times the captain began talking loudly in a
highly-pitched and half-contemptuous way to the leading men; and
when his words reached my ears I made out that his subject was either
about military evolutions and a man's bearing in the saddle, or else, in a
harsh and bitter tone, about the brutal Saxon who was at last going to
receive his dues for his long years of evil-doing and tyranny towards
the oppressed. Hearing such talk, I rode on half-wondering what
England had been doing towards the Irish at home and the Boers
abroad, for this was all news to me, and I had never noticed among the
Dutch settlers on the veldt anything but a stolid kind of contentment
with their prosperous lot; there not being a single case of poverty, as far
as I knew, within a hundred miles of our pleasant home.
At the thought of home a strange swelling came in my throat, and the
wide, open veldt before me looked dim as I pictured all I had left
behind; for, happy as had been the life I led, and lovely as everything
around had always seemed, home had never seemed so beautiful as
now. However, I set my teeth hard, knit my brows, and with an effort
seemed to swallow down that swelling lump in my throat, at the same
time nipping Sandho's sides so sharply that he gathered himself up to
bound off; but he was checked by a savage snatch at the rein, and
received a blow with the barrel of my escort's rifle, as the surly and
scowling brute beside me growled out a fierce oath in Dutch.
The plunge Sandho gave nearly unseated me, and in another moment
he would have been rearing and kicking to get free; but a few gentle
words from my lips soothed the poor beast down, and he settled into his

canter once more, while I fell to wondering whether my poor horse
could think and would understand that the brutal treatment did not
come from his master.
On and on we rode over ground familiar to me, for many a long journey
from home
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