With Buller in Natal | Page 8

were so much pleased at their good fortune in having got away that
there was no complaining or grumbling. That the journey would be a
long one, all knew; but at least they had started, and would soon be a
free people in a free country. Chris and his friends had been among the
first to climb up on to the roof, and they sat down in a group at one end
of it.
"It is going to be pretty cold here to-night, and desperately hot to-
morrow," Chris said; "but we can put up with that. I would stand it for a
month rather than stop any longer among these brutes." There was a
general murmur of agreement.
"Thank heavens," one of them said, "the next time we meet them will
be with arms in our hands. We have a long score to pay off, and we
shall, I expect, have plenty of chances. The Boers are boasting that they
will soon drive the last Englishman out of South Africa, and seem to
regard it as a sort of general picnic. They will find out their mistake
before they have done."
"Still, we must not think that it is going to be a picnic our way," Chris
said. "They have quite made up their minds that every Boer in Cape
Colony and Natal will join them at once. If they do, it will be a very
long business to put them down, though I have no doubt it will all come
right in the end. Do you know anything about the others?"
"I know that Peters and Carmichael and Brown went off with their

people last night, but I don't know about the others."
"Capper and Willesden and Horrocks went yesterday," another lad said.
"Sankey and Holdsworth were on the platform, and no doubt got into
another truck.
"There are seven of us here," Chris said, "and as six have gone on, that
makes thirteen certain, and there are eight more to come. Most of us
will stop at Pietermaritzburg, but I suppose some, whose friends are
going straight home, will go down with them to Durban."
"There will not be many who have to do so," another said. "Sankey's
people and Carmichael's are going to Cape Town, but, so far as I know,
all the others will stay and see it out either at Maritzburg or Durban. Do
you think that we should take any others with us, Chris?"
"I don't think so. You see we all know each other, and it would be a
nuisance having fellows with us of whom we know nothing. They
might not pull with us, while we have been so much together that there
is no fear of our having any disagreement. I think we have all pretty
well settled that it will be much better to act by ourselves, instead of
joining any of the corps that are sure to be formed down there. Still, if
we knew one of the men getting up a corps--and some of our people are
pretty sure to do so--I do think it would be a good plan to join, if they
would accept us as a sort of independent troop, ready to act with them
when there is any big fighting, and to go about on our own account at
other times. You see, none of us will want any pay. We shall all furnish
our own horses and arms, and shall therefore be on a different footing
from men who have to draw pay and be equipped at the public expense;
and I don't see why any officer commanding a troop in one of these
corps should object to our joining him on those terms. But anyhow, I
feel sure that we should be able to do a great deal more good by being
free to move where we liked, and to undertake expeditions on our own
account, than if we were to act in a more regular manner."
There was a general chorus of agreement.
"Now, how long do you think it will be before we cross Laing's Nek?

Of course we ought to be there by to-morrow morning. It is only a
hundred and fifty miles, and at fifteen miles an hour, which is about
their usual rate of travelling, we should cross the frontier at two o'clock,
for it was about four when we started. But there is no saying. My father
thought we ought to take four days' provisions with us; I think we could
hold out for that time."
"You don't mean to say, Chris, he thought it possible we might be as
long as that?" "He did think so, Peters. He considered that we might be
shunted off very often to let trains with men and stores for the