The Kopje Garrison Part 20

"I don't see all this very clearly," said the colonel. "Somebody stealing the corn, and you were tracing the thieves and came upon a train laid up to my quarters. There was a sentry there; what was he about?"

"No, sir: no sentry there," said Lennox.

"Nonsense! I gave orders for a man to be posted there, and it was done."

"I beg pardon, sir," said Lennox. "No one was there to challenge us."

"Indeed!" said the colonel.-"Who's that? Oh, Mr d.i.c.kenson, examine the place as soon as it is light. There was a man there, for I saw him myself. But now then, I cannot understand how the enemy can have stolen through the lines and carried the powder where it was found. What do you say, Lennox?"

"Nothing, sir. My head is so confused that I can hardly recall how it all happened."

"Of course. Well, you, sergeant. You said that you scattered the powder-bags."

"Yes, sir. Threw 'em about as far as we could."

"We?"

"Yes, sir. Mr Lennox and me."

"After the train was fired?"

"Oh yes, sir; it was coming on at a great rate."

"Humph! Then you did a very brave action."

"Oh no, sir," said the sergeant. "We were obliged to. Why, we should, as Dr Emden says, sir, have been blown all to bits if we hadn't. We were obliged to do something sharp."

"Yes," said the colonel dryly. "It was sharp work, sergeant, and you saved my life and the major's."

"Did we, sir? Very glad of it, sir."

"But about how the powder was conveyed there. I can see nothing for it but treachery within the camp.-Of course!-Those Boers!"

"But they had gone, sir," said Lennox.

"Yes, and left us a memento of their visit."

"Beg pardon, sir," said d.i.c.kenson.

"Yes? Go on, Mr d.i.c.kenson."

"I think I can see through the mystery."

"Then you have better eyes than I have," said the colonel. "Proceed."

"It was one of their tricks, sir," said d.i.c.kenson. "They came into camp with their wagons and waited their chance."

"But the powder, man, the powder?" said the colonel impatiently.

"So many bags of it, sir, each inside one of the sacks of maize; and the night they were to go away they slit their sacks open, took out the powder, and planted it at the back of your quarters, sir."

"That will do, Mr d.i.c.kenson," said the colonel dryly.

"Beg pardon, sir. I thought it a very likely explanation of the business."

"Too likely, Mr d.i.c.kenson," said the colonel, "for it is undoubtedly the right one. The misfortune is that the treacherous scoundrels have got away. Bah! They're worse than savages! Well, let us all be thankful for our escape. I thought I had taken every precaution I could, but one never knows. Then you will not have to go into hospital, Lennox?"

"Oh no, sir; I shall be all right in a few hours."

"And you, Colour-Sergeant James?"

"Beg pardon, sir?" said the blackened non-com, staring.

"I say, and you, Colour-Sergeant James," said the colonel, laying emphasis on the word colour. "You feel that you need not go into the infirmary?"

"Feel, sir?" cried the sergeant, drawing himself up as stiff as his rifle. "Beg pardon, sir, but that's quite cured me. I never felt so well in my life."

"I am glad of it, my man," said the colonel quietly.-"Yes?" he added as one of the junior officers came to the door.

"Two men come in from the kopje, sir: a message from the sergeant with the gun. There's a strong body of the enemy close up between us and the lines on the slope. The men had to go round a long way before they could get through."

"I'll come," said the colonel, and he hurried out to make some fresh arrangements, the effect of which was that as soon as it was light the action of the Boers was precipitated by a counter-attack, and after an hour's firing they were driven out of their cover, to run streaming across the veldt, their flight hastened by a few well-planted sh.e.l.ls from the big gun and the rapid fire of the Maxim which swept the plain.

Chapter Ten.

Tracking the Wagons.

Lennox was well enough, when the sun was up, to accompany d.i.c.kenson to the examination of the scene of the explosion, but not in time to witness the discovery of two bags of unexploded powder, from where they had been hurled by Colour-Sergeant James, who was on the ground before it was light, as he explained to the two young officers.

"You were early, sergeant," said Lennox. "Yes, sir; to tell the truth, I was. You see, I couldn't sleep a wink."

"In so much pain?"

"Well, the back of my head did smart pretty tidy, I must say, sir, and I couldn't lay flat on my back as I generally do; but it wasn't that, sir-it was the thought of the step up. Just think of it, sir! Only been full sergeant two years, and a step up all at once like that."

"Well, you deserved it," said Lennox quietly. "Deserved it, sir? Well, what about you?"

"Oh, I dare say I shall get my promotion when I've earned it," said Lennox. "Now then, let's look round. You found two bags of the powder, then?"

"Yes, sir," said the man, pointing; "one down in that pit where they dug the soil for filling the biscuit-tins and baskets, and the other yonder behind that wall. The blast must have blown right over them."

"But how about the sentry the colonel said he saw here?" asked Lennox.

The man's countenance changed, a fierce frown distorting it.