boulder on which he was sitting and ran to his horse for his
binoculars.
'Damn it! ' he mouthed his disappointment as he saw the lance blades
glitter in the round strangely fore, shortened field of the glasses.
'Cavalry.'
Half an hour later they met the small patrol of lancers from one of the
big columns that were driving south from the line of block, houses. The
young subaltern in command gave Sean it cigar, and the latest news of
the war.
De la Rey and Smuts were rampaging north of Johannesburg in the
Magaliesberg with forty thousand men chasing their three thousand.
South in the Free State another of the great De Wet hunts was in full
swing. But this time they would catch him, the subaltern assured
Sean.
Fifty thousand foot and horse soldiers had driven his commando into the
angle between the blockhouse line and the flooded Riet River. In the
east it was quieter. The commandos there lacked leadership and were
lying up in the mountains around Komatipoort.
'So far it's quiet here also, sir. But I don't like the looks of it.
This man Leroux is a nasty piece of work, clever man too.
So far he's limited his activities to a few raids. Ten days ago about
five hundred of his men hit one of our supply columns; near
Charlestown. Wiped out the guard and collected enough ammunition to
fight a full, scale battle, then made off towards the mountains.'
'Yes,' Sean nodded grimly. 'We found one of his camps.' 'No sign of
him since then, sir. We've been scouring the ground for him, but so
far without luck.
'What's his force?' Sean asked.
'He can muster three thousand, so they say, My guess is that he's
getting himself poised for something really big.
That night Mbejane came into camp well after midnight. he came to
where Sean slept under the scotch cart and with him were two other
men.
N'kosi.
Sean rolled on his side, instantly awake at the touch. 'Mbejane?
' He crawled out from under the cart and stood up.
The moon was up, silver and round and bright. By its light he
recognized the men with MbeJane and exclaimed with pleasure: 'By God!
'Hlubi! Nonga! ' Then remembering his manners, sean stepped forward
grinning broadly to clasp their shoulders in turn. And each replied
gravely as they returned his embrace.
'I see you, Nkosi.
'Are YOU well?'
'I am well. Are you well?'
The catechism of Zulu greeting can be carried on for as long as there
is time available. More than a year had passed since Sean had
discharged them from his service outside Pretoria, and so Sean must ask
each of them for news of his father, his brothers, his herds, and the
journey they had made, before he could put his own question.
'You came through Ladyburg?
