they watched him in silence for he was going to speak. He spread his
hands out in appeal, and the firelight lit his face from below leaving
his eyes in shadow, dark holes like the sockets of a skull. He stood
like that for a while and his rags hung loosely on the gaunt wasted
body.
There was nothing except the need to fight on. He dropped his hands to
his sides.
'I am going,' he said with simplicity. 'When the moon goes down I
ride,' and he walked away from the fire. One by one the men rose and
followed him, and all of them were men of his own commando.
Six men squatted in a circle and watched the moon as it touched the
hills. Behind them the horses were saddled and the rifles stuck up
from their scabbards. By each of the six hundred horses a burgher lay
fully clothed, wrapped in his blanket and trying to sleep. Though the
horses stamped and moved restlessly there was no jingling of bits for
all of them were carefully muffled.
'We will say it again, so that each of us knows his part.'
Leroux looked around the circle. 'I will go first with a hundred men
and follow the river towards the east. What is your route, Hendrik?
'South, through the cavalry until the dawn, then round towards the
mountains.
Leroux nodded and asked the next man: 'And yours?'
'West along the river.
'Ja, and yours?'
He asked each in turn and when all had answered-'The place of meeting
is the old laager by the Hill of Inhlozana. Is this agreed?'
And they waited, watching the moon and listening to the jackals
squabbling over the British corpses on the plain. Then the moon went
down below the hills and Leroux stood up stiffly.
Totsiens, KereLs! Good luck to all of us.' He took the reins of his
pony and led it down towards the Vaal, while in silence a hundred men
led their horses after him. As they passed the single wagon beside the
Padda, old Zietsmann was waiting and he came forward leading a
pack-mule.
'You are going?' he asked.
'Ja, Menheer. We must. ' 'God go with you.' Zietsmann thrust out his
hand and they gripped briefly.
'The mule is loaded. Take the money with you. We will not need it
here.
'Thank you, Menheer. ' Leroux motioned to one of his men to take the
mule. 'Good luck.'
'Good luck, General. ' For the first time Zietsmann used his tiTLe,
and Leroux went down to the perimeter of their de fences and out into
the veld where the British waited.
With the first pale promise of dawn in the sky, they were through and
clear. Though twice during the night heavy outbursts of firing in the
darkness far behind showed that not all of the escaping bands had been
so fortunate.
Sean and Saul stood beside the little scotch cart and Mbejane brought