Dawk turns to the drivers. “Get your horses in, Charlie; we’ve got another job. Hey! Gunner.” “What, again?” says Gunner, as he looks at his half-finished meal. “Come over, Baldy! Back, Ginger!” The polers are hooked up, and in a short space the wagon moves off to the Signal office for final instructions. Gunner jumps down from the body of the wagon, drags the end of the wire into the Signal office, and then mounts and pulls out over the hill. The wagon rolls steadily over the rocky hills, reeling out the cable as it proceeds. Darkness settles down, but this does not deter the cable detachment. “Whoa!” roars the lead driver as a wady-bed opens up below him in the darkness. “Steady with those horses behind—who’s in the pole?” “What’s the matter?” inquires Dawk, riding up to the leaders. “Oh, another wady; it looks pretty solid, too.” Dawk looks ahead, rides off to the right, and after a few minutes calls out directions to the drivers. “This way with that wagon; you can get across here.” Charlie swings his leaders round and heads for the spot where Dawk’s voice is heard. The wagon jolts over a rock, and lurches toward the wady so closely that a huge lump of earth detaches itself from the steep bank and rattles down on to the boulders beneath. “Get over to the right!” yells Gunner from the back of the wagon. “What the blazes are you drivers doing? You’ll have the whole box and dice in the wady in a minute!” [Illustration] “Get up, Tiger! Up, Ginger!” “Come over Baldy! Come over, you——!” The wagon draws away from the dangerous edge, swings round, and, with rattling and bumping, descends into the wady-bed in a cloud of dust. The horses bend their backs to the opposite bank and are urged up by the drivers, who have risen in the stirrups and are leaning over their necks. With a last effort the team pulls forward, the wagon jolts over the top, and then stops. [Illustration] Harry, who was thrown from his seat at the back of the cable-wagon as it bumped the wady-bed, comes limping up the slope. As he climbs into his seat he makes a remark to Gunner. “That was a snifter!” he says. “My oath! a beaut.” More wady-beds open up, more detours are made, more dizzy descents and stiff ascents are negotiated, until, at last, the wagon draws in to Brigade Headquarters. The line is through, and everything is in readiness for the attack at dawn. * * * * * “When you’ve done with that pack-saddle, I want to ‘inergate’ a scheme with you.” “Yes, sir?” “This stunt is going to be a tough one, so I want you to see that all your pack-sets are in good-going order, and that those pack-saddles are fitted properly. Where are you putting the aerial load, Hook?” “Everything is ready now; I’m fixing this saddle for the masts.” “Right-o! And see that the farrier gets to work on those mules straight away.” “Yes, sir. Have you any idea when we move out?” “I’ve no idea; in about a week, possibly.”