"Now," I cried, half-wild with excitement and the feeling of exaltation which had come over me, "mount and gallop after our men." "What! No, boy, I can't do that," he said, smiling, as he clapped me on the shoulder. "I've played my part, and if it means exit I'll go off the stage like a man, for I suppose the brutes will shoot me for what I've done." "Nonsense!" I cried, wildly now. "Jump on, and gallop." "No," he said, recocking his revolver. "Mount, my lad, and ride for your life." "I won't," I said. "You get up and go." "What!" he shouted, with his face lowering. "Mount, sir. I order you." "Don't be a fool," I yelled at him. "They'll be after us directly. There, some of them are firing already. Get up, or you'll lose my poor old horse." He turned upon me in a rage, with his revolver raised. "Bah!" he cried. Then a change came over him, and he turned to look back at the enemy. "Can you run?" he said. "I can't; my right leg's cut." That was plain enough, for his breeches were gashed above the knee, and there was a great patch of blood spreading. "Yes, I can run," I said stubbornly; "but I won't." "You shall," he said, as he thrust his foot into the stirrup and swung himself up on Sandho's back. "Now then, on my right here. Catch hold of the holster-strap, and we'll escape together, or fall: the brave lad and the fool." CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. I HAVE MY DOUBTS. "Too late; too late," I muttered through my teeth as, sword in hand, I made a bound to keep up with Sandho, who dashed forward. It was lucky for me I did so; as it was, I nearly lost my hold. The poor beast had been sadly punished in the melee; and between temper and dread he was hardly controllable, and bearing hard against the curb in a wild desire to rush off. In fact, I fully expected at any moment to be shaken from my grasp, as, oddly enough, even in that time of peril, I recalled the gymnastic sport of giant strides of my schooldays, and held on; but I was certain we were now too late, and that it was only a matter of moments before we should be overtaken and cut down or taken prisoners by a strong party of the Boers who were in full pursuit. Then my exaltation increased, and I thought that Sandho would be able to go faster if relieved of my clinging hand, and so save the Colonel; and in another instant I should have let go, when--as he told me afterwards--the Colonel seemed to divine my thoughts, and I felt his sword strike against my back as it hung loosely by the knot to his wrist, while his strong right hand was thrust under and gripped my leather cartridge-belt. "Hold on tightly, my lad, and we'll do it somehow," he cried.