We must have gone, as I hoped in a perfectly straight direction, for what appeared to be nearly an hour, and I was getting desperate about our slow progress, when suddenly the assagai-shaft was jigged sharply and then dragged; and for a moment I saw a faint spark of light far ahead, due to the fact that Joeboy had gone down suddenly upon hands and knees. I followed suit, and lay flat, listening, but only hearing my heart throbbing slowly and heavily. Not a sound was to be heard for fully half-a-minute; and then came the familiar click of iron against iron, caused, as I well knew, by a horse champing at his bit and moving the curb-chain. Directly after there was the dull _thud, thud_ of horses' hoofs coming from our right, and I knew that mounted men were approaching us at right angles to our course, and thought we must be discovered the next minute or else trampled on by the horses. For a moment or two my heart seemed to stand still and then to go at a gallop, for the horses came nearer and nearer; and I tried to press myself closer and closer to the sand as one horse passed within two or three yards of my feet, and another a little way in front. I could hardly believe the men had gone by without seeing us, though I had not seen them, and still crouched down, expecting to hear the riders turn and come back. Hence it was like a surprise when I heard a faint rustling which indicated that Joeboy was getting up; and, warned by a jerk of the spear-shaft, I sprang up too. "All ride by," said the black; and I realised now that a patrol must have passed, with the men riding two or three horse-lengths apart to keep guard against any surprise parties of our troop. We went on again for a short distance, and then there was another stoppage; for from the front came the murmur of voices talking in a low tone, suggestive of a little outpost in front. Joeboy made a brief halt, and then we went down on hands and knees, and crawled to the right for about fifty yards before turning again in the direction of the wagons; and this movement was kept up for quite a hundred yards; then the black rose to his foot, and our walk recommenced. We must now, I thought, have kept on for above an hour, though I dare say it was not more than half that time; but I fully believed it was nearer three hours than two after we had left the fort when Joeboy suddenly dropped down flat; and, as I followed his example, he backed himself, walking quadrupedally on his hands and toes till he was able to subside close to where I lay on my face. "Boss Val tired?" he whispered. "Um?" "Not a bit," I replied. "Are we near the wagons?" "Um? Done know," he replied. "Close by Doppie. All quiet. Fas' asleep. Lissum."