I listened, and all was very still. Now and then from a distance came a faint squeal and a stamp from some horse; but there was no talking going on, and it was hardly possible there in the darkness to conceive that probably a thousand men were lying near at hand, spread out to right and left, and ready at a call to spring up, mount, and dash across the plain. "I can hear nothing," I replied at last, with my lips close to his ear. "Think they are gone, Joeboy?" "Um? Gone?" he whispered back. "Gone 'sleep. Joeboy going to look for wagons." "Stop a moment," I whispered. "Are you going to leave me here?" "Um? Boss Val lie still and have good rest. Joeboy come back soon." "But do you think you can find me again?" I said. He put his lips close to my ear again and laughed softly. "Um? Oh yes, Joeboy find um sure enough. See a lot in the dark. Boss Val lie quite still." Before I could remonstrate against a plan which, it seemed to me, might, ruin our expedition, he had crept away; and from the direction he took I knew he had gone off to the left, going quite fast, and progressing in a style which, in old days, I had often laughingly said was like that of the crocodiles of the Limpopo. This time I did not hear him make a sound, and I could, of course, do nothing but lie still, feeling in my utter misery that all was over, and that I could only lie there till near daybreak, waiting to be found again by Joeboy, and waiting in vain. Then I would have to run the gauntlet of the outposts, and make a desperate effort to return, shamefaced and miserable, to the camp. I tried hard to fix my attention on listening and endeavouring to make out how near I was to the Boer lines; but I could not hear a sound. Again and again I fretted at my miserable position as the time glided away and there was no sign of Joeboy. "I should have stopped him," I reflected. "I ought not to have let him take the lead." Just then, however, my heart seemed to give a great jump; for without a sound the black was alongside again, touching my leg, and then gliding up till his lips were level with my ear. "Boss Val 'sleep--um?" "Asleep!" I whispered back indignantly. "No." "Um!" he whispered. "Joeboy been very long way. No wagon there. Now go this way." "No, no!" I whispered back. "You must stay with me, or we must go together, Joeboy!" There was no reply, and in alarm I stretched out my left hand to seize hold of him; but he had gone. I half-fancied I heard a faint rustle some distance off as of a great serpent gliding across in front of my head; but I dared not raise my voice to stop him. Now I realised that he must have glided away from me the moment he had uttered the words "this way;" and again I had to go through all that agony of expectation and dread. Still, I began to feel a little more confidence in Joeboy, and for the next half-hour I waited anxiously, hoping against hope, till I was in despair and half-mad.