Then, hand in hand and step by step, we went on through the pitchy darkness straight for the light on our right. We moved very cautiously, for our first fear was that we might be heard from the walls; and, setting aside the extreme doubtfulness of receiving a bullet in the back from a friend, there was the danger of one shot bringing many, as the sentries carried on the alarm, with the result that every Boer in front would be on the _qui vive_ and our venture rendered impossible. But all was perfectly still, while the darkness overhead seemed to press down upon us. In about ten minutes Denham whispered, "Don't take any notice." When he had spoken there was a faint, rustling sound, and I knew he had thrown something from him, to fall with a dull sound upon the ground. "Bother!" he whispered. "I didn't think it would make such a row." "What was it?" I asked. "About a dozen feet of hide rope. I cut it off as high as I could reach; but, my word, wasn't it hard!" "Why did you cut it?" "So that no Boer, exploring, should run against it and take it into his head to climb up. How do you feel?" "Rather hot." "So do I. We're precious weak yet. Now, look here; we'll keep on walking as long as we dare; then we must go down on hands and knees; last of all, we must creep on our chests, helping ourselves along with our elbows." "It will be very slow work," I said. "Yes, but it's the only way. We shall do it, for it's gloriously dark. If we come suddenly upon a sentry we must drop on our faces and lie still till I see the way to circumvent him." "I understand," I said. "Not all yet. If we get close up you'll have to take the lead; and the thing to do is to get close up among the sleeping Boers. That means safety, for if any one wakes up and speaks you must answer in Dutch, with your face close to the ground." "It seems very risky," I said. "So did your going to cut out six wagons with their teams; but you did it. Now, don't talk; come on." We moved forward again very slowly in what seemed to be a tedious journey, though I knew perfectly well that, taken diagonally, it could not be more than twelve hundred yards, it having been reckoned that the Boers' advance-parties were about a thousand yards from the walls of the fort. But we were getting nearer, for the lights seemed to grow, not brighter, but less dim, and during the last few minutes we had noticed a third light away to the right. I wanted to say that we were getting pretty near to the enemy at last; but talking was now out of the question, and I had to telegraph to my companion, by a pressure of the hand, that we must be on the alert.