"Nonsense," I said; "we're altering our position. I declare I'm getting to be a better soldier than you are. Would it be right to stand fast here and let the Boers surround us and lie snugly behind the rocks to take careful aim and shoot us all down, horse and man?" "Oh, I suppose not," groaned my companion; "but I hate--I loathe-- running away from these bullet-headed double-Dutchmen. They think it so cowardly." "Let them, in their ignorance," I said. "It seems to me far more cowardly to hide one's self behind a stone and bring down with a rifle a man who can't reach them." "Perhaps so. But where are we making for?" "That clump of rocks right out yonder, that looks like a town." "But they're making for that too," said Denham, shading his eyes by pulling down the rim of his soft felt hat. "Yes," I said; "and there's another body behind us, and one on each flank. We're surrounded." "Then why doesn't the Colonel call a halt and let us stand shoulder to shoulder and fight it out with the ring?" "Because he wants to save all our lives, I suppose." "`He who fights and runs away will live to fight another day,'" said Denham, with a bitter sneer. "Oh, I'm sick of it. Look here; those brutes of Boers will reach that great kopje first, drop amongst the stones, and shoot us all down just when we get there with our horses pumped out." "Yes," I said, "if you keep on talking instead of nursing your horse." "Are you aware that I am your officer?" he cried angrily. "Quite," I replied; "but I was talking to my friend." "Friend be hanged!" he snapped out. "Keep your place." "I am keeping my place," I said--"knee to knee with you; and our horses are going as if they were harnessed together. I say, what a race!" "Yes, it's splendid," said Denham excitedly. "Oh, how I wish the brutes would stand fast and let us charge right into them--through them--cut them to pieces, or ride them down! I feel strung up for anything now." I nodded at him, and panted out something about his knowing that the enemy would not stand for a charge. It was exciting. By accident, of course, in following out certain instructions from the General in command, to take a certain course and cut off a commando of the Boers, we had somehow managed to get into an awkward position, no less than four strong bodies of the enemy hemming us in. There was nothing for our commander to do but make for the nearest shelter, and this presented itself in the distance in the shape of what looked like one of the regular piles of granite rocks, which, if we reached it first, we could hold against the enemy, however greatly they outnumbered us; though even then it seemed plain enough that they were far more than ten to one. "Shall we do it?" said Denham as we rode on, having increased our pace to a gallop. "Yes," I said; "I don't think there's a doubt of it now. We're on better ground, and they're getting among rocks." "The flanks are closing in fast," said Denham.