Away to the left there were some more shots, and then suddenly, right in our faces, a red glare shone through the trees, coming and going so quickly that I’d only time to say ’Oh!’ before it had disappeared, and almost immediately afterwards there was another brighter glare and a tearing bursting noise. It didn’t seem a hundred yards ahead of us, and the little stallion, Jim, began jumping about. ’What was that?’ I sang out, though I knew perfectly well that it was a shell, but couldn’t help singing out, my nerves were so jumpy. A scraggy spluttering volley came back from the trees, and then all was still again. ’Zorilla is firing a field-gun down the road,’ my brother said; ’I wonder what good he thinks he is doing.’ I heard a crash and a noise of breaking branches. ’What’s that, Gerald?’ ’My chaps are cutting down trees to haul across the road,’ he answered; ’making a barricade.’ That glare—more distinct now, and right in front of us—showed up again, and a shell came tearing and crashing through the trees on one side of us, and we heard a soft ’plump’ as it buried itself in the ground without bursting. There was the crash of another volley, and then nothing but darkness and silence. ’Our chaps see them when they fire that gun, and let "rip" with their rifles,’ Gerald told me. His coolness irritated me, for my nerves were tingling all over with excitement and the funny feeling inside me of being under fire for the first time. I rather wondered whether Ginger would have felt as—well—nervous if he had been here. I’d never known him frightened at anything. A little further along a couple of wagons slowed up in a patch of moonlight at the side of the road, some ragged little natives hovering round them. Gerald stopped a moment to speak to a white-faced officer, and on we went again. ’That’s our only doctor, Billums; we keep him pretty busy.’ If that was the doctor I knew that we must be close to the firing line, and my heart began thumping very rapidly. We could only go very slowly now, because the road was blocked with wagons and mules jumbled together. ’Jump off, Billums; keep close to me!’ Gerald sang out cheerily. I was jolly glad to be on my feet again, and followed him, José taking the horses. On each side of us I heard axes chipping, a tree fell with a crash quite close to me, and then we got up to the barricade which they were building across the road. Men were swarming here, some dragging more trees out of the forest, others cutting off small branches with their _machetes_.