"That's it, sir; but I must go. The lads are half-mad with joy, and if I'm not handy we shall have them setting up a shout." But of course there was no shout, the men who, to their great disgust, were to stay and hold the camp bidding good-luck to their more fortunate comrades without a sound; while more than once, with the remembrance of the dastardly murder that had just taken place, men whispered to their comrades something about not to forget what the cowardly Boers had done. Exact to the time, just an hour before midnight, and in profound darkness--for the moon had set but a short time before--the men, with shouldered rifles, set off with springy step, Dickenson and Lennox, to whom the country was well known from shooting and fishing excursions they had made, leading the party, not a word being uttered in the ranks, and the tramp, tramp of feet sounding light and elastic as the lads followed through the open, undulating plain, well clear of the bush, there being hardly a stone to pass till they were within a mile of the little kopje where the Boers' laager lay. There the broken country would begin, the land rising and being much encumbered with stones. But the place had been well surveyed by the major through his field-glass at daybreak two days before, and he had compared notes with Lennox, telling him what he had seen, and the young officer had drawn his attention to the presence of a patch of woodland that might be useful for a rallying-point should there be need. Captain Roby, too, had been well posted up; and after all that was necessary had been said, Lennox had joined his friend. "Oh, we shall do it, Bob," he said. "What I wonder is, that it was not tried long enough ago." "So do I," was the reply. "But, I say, speak out frankly: do you feel up to the work?" "I feel as light and active as if I were going to a football match," was the reply. "That's right," said Dickenson, with a sigh of relief. "And you?" "Just as if I were going to give the Boers a lesson and show them what a couple of light companies can do in a storming rush. There, save your breath for the use of your legs. Two hours' march, two hours' lie down, and then--" "Yes, Bob;" said Lennox, drawing a deep breath, and feeling for the first time that they were going on a very serious mission; "and then?" And then there was nothing heard but the light tramp--tramp--tramp-- tramp of a hundred and fifty men and their leaders, not one of whom felt the slightest doubt as to his returning safe. CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. FOR A NIGHT ATTACK.