He felt sure now that he had said those words; but in his confused state, suffering as he was from the shock, he could only wonder why the sergeant should begin feeling him over, and, apparently satisfied that nothing was broken, begin hurrying him along in the direction taken by the retreating force, which, now that the dense cloud of smoke was lifting, he could see steadily marching away in the distance, but with a group of about a dozen lingering behind. Just then the sergeant stopped, unslung his rifle, placed his helmet on the top, and held it up as high as he could, till Dickenson saw a similar signal made by the party away ahead. "They know we're all right," said Dickenson, still, as it seemed, dumbly: and the sergeant nodded and smiled. "It was an awful crash. I mean they were terrible crashes, sergeant." There was another nod, and after a glance back the sergeant hurried him along a little faster. "Can you--no, of course you can't--hear whether the Boers are calling out now?" The sergeant shook his head. "Poor wretches!" said Dickenson. "But they were too far off to be hurt." The sergeant nodded. "Here, I can't understand this," said Dickenson. "You pointed to your ears and signified to me that the explosions had made you as deaf as a post." The sergeant turned to him, looking as if he were trying to check a broad grin, as he pointed to his officer's ears. That made all clear. "Why, it is I who am deaf," cried Dickenson excitedly; and almost at the same moment something seemed to go _crack, crack_ in his head, and his hearing had come back, with everything that followed sounding painfully loud. "And no wonder, sir," said the sergeant. "It was pretty sharp. My ears are singing now. Does it hurt you where you were nipped by the stone?" "Feels a bit pinched, that's all." "And you're all right beside, sir?" "Yes, I think so, sergeant." "That's good. Well, sir, you did it." "What! blew up the wagons? Yes, sergeant, I suppose we've done our work satisfactorily. But do you think the Boers would be hurt?" "If they were, sir, it was not bad enough to make them stop singing out for help. I heard them quite plainly after the explosions. Can you walk a little faster, sir?" "Oh yes, I think so. I'm quite right, all but this singing noise in my ears. I say, though, what about the enemy?" "I don't know anything about them, sir; the kopje hides them for the present, but once they make out how few we are, I expect they'll come on with a rush; and the worst of it is, they're mounted. But it'll be all right, sir. The colonel said he was sending out a covering party to help us in, didn't he?" "Yes," replied Dickenson. "Oh, we shall keep them off. They'll begin sniping as soon as they get a chance, but they'll never make a big attack in the open field like we're going over now."