"It isn't altogether too late now," said Carhayes. "I smell some fun ahead. Let them get up over the rise, and then we'll go down and look if their spoor seems worth following." "And what if they are only the advance guard of a lot more?" suggested Hoste. "They are not," was the confident reply. "There are too few beasts and too few niggers. I tell you there's some fun sticking out for us." Quickly the horses were saddled. A high, bushy ridge precluded all chance of their presence being discovered by the three marauders as soon as the latter had crossed the river, and it certainly had not been discovered before. Then, having allowed sufficient time to elapse, they forded the river and rode forward on the other side, so as to converge on the spoor leading up from the drift below. "Here it is--as plain as mud," said Carhayes, bending over in his saddle to examine the ground, which, dry and sandy, showed the hoof-prints and footmarks so plainly that a child might have followed them. "They are well over the rise by now, and the way isn't so rough as I expected. Our plan is to make straight for the top of the hill. We can't get up much quicker than they can, I'm afraid, unless we want to blow our horses, which we don't. But once we are up there we shall find it all open _veldt_, and all we've got to do is to ride them down in the open, shoot the niggers, and head the stock back for the river again. Anyone propose an amendment to that resolution?" "We are four fools," said Payne laconically, knocking the ashes out of his pipe and pocketing that useful implement. "_Ja_! That's so," said Carhayes, joining heartily in the laugh which greeted this remark. "And now, boys, are we on for the fun, that's the question?" "We just are," cried Hoste, whose dare-devil recklessness was akin to that of Carhayes. The other two acquiesced silently, but as they caught each other's glance, a curious satirical twinkle lurked in the eyes of both men. "A case of the tail wagging the dog," presently whispered Payne to Eustace. "Two wise men led by two fools!" The track, rough and stony, took longer to follow than they had expected. Moreover they had to exercise extreme care, lest the clink of the hoof-stroke of a shod horse perchance stumbling on the rocky way should be borne to the quick, watchful ears of those they were following. At length, however, the brow of the ridge was gained, and there before them lay a rolling expanse of open country, yet not so open as Carhayes had predicted, for it was pretty thickly dotted with mimosa, and the grass was long, coarse, and tangled, rendering rapid riding dangerous in parts.