"Ah, I forgot. I mustn't curse. I've got to
set the example to these children. But, O God, the heat and the flies!"
Durant wondered if after all it had been a kindness to call back the
passing spirit that had begun to forget.
* * * * *
Slowly the scorching day wore away, till evening descended in a blaze of
gorgeous colouring upon the desolate African wilderness and the band of
men that had been surrounded and cut off by a wily enemy.
They were expecting relief. Hourly they expected it, but, being hampered
by a score of wounded, it was not possible for them to break through the
thickly populated scrub unassisted. And they had no water.
A stream flowed, brown and sluggish, not more than a hundred yards below
the camp. But that same stream was flanked on the farther side by a
long, black line of thicket that poured forth fire upon any man who
ventured out from behind the great rocks that protected the camp.
It had been attempted again and again, for the needs of the wounded were
desperate. But each effort had been disastrous, and at last an order had
gone forth that no man was to expose himself again to this deadly risk.
So, silent behind their entrenchments, with the hospital tent in their
midst, the British force had to endure the situation, waiting with a
dogged patience for the coming of their comrades who could not be far
away.
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