We stayed to breakfast, and then also left, making for Heilbron, but not feeling quite sure as to whether we should reach it before the enemy.  After travelling a couple of hours we observed half a dozen horsemen appear against the skyline on our left.  From the way they were spread out we judged them to be English.  To make sure we rode a little nearer.  On coming round one of the numerous undulating bulten, we saw three horsemen making for us at full speed.  We at once wheeled round and took up a position behind some rocks.  When the horsemen came closer we found that they were Boers.  They told us, however, that the men first observed by us were really British, which accounted for their haste, and that the whole column was following just behind.

Now that we had located the enemy we felt more at ease.  The scouts were riding near the road along which the wire ran, about seven miles from the town.  Cutting across in plain sight of the enemy, we fixed the vibrator to the fence, and called up Heilbron.  We heard the instruments working in the office, but got no reply to our hurried call.  The scouts were about fifteen hundred yards away.  We continued calling; they continued approaching, carefully inspecting every foot of ground before them.  It seemed strange to us that the scouts of a column on the march should search for the enemy within five hundred yards only of the main body.  But perhaps that is what they teach at Sandhurst.  Presently the head of the column came in sight from behind the rise.  The scouts were now within eight hundred yards.  We quietly mounted our horses and rode away.  They gave no sign of having observed our movements.  When some distance away, we looked back and saw that the whole column had halted, about seven thousand men.

We reached Heilbron to find the place practically deserted.  Wishing to see the enemy enter the town, we delayed our departure.  Some hours passed, and nothing happened to denote the proximity of the British.  We feared that they might be surrounding the town before entering it, so we left for Frankfort, following the road taken by the President the night before.

TAPPING THE WIRES

We had gone about a mile, when suddenly a score of horsemen made their appearance on top of the rise before us.  Not knowing whether they were friends or foes, we swerved away to the left, regaining the road by a detour.  After sunset we saw a small bonfire blaze forth about three miles away in the direction we were going.  We hardly knew what to make of such an unusual sight.  The night was a fairly dark one, but we pushed on rapidly.  In the middle of a hard canter my horse suddenly struck his forefeet against some obstacle, and came crashing down upon his head.  It was an anxious moment for me.  When we had disentangled ourselves I hastened to feel the pony’s knees, and found to my joy that they were but little damaged.  Whilst still laughing over this mishap, we heard voices to our right.  We listened for a moment.  First came the question in English—­