The sun had set by this time.  There is no twilight in those latitudes.  It grew dark at once.  We could see now, in the plain all round, where black clouds of smoke had rolled before, one lurid red glare of burning houses, mixed with a sullen haze of tawny light from the columns of prairie fire kindled by the insurgents.

We made our way still onward across the open plain without one word towards Salisbury.  The mare was giving out.  She strode with a will; but her flanks were white with froth; her breath came short; foam flew from her nostrils.

As we mounted the next ridge, still distancing our pursuers, I saw suddenly, on its crest, defined against the livid red sky like a silhouette, two more mounted black men!

“It’s all up, Hilda!” I cried, losing heart at last.  “They are on both sides of us now!  The mare is spent; we are surrounded!”

She drew rein and gazed at them.  For a moment suspense spoke in all her attitude.  Then she burst into a sudden deep sigh of relief.  “No, no,” she cried; “these are friendlies!”

“How do you know?” I gasped.  But I believed her.

“They are looking out this way, with hands shading their eyes against the red glare.  They are looking away from Salisbury, in the direction of the attack.  They are expecting the enemy.  They must be friendlies!  See, see! they have caught sight of us!”

As she spoke, one of the men lifted his rifle and half pointed it.  “Don’t shoot! don’t shoot!” I shrieked aloud.  “We are English!  English!”

The men let their rifles drop, and rode down towards us.  “Who are you?” I cried.

They saluted us, military fashion.  “Matabele police, sah,” the leader answered, recognising me.  “You are flying from Klaas’s?”

“Yes,” I answered.  “They have murdered Klaas, with his wife and child.  Some of them are now following us.”

The spokesman was a well-educated Cape Town negro.  “All right sah,” he answered.  “I have forty men here right behind de kopje.  Let dem come!  We can give a good account of dem.  Ride on straight wit de lady to Salisbury!”

“The Salisbury people know of this rising, then?” I asked.

“Yes, sah.  Dem know since five o’clock.  Kaffir boys from Klaas’s brought in de news; and a white man escaped from Rozenboom’s confirm it.  We have pickets all round.  You is safe now; you can ride on into Salisbury witout fear of de Matabele.”

I rode on, relieved.  Mechanically, my feet worked to and fro on the pedals.  It was a gentle down-gradient now towards the town.  I had no further need for special exertion.

Suddenly, Hilda’s voice came wafted to me, as through a mist.  “What are you doing, Hubert?  You’ll be off in a minute!”

I started and recovered my balance with difficulty.  Then I was aware at once that one second before I had all but dropped asleep, dog tired, on the bicycle.  Worn out with my long day and with the nervous strain, I began to doze off, with my feet still moving round and round automatically, the moment the anxiety of the chase was relieved, and an easy down-grade gave me a little respite.