CHAPTER THIRTY.
AT THE GOAL.
"It has more than paid for it all!" said West that night, when they laydown to rest after a wildly-exciting day.
"Yes," replied Ingleborough, laughing. "I felt quite jealous!"
"I don't believe you!" said West sharply. "You couldn't; they all madeas much fuss over you as they did over me, from the chief downward!"
"Well, I suppose they did; but I began to have the horrors once!"
"Horrors?"
"Yes; knowing as I did that they must be short of food, I began to thinkthat they were welcoming us so warmly because we were something good toeat, and all the feasting was the beginning of fattening us up."
"Of course you did!" said West drily.
"I say though," continued Ingleborough; "if it is not a state secret,what was it the chief said to you when he took you aside?"
"Oh, it's no secret from you!" replied West.
"Let's have it then!"
"Well, first of all, it was a lot of flattery."
"Flattery?"
"Yes, about being so brave, and bringing the Kimberley despatch throughthe Boer lines."
"That was not flattery. You did bring the despatch to its destinationvery bravely."
"So did you!" said West sharply.
"Oh, very well, so did I then! It was _we_ if you like! Being butteredis not an unpleasant sensation when you can honestly believe that youdeserve it; and, without being vain, I suppose we can feel that ourconsciences are at rest."
"Never mind that!" said West hurriedly. "I don't like being buttered,as you call it. The chief said then that he should have to send anotherdespatch back to Kimberley, and that he should ask us to take it."
"What a cracker!" cried Ingleborough.
"Cracker--lie? I declare he did!"
"I don't believe you."
"Very well!" said West stiffly.
"No; it is not very well! Come now, he didn't say anything about _us_.He said you. Confess: the truth!"
West began to hesitate.
"He--well--perhaps not exactly in the words I said."
"That will do, sir!" cried Ingleborough. "You are convicted ofcramming--of making up a fictitious account of the interview. He didnot allude to me."
"But he meant to include you, of course!"
"No, he did not, Noll; he meant you."
"I say he meant both of us. If he did not, I shan't go!"
"What!"
"I shall not go a step out of the way without my comrade!"
"What!" cried Ingleborough, holding out his hand. "Well, come, I likethat, lad, if you mean it."
"If I mean it, Ingle!" said West reproachfully.
"All right, old chap! You always were a trump! There, _we'll_ take thedespatch back! And now no more butter! We're very brave fellows, ofcourse, and there's an end of it. I say, I wonder how Anson is gettingon."
"The miserable renegade!" cried West. "I should like to see thescoundrel punished!"
"Well, have patience!" said Ingleborough, laughing. "It's a verylaudable desire, which I live in hopes of seeing gratified. But don'tyou think we might as well go to sleep and make up for all we have gonethrough?"
"Yes, but who is to sleep with all this terrible bombarding going on?"
"I for one!" said Ingleborough. "I'm getting quite used to it! But Isay, I can see a better way of making a fortune than keeping in thediamond business."
"What is it?" said West carelessly. He was listening to the roar of theenemy's guns and the crash of shells, for the Boers were keeping uptheir bombardment right into the night.
"I mean to go into the gunpowder trade, and--oh dear, how--"
West waited for the words that should have followed a long-drawn yawn,but none came, for the simple reason that Ingleborough was fast asleep.
Ten minutes later, in the face of his suggestions to the contrary, andin spite of the steady regular discharge of artillery, sending hugeshells into the place, West was just as fast asleep, and dreaming ofAnson sitting gibbering at him as he played the part of a monkey fillinghis cheeks with nuts till the pouches were bulged out as if he weresuffering from a very bad attack of mumps. The odd part of it was thatwhen he took out and tried to crack one of the nuts in his teeth hecould not, from the simple fact that they were diamonds.