But she could see nothing; the mountain seemed as tenantless and devoid of life as on the day when it first towered up upon the face of things created.

Presently the sounds died away, and she returned, thinking that she must have been deceived by the echoes of some distant thunderstorm.
Next day they learnt from the natives that what she had heard was the roar of the big guns covering the flight of the British troops down the precipitous sides of Majuba Mountain.

After these tidings old Silas Croft began to lose heart a little.

The run of disaster was so unrelieved that even his robust faith in the invincibility of the English arms was shaken.
"It is very strange, Bessie," he said, "very strange; but, never mind, it is bound to come right at last.

Our Government is not going to knock under because it has suffered a few reverses." Then followed a long four weeks of uncertainty.