DELUSIVE WILDFOWL CRIES

Otago Witness, Issue 2509, 16 April 1902, Page 53

DELUSIVE WILDFOWL CRIES

Suhst.tute a British column for w lr! animals, a Bo.r -roat's method of picccdurn will be precisely the same. If a small patrol pas*r> so temptingly near tint he might empty every saddle without ri-ik of beinc: ( aught, he \vi\\ not fire a s-hot He is after bieprer game That patrol may go on beeiu(f nothiim. hearing no sound but the weirt! whistle of some strange wild fowl. Possibly it may ride on a league or two, s-couriug the country within limits effectually enough, and then go buck to eauip satisfied that there are no enemies anywhere near. The Boers do not lay ambushes for two o>: three men wliph they have a raid in view. But that wild birdV .-hull cry was probably heard by another Boer scout, who understood its meaning, and pent the signal on to comrades waiting with horse.-, behind some, distant kopje or among tho bui'dings of v deserted farm. Thcsa being too clever to e-itrap a patrol whose absence would warn the British columnof danger, scamper off in different directions, so that, if peen, they may be taken for mere fugitives having no concerted plan. The chances are, however, that they will all get clear away long before the patrol comes within sight of them. Meanwhile tho advanced scouts may have found out by cunning methods, learned from natives, exactly what precautions are being taken to guard the camp. Keeping keen watch on the skyline, they will have seen every sentry po-ted at Min«et, and taken note of tin easiest way to get in through broken link; of the outpost chain.