Peter looked up, checking the ridgeline partly encircling the plateau. He heard a rattle of rifle fire and a bullet smacked into the ground next to the foot of the man who had been mocking him.
‘s**t!’ The soldier spat out his pipe and ran to the matting wall of the hut he had just searched. The flimsy dwelling might have provided some concealment, but it couldn’t stop the bullet that tore through the reeds and into the man’s chest.
Peter dismounted. The man’s comrade dropped to the ground and crawled towards his friend.
‘Help me get him up on my horse,’ Peter said.
The soldier was almost at the wounded man when another bullet brought up a fountain of earth near his hand. He stood, turned and ran towards where his own horse was rearing up, trying to break away from the man left to guar
