"He was leaping a rifle pit. I think you will see his rider again now. If they are in the rifle pits it will take some good driving as well as nerve."
Almost as he spoke the rider whose body had been hidden for the past two or three minutes came up in his saddle like a jack-in-the-box.
"There," said the senior officer. "What did I tell you? Now we will see some real riding. If I am not mistaken that horse is a Kentucky hunter. It is nothing for him to jump twenty-foot ditches. He can go almost anywhere. Cross country riding is second nature to him."
With the reappearance of the rider the riflemen who had been driven out of their rifle pits and had taken refuge at the foot of the mountain redoubled their efforts. The bullets could be seen kicking up dirt all about the horseman, who was now riding like the wind, his horse occasionally stopping to make a great leap of a rifle pit, or making a short detour to avoid others.
Soon the mortars at the top of the moun-
