A NARROW SHAVE
"John, send a man to fetch Kulana," said Royce. "It is time we were
off."
Before the Hausa dispatched by John had gone out of sight, he met
Kulana hurrying back from the northward post to which he had been
sent to watch the progress of the enemy.
Kulana reported that a small party of Tubus had caught sight of him
as they emerged from a clump of trees some distance away. They had
pursued him and almost run him down when the rush of stampeding
elephants caused them to wheel their horses and flee for their lives.
He himself only escaped being trampled to death by taking shelter
behind a large tree, where he had remained until the storm swept by.
Learning from John that the course taken by the elephants was almost
the direction of the fort, Royce had an idea.
"Why not follow in the track of the elephants?" he said to Challis.
"They will clear the Tubus off our line of march, at least for a
time, and if we march rapidly we may get through before they have
rallied."
"We can try, but I doubt it," replied Challis. "The elephants are
going at such a thundering speed that they are miles away by this
time, and the Tubus won't have any reason to be afraid of them.
Still, there's nothing else to be done, and we had better start at
once."
In a few minutes the baggage was loaded on to the released prisoners,
and the party set off, John leading the way with Royce and half the
Hausas, the carriers following, and Challis with the rest of the
armed men bringing up the rear.
There was no difficulty in following the track of the elephants. It
was as though a tornado had swept over the country. A path several
yards wide had been cut through the scrub and the thin forest. Tall
grass and shrubs had been crushed flat, saplings broken off like
matchwood. Only large trees had survived the rush, and the ground
was strewn with the lower branches of these.
Royce went a good distance ahead of the carriers. They marched as
quickly as possible, but, laden as they were, their pace did not
exceed the rate of two and a half miles an hour. If the fort, as
Royce believed, were still about five miles away, he could not but
confess to himself that Challis's doubt was justified. He repressed
his anxiety and impatience, keeping as careful a lookout as the
nature of the country permitted.
When they had followed the track for a little more than a mile, John
caught sight of an object in the distance that caused him to halt.
At first he was unable to determine what the object was, but when
Royce persuaded him to advance a few paces he declared excitedly that
it was a fallen horse.
Royce ordered his men to extend and scout carefully forward. Coming
presently to the horse he saw that it was dead, and beyond it,
hitherto hidden from sight, lay a dead negro, his body terribly
crushed.
What had happened was clear. The hapless rider had been caught by
the elephants, and overthrown before he could extricate himself from
the undergrowth. With a shudder Royce passed on.
Some little distance farther on John halted again.
"What is it now?" asked Royce, whom the slow progress was making more
and more uneasy.
"No go fort way, sah," replied the man. "Fort dat way, elephants go
dis."
He pointed first straight ahead through the forest, then to the
right, the direction in which the elephants had rushed. It was clear
from the marks of devastation that the beasts had not yet checked
their furious pace. Royce wondered what had caused a panic which was
so persistent.
"We had better go after the elephants," he said after a few moments'
consideration. "It is out of our way, you say, but it will be at any
rate clear of Tubus."
Accordingly they struck off to the right. The forest here was
somewhat denser, and though the small trees and undergrowth had been
pretty well levelled by the elephants' ponderous bodies, the tangle
made marching very difficult. Royce halted several times in order
that he might not altogether lose touch with the carriers behind.
After another half-hour's tramp the course of the elephants took
another turn to the right.
"We simply daren't follow it any longer," said Royce, mopping his wet
brow. "It will take us much too far out of our way. In fact, I
daresay you have lost your way already."
John did not repeat his little joke. His downcast expression
indicated plainly enough that he was now at fault. He glanced up at
the sun through the over-arching trees, and at last hesitatingly
suggested a direction in which they might proceed.
"Unless you have been quite wrong all along, we can't be very far
from the fort now," said Royce. "But as we couldn't see it for the
trees we might go right past it without knowing. Perhaps the country
opens out, however, so let us try it."
Leaving the track they plunged through the forest, dodging the thorns
and forcing their way through the entanglements of undergrowth and
creepers. It was very hot work, and Royce felt as tired as if he had
marched twenty miles on end.
After a quarter of an hours' toilsome progress they came suddenly to
the edge of the forest; and there, almost straight ahead, less than a
mile away, they saw the fort, a brown, sunlit patch on the hillock.
"Savvy all same, sah," cried John in delight.
"Yes, you are either very clever or very lucky," said Royce. "I hope
our troubles are now over for a time. We must wait here, just within
the forest line, until the others come up."
He leant against a tree, looking out over the space of rolling
country between him and his goal. It was open save for scrub; there
was no sign of man or beast.
But he had waited only a few minutes when two negro horsemen came out
from behind a distant clump of trees, crossed the open space, and
disappeared to the westward.
Royce's anxiety returned with doubled force. It was almost certain
that these Tubus had been lurking on the watch in the neighbourhood
of the fort. They might indeed have been sent ahead by Goruba to
ascertain whether the fort was yet occupied. In all probability a
larger party of their people was not far away.
It seemed hours before the carriers came up. Challis was close
behind them with his party.
"Thank goodness!" exclaimed Royce. "There's the fort, as you see.
But we must let the men rest awhile, and then make a dash for it."
"Why not go straight on?"
"I saw two Tubus cross yonder. If we're to get there safely we must
put on our best speed; we can't go at this terrible dawdle--less than
two miles an hour lately."
"I am sure we had better go on. If the men drop their loads they
will become noisy, and the Tubus may hear them. Let's take the bull
by the horns, old man."
"Very well, then. We must keep close together; it would be fatal to
get scattered. But we'll go in the same order. John, tell the
carriers they must move quickly and silently. Now, are you ready?"
He led the way from the forest into the scrub, the rest of the party
forming a compact column behind him. Keeping an eye fixed on the
clump behind which the Tubus had disappeared, he made straight for
the fort.
As yard after yard of the ground was covered, he became more and more
hopeful of gaining the shelter of the walls unmolested. But when the
party was within less than half a mile of their goal there were
shouts in the distance. Immediately afterwards, from the forest on
the left, a cloud of horsemen dashed out and galloped straight
towards them. At the same time a smaller party, farther ahead, rode
diagonally across the open ground to cut them off.
It was a critical moment. There was just time, Royce thought, to
reach the small belt of woodland below the hillock. Calling on the
carriers to hurry, he placed the Hausas to guard their flank.
"Tell the men to go straight up to the fort," he said to John, adding
to Challis: "We must try to keep the enemy off until the men are
safe."
Spurred on by fear, the carriers quickened their pace. The Tubus,
uttering fierce yells, dashed on, firing their guns aimlessly. Tense
with anxiety, Royce measured with his eye the distances between his
party, the woodland, and the horsemen, and it was with a gasp of
relief that he gained the trees while the Tubus were still a hundred
yards away.
The two bands of horsemen closed in, and rode towards the woodland.
At the edge of the belt Royce had drawn up his little party of
riflemen. They fired two volleys in quick succession at the charging
crowd. Remembering what they had suffered in the previous attacks,
the Tubus, seeing several of their numbers fall, checked their horses
and withdrew a short distance.
"Goruba isn't with them," said Royce.
But at that moment the tall negro came galloping from the rear, and,
brandishing a huge scimitar, began to harangue his hesitating men.
"Come!" said Royce quietly.
Without waiting to see the inevitable result of Goruba's furious
words, he withdrew his men quickly through the wood, splashed through
the little stream that bathed the foot of the hillock, and climbed up
to the fort. The carriers had already disappeared within the walls.
"Only by the skin of our teeth!" panted Challis, as he stumbled into
the entrance.
"And this is only the beginning of things!" returned Royce. "What is
to follow?"