THE PROBLEM
When Royce turned to face the enemy, the foremost of them was only
twenty yards away, urging his horse up the slope. Behind him two
score of his comrades were riding up, in no sort of order.
Royce was conscious of hearing shots from behind, and of seeing two
or three of the negroes reel from their saddles. Then the firing
ceased, and at the same time all the Tubus leapt from their horses,
and, while some held the animals, the others rushed onward on foot.
They had perceived that on horseback they presented larger targets to
the riflemen behind the wall. These latter could no longer fire,
because Royce was now directly in line between them and the enemy.
[Illustration: FACING THE FOE]
Steadily awaiting their onset, Royce refrained from firing until the
first man was no more than a dozen yards distant. Then he fired
three shots in rapid succession, bringing down a man with each. But
the rest did not quail. With strident yells they pressed about him,
trusting in their numbers.
It was a desperate situation. Royce had only three more shots in his
revolver, and he hesitated to expend his last available resources.
The Tubus had few firearms, but their spears were even more
formidable weapons, and against these he had no defence. He fired
for the fourth time, and a fourth victim fell. Then a spear pierced
his left shoulder, and he only escaped the point of another by
pistolling the negro as he was in the act of thrusting.
He was about to fire his last shot, feeling that in another moment
the end would come, when he heard, half unconsciously, a fierce shout
behind him, and became the centre of a wild scrimmage. John, who had
almost reached the wall of the fort, had turned, and, seeing his
master's plight, had charged down the hill, knife in hand, into the
thick of the crowd. He was a big man, and the impact of his weight
overthrew two of the enemy, who staggered against their comrades, and
relieved the pressure on Royce.
[Illustration: JOHN TO THE RESCUE]
Seizing that brief moment, Royce snatched a spear from the hand of
one of the stumbling negroes, and stood beside the faithful Hausa.
But the odds were overwhelmingly against them. John's sudden onset
had created only a momentary diversion. The whole crowd of Tubus
were flinging themselves upon the two men, when there was a second
and a louder shout. A dozen stalwarts, headed by Challis hurled
themselves into the _mêlée_ and laid about them lustily with clubbed
rifles.
For a few instants the Tubus strove with fierce courage to stem this
tempestuous assault. Then they gave way, turned about, and rushed
down the hill towards their horses, grouped at the base. Challis and
his men took a heavy toll as they swept along. The men holding the
horses were seized with fright, and soon there was a wild stampede
back to the shelter of the wood.
Challis was careful not to press the pursuit too far. Before the
enemy had time to rally, he led his men up the hill and assisted
Royce to gain the wall. John carried the pail of water, which was
the only one of their vessels they brought safely home.
"Thanks, old man," said Royce, when Challis returned to him. "It was
a very near thing."
"It's better to be born lucky than rich, they say," said Challis;
"and certainly it was a great piece of luck that I was able to
intervene at the critical moment. I had taken half the men to the
other side, to repel what seemed to be an attack there; but the Tubus
evidently assumed that their friends had a good thing on this side,
for they swerved to the right. Look, they have just joined the
others in the wood."
"They have more bravery than generalship, that's clear," said Royce.
"Yes, there are enough of them to crush us to nothing, if they were
properly led."
"There are more of them than ever. Other parties must have joined
them. The odds are desperate. We are only two score, all told, and
less than half have rifles."
"We have the walls, at any rate. The most necessary thing is to
strengthen those as well as we can."
"I must attend to your arm first," said Challis. "You can't any
longer say that you haven't a scratch."
"It's not much more," said Royce, looking at his sleeve as Challis
gently drew his coat off.
"More than you think. It's a nasty gash. Thank goodness we've got
our medical stores safe."
He dressed the wound, and bound it up with lint; gave the same
attention to Gambaru; then, placing a man on guard at each end of the
fort, they sat down to discuss their position more fully.
It seemed likely that by diligent work they could strengthen their
defences considerably. But for the difficulty as to water,
provisions, and ammunition, they might hope to tire the enemy out, if
he remained persistent. The difficulty was a very grave one. The
water in the pail gave them only about a cupful each, and a second
attempt to fetch more from the stream might be disastrous. Their
provisions, on half rations, might last a fortnight; and, with the
enemy so near, there was little chance of replenishing the larder.
The ammunition amounted to about three hundred rounds per
rifle--scarcely more than enough for one day's hard fighting.
"I wonder whether they will stick to it," said Challis. "What can
their object be?"
"Hardly booty," replied Royce. "They know very well what our
possessions are--certainly not worth heavy losses in acquiring them.
It must be a question of prestige; they're afraid all their victims
will rise against them if they fail here. What do you say, John?
Why don't these Tubus let us alone?"
John scratched his close-clipped woolly poll and looked worried.
Then he suddenly brightened.
"Dey bad plenty wicked fellas, all same," he said, with the air of
one who has solved a knotty problem.
"Oh, well, that would account for anything," said Royce with a smile.
"At any rate, I can think of no other explanation than the one I have
suggested."
"You may be right," said Challis; "but I can't help thinking there is
some other reason which we know nothing about. Time will show,
perhaps."
As after events proved, Challis's guess was nearer the truth than his
friend's.
During the remainder of the day there was no further attack, and
Royce took advantage of the enemy's inactivity to carry out his idea
of strengthening the defences. He set all the men except those on
sentry duty to fill up the gaps in the broken walls, partly with
earth, partly with fragments of brick and stone from the interior of
the building. Fortunately, the bastions at the four corners of the
fort were in good preservation, being constructed of stone. These
would prove useful for enfilading fire, if the enemy should make a
really determined assault.
At nightfall it occurred to Challis that they might make another
attempt to get water.
"We could steal down in the dark without being seen," he said.
"Besides, I've read somewhere that the negro races don't care about
fighting by night. They're as much afraid of the dark as any little
nervous kid--as I used to be myself ages ago."
"You don't mean it!" said Royce chaffingly.
"It's true, though. I used to lie awake for hours, fancying all
sorts of hideous creatures were floating about the room, and cowering
under the bedclothes in sheer terror. So much so that they gave me a
light at last--and then it was worse!"
"How was that?"
"Why, they gave me one of those wretched little paraffin lamps with a
very small round wick, and it used to smoke horribly and fill the
room, and the smell and stuffiness caused the most dreadful
nightmares--at least, that's what my mother said."
"More likely they were due to heavy suppers."
"We are safe here on that score, at any rate! ... Well, the negroes,
being afraid to move in the dark, are not likely to molest us; so I
vote we try for water to-night."
"John must collect some more pots, then, if he can. We'll have a
shot at it."
Challis's confidence was borne out by the event. In company with
John and Kulana, he stole down to the stream twice in succession, and
they brought back enough water to last three or four days. Royce
kept watch at the wall, and the water-carriers moved so quietly that,
the night being pitch dark, he was unable either to see or to hear
them beyond twenty paces.
The night was quite undisturbed, and every member of the party except
the Englishmen had several hours of continuous sleep. Royce and
Challis had agreed to take each two spells of sleep and two of
watching, alternately; but Royce was kept wakeful by the pain of his
wound, though he never let Challis know it.
When morning dawned, they looked out eagerly over the country, in
hope that the enemy had gone away. For some little time it appeared
that this was the case. Not a glimpse of the turbaned warriors was
caught. But presently John's lynx eyes detected a movement among the
distant trees which he declared was too violent to be caused by small
animals, and too gentle to be caused by elephants; and a few minutes
later the whinny of a horse proved his sagacity. The enemy had not
retired.
But it became apparent that, whatever their motive might be, they
were determined to press the siege. Taught by experience to respect
the rifles of the garrison and the fearlessness of the white men,
they did not venture on to the more or less open sides of the hill.
But they could be seen working round the fort under cover of the
woodland and the Englishmen came to the conclusion that they had
formed three camps, each about six hundred yards from the walls and
about twice that distance from each other.
That a watch was continually kept on the fort from these camps was
clear from an occasional shot fired as a party of the enemy passed
over the intervening spaces.
"It pleases them, I suppose, and doesn't hurt us," said Royce. "A
negro with a gun in his hand must let it off, usefully or not."
"But they mean a serious investment," said Challis gravely. "They
intend to reduce us by hunger and thirst."