THE LAST FIGHT
Challis wished to get as near as possible to the Tubus who were
collecting the horses without being discovered. Accordingly he drew
out his men in line over a long front, and passed the word along that
they must keep a strict silence.
Then he signed to them to advance, and they moved forward swiftly,
with the lightness of foot which is the negroes' birthright.
For some distance they were covered by the undergrowth. In spite of
all their care, it was inevitable that the passage of so large a
number of men should cause a slight rustling, and they were still
nearly three hundred yards from the horses when the sound was heard.
The Tubus turned round, caught sight of them, and raised a shout of
alarm. Concealment was no longer possible. Challis blew his whistle
for the charge. His men answered with a fierce yell, and the whole
line swept forward.
Challis had scarcely anticipated the effect of the shrill cries from
hundreds of throats. The Tubus' horses were seized with panic and
plunged wildly. Their riders, unable to control them, were
themselves terror-stricken at the sight of the long line of warriors
rushing towards them. Dropping the horses' bridles, they led the
stampede.
The mob of men and horses surged towards the camp, where some of the
Tubus were engaged in making new ladders, the rest cooking or idling.
They dashed through and over them, scattering them right and left.
Panic spread through the camp, and before the attackers were within
striking distance, the whole force of the enemy was in headlong
flight.
The horses in their blind charge dashed into the slight grass huts
which the Tubus had built and razed them to the ground. Challis saw
Goruba spring up from the ruins of one of them, catch at the bridle
of a horse that was running by, and leap with extraordinary agility
upon its back.
On went the torrent. The Tubus who had arms in their hands at the
moment of alarm flung them away to speed their flight. Behind them
panted Challis's men, shouting more and more loudly as they saw the
dreaded enemy fleeing before them, and Challis rejoiced in the
prospect of a bloodless victory.
For a little the course was uphill, towards the fort; but the slope
gradually affected the direction, and the fugitives bore more and
more to the right. At last they disappeared among the brushwood and
woodland to the north of the fort, Goruba, conspicuous on his horse,
striving vainly to check the flight.
When all the horses and men had vanished from sight, Goruba
reappeared after a moment or two and galloped round the hill to the
west, the direction of the second Tubu camp.
Challis had hard work, even with John's assistance, to keep his men
in hand. Their instinct was to rush into the wood after the fleeing
enemy, and they could not understand why the white man's whistle kept
on calling them to halt.
Their line was quite broken, and it was some minutes before Challis
could reform it. Even then it was incomplete, for many of the men,
carried away by their ardour, had dashed among the trees.
But the line was reformed only just in time. Round the base of the
hill galloped a force of Tubus from the second camp, led by Goruba.
It was clear from the disorder of their ranks that they had mounted
and rushed off without any attempt to form up.
Challis felt a good deal of anxiety about the result of the
approaching collision until he saw that the Tubus were much fewer in
number than his own men. Their lack of order also gave him a great
advantage.
Shouting to his men to plant their pikes and stand firm, he awaited
the onset. Goruba and the foremost of the Tubus charged straight
upon the bristling barrier. Down they went, though the impact felled
many of the pikemen. But their fall caused their comrades behind to
hesitate. Challis was quick to seize the moment. With a shrill
blast of his whistle he ordered his men to charge, and the willing
negroes, always more ready to advance than to hold their ground,
rushed forward with an impetuosity that carried all before it.
Some of the Tubus turned at once and galloped away. A few stood for
several moments, as if weighing the chances of a countercharge; then
they too, wheeled their horses about and urged them to a frantic
gallop. Within a few minutes from the first dash, the hillside in
this quarter was clear.
Challis again called off his men, and hastened to search for Goruba,
whom he expected to find dead or at least seriously wounded on the
ground. But among the fallen enemy there was no trace of the giant.
He had disappeared.
Meanwhile, Royce, according to his arrangement with Challis, had
dealt with the enemy in the third camp. He had almost given up hope
when he heard the first sounds of the fray.
The third party of Tubus, when the alarm was raised, took a course
which would have brought them on the rear of Challis's men. This had
been foreseen by Royce. After Challis's departure in the night, he
had had the gateway cleared, except for a light, movable barrier, in
readiness for a sortie. He had seen from the walls the flight of the
first party of the enemy, and the other two parties rushing to the
rescue, one on Challis's front, the other on his rear. Leaving
Challis to deal with the frontal attack, he led his men out through
the gateway to head off the other party.
[Illustration: ROYCE LEADS THE CHARGE]
Unlike Challis, he had fewer men than the enemy, and less than a
third of them were armed. But one rifle was of more value than many
spears. The men lined up on the slope of the hill, where the
advancing enemy must come within close range. At the word of command
they fired.
The Tubus checked instantly. They appeared to hesitate whether to
run the gauntlet of the attack and push on to the support of their
comrades or to remain and fight it out with the garrison of the fort.
It was evident that they had no leader of authority, and Royce, like
Challis, was quick to profit by their hesitation.
"After me, boys!" he cried, and led the Hausas in a headlong charge
down the hill.
Behind them, in a wild, tumultuous mob, swarmed the other men, some
armed with stones, some with spears, some even with the Tubus'
scaling ladders.
The very boldness of the movement decided the issue. If the Tubus
stopped to think, they must have supposed that so small a body, in
measuring themselves against overwhelming numbers, was covered by
support from some other quarter. They fired one scattered volley.
Royce did not halt his men to reply to it, but bounded on at their
head whooping like a schoolboy, while the Tubus kicked their horses'
flanks and bolted for cover to the nearest wood.
The fight was won.