Taking advantage of the flight of the flanking party, Royce pushed on as soon as he was rejoined by Challis, in order to gain a denser portion of the forest, where the pursuers would be much more impeded than his own men.
He had two other reasons. The carriers had gone on by themselves, without guidance, and it was probable that they would take a wrong direction. Further, there was a possibility that in the absence of the white men they would be seized with panic, and stampede, leaving their loads. The Hausas could not at once carry and fight, and all the fighting strength would be needed if the enemy still came on.
It seemed that the double check which the Tubus had suffered had daunted them, at any rate for the time being; for Royce, looking back, saw no sign of their having crossed the ridge.
About ten minutes later he came up with the carriers, who, on reaching the edge of the thicker woodland, had prudently halted from fear of losing the way. John again went ahead with them as guide, Challis following at a short interval with his section, and Royce with the remainder acting as rearguard.
The march through the forest entailed a disadvantage which almost outweighed its advantages from the point of view of security. It was impossible to see what the enemy were doing. They might have given up the chase; they might be pressing on in the rear; they might still be working round on the flanks, avoiding the woodland area, and outspeeding the fugitives on more open ground.
For this reason Royce forced the pace as much as possible. From his rather hazy recollection the fort was still five or six miles away, a distance which he could scarcely hope to cover under three hours.
By degrees the forest thinned, and after about two hours' marching it opened upon the lake which Royce had skirted on his return from the village. By this time everybody was tired and hungry.
"We must take a spell of rest," he said to Challis. "I think it's scarcely likely the Tubus have come through the forest after us."
"I'm glad enough," replied Challis. "A little more of this, and I shall crock up again."
"Poor old chap! We must avoid that. It's certainly hard on you after what you've gone through. Down loads, John. Serve out a meal. The boys can drink from the lake; but let them beware of crocodiles."
"A thing has occurred to me," said Challis, as he sat with Royce waiting until John had roasted some nuts for them. "Will Goruba suspect that we are making for the fort, and get there first?"
"I don't think so. He is more likely to suppose that we are returning to the village where we got our supplies. This is the direct route towards it; the fort lies more to the left."
"That relieves my mind. But it's a pity we can't tell what the enemy are doing."
"I'll go reconnoitring presently. The fort can't be more than a mile or two away, and as it stands on an eminence it ought to be visible from the cliff over there."
He pointed to the high ground which bordered one side of the lake.
"I'm inclined to think they have given it up," he continued. "Negroes aren't very persevering as a rule, and they've had enough to damp their spirits. It would be absurd to look for the same persistence in them that you would expect in a civilised and disciplined enemy.... Well, John," he added, as the Hausa came up with some roasted nuts spread on broad leaves, "is this the best you can do for us?"
"Not good dinner all same, sah," said John, with a rueful look. "Get rabbit some day."
"Yes, there's plenty of game about the fort, isn't there? Which is lucky for us, considering that we have so many more mouths to feed."
Poor as the fare was, they ate it with a good appetite. Then Royce rose.
"I'll come with you," said Challis. "I'm curious to take a look at this fort of yours."
"Come along, then. It's only about two hundred yards to the top of the cliff. John will give us warning if anything happens."
Taking their rifles they set off, walking round the margin of the lake. On their left stretched an open grassy space, beyond which was the forest from which they had lately emerged.
The ground rose gradually. They were halfway up the ascent to the cliff when Royce stopped suddenly.
"What on earth's that?" he said.
They halted, puzzled to account for a strange noise which seemed to proceed from the forest on their left. At first a dull rumble, it grew in a few seconds to a succession of heavy thuds, becoming louder moment by moment, and mingled with sharp cracks like pistol shots.
"It can't be the Tubus charging through the trees," said Challis.
A shout from behind caused them to turn their heads. The men had leapt to their feet, and were standing in a huddled group, with every sign of fear. One, a young negro from among the released prisoners, was sprinting towards them at full speed.
"We had better go back," said Royce, "or they'll get into a panic. The row is terrific. A thousand cavalry couldn't make such an uproar.... Great Scott!"
Through the leafy screen of the forest a hundred yards away there had emerged a large elephant, plunging forward at a lumbering gallop with trunk uplifted. In another fraction of a second the whole of the light timber and brushwood at the edge of the forest appeared to dissolve, and a wild mob of scores of elephants burst like an enormous breaker upon the open space.
Petrified for a moment with amazement, the two Englishmen became suddenly alive to their peril. Whether they went on in the direction intended, or returned to their men, they would equally cut across the front of this stampeding herd and must be overwhelmed.
"Straight for the edge of the cliff!" cried Royce.
They dropped their rifles and dashed to the right. It was forty or fifty yards to the edge of the cliff; the elephants were already only about half that distance behind them, gaining moment by moment. The ground shook under the tremendous charge of the maddened beasts. To the fleeing men it seemed that the breath from the gaping mouths scorched them.
A small spur of the cliff jutted to the left. The runners swung round on to this and without a moments' pause took a header into the lake twenty feet below.
When they came up to the surface they had to fight for breath in a cauldron of broken water. They were both good swimmers, or they would never have survived the sort of Niagara swirl in which they were now hurled about and buffeted.
Only their instinctive leap to the left before they made the dive had saved them from destruction. It had prevented the elephants from falling on top of them, for some of the great beasts, charging straight ahead in a blind fury, had plunged headlong over the brink into the lake.
The turmoil of the water soon subsided, and the swimmers, on regaining the use of their faculties, found themselves in the company of the scattered herd, all swimming in search of a landing-place.
In a few moments Royce caught at a branch of an overhanging tree, and both he and Challis drew themselves up among the foliage, and watched the ungainly animals swim by.
"Hope it's cooled their rage," said Royce in gasps. "We've had a narrow squeak."
"Yes, indeed! Under several tons of elephant flesh we should have been pretty well flattened out. What made them stampede, I wonder?"
"Our scent, perhaps. I hope they weren't started by the Tubus."
"We had better get back. It will be rather a feat to climb the cliff, by the look of it."
They crept along the tree to the place where it sprang from the cliff, then clambered up the steep face with the aid of straggling plants and knobby projections.
When their heads appeared over the edge, there were loud shouts of joy, and John came rushing up at the head of the whole party of negroes.
"Fink you gone dead, sah," he said, his broad face beaming. "All alive and safe and sound, and always merry and bright. Yoi-aloo! Hurray!"
"Yes, we're all right," said Royce. "Is that my rifle?"
"All gone smash, sah," returned John, lifting the rifle which he had picked up from the ground. "Massa Chally's all right, sah."
The lock and barrel of Royce's rifle had been smashed beyond repair by the ponderous hoofs. Challis's was unbroken.
"Tibu, sah—where he go?" asked John, as they marched down to their camping place.
"Who's Tibu?"
John explained that when the startling sounds came from the forest, Tibu, one of the released negroes, had recognised them at once as made by stampeding elephants, and had run up the cliff to warn the Englishmen.
"Of course; I saw him just before we ran," said Challis. "Let us turn back and look for him."
But though they spent some time in searching the cliff above and below, they found no trace of Tibu. He was never seen again. It could only be surmised that, like the Englishmen, he had fled towards the edge of the cliff, but, less lucky than they, had fallen into the water directly beneath the elephants, and been crushed to death.
Only a few of the elephants had plunged into the lake. The majority had skirted it and disappeared into the woodland beyond.
