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.
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.
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."
