"We must tackle the problem in bits," said Royce. "Take the ammunition question first; I'll give orders that the men are never to fire except at the word of command—yours or mine."
"The water supply is really the most urgent matter," returned Challis. "The Tubus are sure to discover our night sallies by and by, and then they'll no longer be safe. What about clearing out the well?"
"A good idea. We'll set about that as soon as possible. Then the food; that's only next in importance. It depends on the enemy's patience. If they are in no hurry, they can starve us out without incurring any loss by direct assault."
"And I see no chance of foraging, still less of getting any help. It's not a cheerful prospect."
"Well, we must put the best face on it. Our Hausas are jolly good, and they trust us completely. We must keep up their pecker at all costs."
With considerable labour they managed to clear the rubbish with which the well was choked. The soil beneath it was dry, but on digging farther they struck the underground spring which had originally supplied the well.
"That's first-rate!" cried Royce. "There's one part of our problem solved. We'll make an embankment, to keep the water within bounds, and have no further anxiety on that score."
Their next step was to partition the building among the various sections of the company. Royce and Challis took up their quarters in the room in which the former had slept on the occasion of his first visit. The Hausas were given a larger chamber near the south wall, and the rest of the party a half-roofed enclosure at the other end. The rainy season not having commenced, the natives would not be likely to suffer from their partial exposure.
The fort, small as it was, was too large to be defended by forty men against serious attack. To make the most of his garrison, Royce arranged that each man should have about three yards of wall to defend. If the enemy should pluck up resolution to make a simultaneous assault on all sides, they were numerous enough to throw eight or ten men against every one of the garrison, and the odds were more than sufficient for success.
The only weapons available for B Company, as Challis called the released prisoners, were the tools included in their camp equipment—mallets, hatchets, hammers, a saw, and a few tent pegs.
Though so ill provided, Royce thought that in day time the defence would have a sporting chance. The rifles could take toll of the enemy while they were advancing over the three or four hundred yards of fairly open ground beneath the fort; and even if the attack were pushed home to the walls, it would be possible to reinforce the men in the quarter where the assault was hottest.
A night attack would be much more difficult to meet. Covered by the darkness, the enemy might approach to within a few yards of the walls without being detected, if they moved quietly; without suffering much loss, if they were heard. At the walls their numbers would tell far more effectually than in daylight. With such odds in their favour, it would seem impossible to keep them out. And if once they got in, the garrison must inevitably be overwhelmed.
But the Englishmen had little fear of a night attack. It was more likely that the Tubus would move in the twilight of early morning. This would be little less formidable. They might creep a long way up the hill before they were seen, and the chance of checking their rush would be small.
From the defensive point of view the weakest spot in the surroundings of the fort was a patch of rocky scrub-covered ground about a hundred and fifty yards away on the north-east side. It provided good cover for an advance up the hill, and left only a short distance for the final charge. From the attackers' point of view the disadvantage of this spot was that it was small in extent, and would give cover to only a limited number of men.
The day having passed undisturbed, Royce could not help feeling a little anxious about the night. What if the Tubus should attack, after all? He decided to keep half the garrison on guard while the rest slept, and to send three or four of the most trustworthy Hausas some way down the hill to act as scouts and give warning of any movement of the enemy.
Both he and Challis, during their spells of watching, went round and round the walls with the regularity of soldiers doing sentry-go. Eyes and ears were tensely on the alert; not a sound escaped them. The little various noises made by birds, insects, and small animals darting through the scrub were sometimes smothered by sounds from the distant camp. At one time the din was so loud that Challis, who was on duty at the moment, was almost on the point of awakening Royce. But he reflected that warriors intending a night attack, even though savages, would have the common-sense to move quietly, and he took himself to task for what he considered a tendency to panic.
"I mustn't get jumpy," he said to himself; "but this is a great change from camping on Salisbury Plain."
In the morning, as soon as the sky began to lighten, Royce set the men to work again on repairing the walls. Presently he caught sight of some of the enemy in the distance. They were evidently watching the fort. A little later one of them fired, and at odd times during the morning there was fitful sniping whenever the workers allowed themselves to be seen above the walls. But no one was hit, and the Hausas' contempt for the Tubus' marksmanship was voiced by John.
"Dey good for nuffin, sah," he said. "You hold a bottle, me hit him; dem fellas no can hit a house."
Working in squads, the men had by midday completely blocked up the gateway, and repaired all the breaches that were dangerous.
"I feel better now," said Royce, as he sat with Challis, eating the scanty meal which had to serve them for dinner. "Of course, they could still take the place by a determined rush; but, if they attempt it, they'll suffer more heavily than if they had had the sense or the pluck to come on before we had finished."
"They'll play a waiting game," said Challis. "How long will the grub last, do you think?"
"We can eke it out for ten days or so, by going short. I wonder if one of us could run the gauntlet and make for the nearest British post?"
"It would take more than ten days to get there. Everybody would starve before help came. Besides, there are only about a dozen men in charge, and they wouldn't be strong enough to undertake an expedition such a long distance, and fight their way through some hundreds of horsemen."
"How many do you think they really muster?"
"I've never had a good enough view of them in mass; but, at a guess, I should say six hundred or so."
"They'll take some feeding."
"Yes, but they have the whole country to forage in, and I daresay there are foraging parties out in all directions. They may bring their total number up to a thousand."
"Well, old sport, if we can manage to stick it with our forty, we shall deserve at least a line or two in history."
"Skittles! I'd give a good deal not to be mentioned in your history!"
"'One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name.'"
"D'you call this glorious?"
"Don't you? I don't mean that it's glorious to lick a crowd of heathens, but I do think it's a fine thing to have been able to win the confidence of our forty men."
"So it is, and it will be a finer thing to show that we deserve it."
The day passed; dusk fell. The arrangements for the night were as before. Royce took the first watch, with half the garrison.
Challis, leaving him at his post on the north-east bastion, made his way along the passages that separated the several chambers of the building, towards his quarters, picking his way carefully in order not to trip over the fallen brick and other debris that strewed the floor.
Turning a corner, he saw in the half-light, a little way ahead, the figure of a negro cross his path from left to right. At first he thought it was John or Kulana, the only men who might have any reason to be in the neighbourhood of the white men's quarters. John looked after the food, which had been placed in an adjacent chamber for security; Kulana acted as body servant.
But it immediately occurred to Challis that neither of the men had any business there at this hour. Then he remembered that John was actually on duty with Royce. Was it possible that some other member of the party was making a private raid on the stores?
He hurried on after the man, who had passed the room in which the stores were kept and was going in the direction of the well-yard. His back was towards Challis—a broad back, belonging to a man of huge stature.
"Great snakes!" Challis inwardly ejaculated.
He quickened his pace. The man heard his steps, and glanced round; then dashed through a ruined doorway leading to the well-yard.
Challis gave a shout and rushed after him. It was now dark inside the building, and he groped about without finding the negro. His shout had brought Royce up at a run.
"What is it?" he cried anxiously.
"A strange nigger—a big fellow—Goruba?" said Challis.
"Surely not!" said Royce, flashing his electric torch. "There's no one here.'"
"He's got away. We must search the place."
Together they scoured the whole building; no trace of the man could be found. None of the garrison had left his post; every man declared solemnly that no one had entered from outside, nor gone out from within.
"If I didn't know you, old man," said Royce, "I should say you had a fit of the jumps. You think it was Goruba?"
"It looked very much like that big fellow who collared me. But how could he have got in or out?"
"It's decidedly rummy. You remember Goruba came on me suddenly, and John hadn't seen him. Strange that you should have had almost the same experience!"
"What did he come for, if it was Goruba? To spy out the position?"
"Not easy in the dark. I confess it beats me. How did the fellow get in? It was hardly dark outside, and our men must have seen him, one would think. Yet I believe them."
"We had better search for a secret passage to-morrow, though I can't think we should have missed it if there is one. One thing is certain—Goruba has some interest in this fort which we don't know. That explains the persistence of the Tubus."
"I wonder! Well, we can't do anything to-night. I only hope it hasn't made our men jumpy. It's an uncanny thing to find an enemy in your midst unawares."