Challis, after Royce had left him, felt somewhat uneasy. Royce had spoken hopefully of getting back on the following day, but Challis, remembering the difficulties of finding the way in a strange country, was pretty sure that Royce had overestimated his powers, and was prepared to be left in sole charge for at least two days, and perhaps three. It was not a pleasant prospect, for the raiders could not be very far away, and the possibility of being attacked was disturbing. He kept a smiling face, however, and said nothing about his anxieties to the boys.
The first thing to do was to form as secure a camp as possible. The camping arrangements had been interrupted by the discussion leading to Royce's departure. As soon as Royce was gone, Challis took the matter in hand.
The spot which Royce had suggested as suitable for the camp was a knoll, on which a few palm-trees grew, at one end of the village, and Challis was rather surprised to find that, during his conversation with Royce, the Hausas had not made a start. Wearing woe-begone expressions on their faces, they were squatting beside their packages.
"Now, Kulana," said Challis to the second in command, "what are you all idling for? Carry the stuff to those palm-trees yonder."
The men got up obediently, but they appeared to have a strange hesitation in lifting their loads.
"Come, come!" said Challis. "I know that you are done up, but you are not so bad as all that. Besides, it's only a few yards away, and the sooner we form camp the sooner you'll get to sleep."
There was a murmuring among them. Still they did not offer to lift the bundles.
Challis curbed his rising anger. The men were usually so willing that he wished not to be hard on them. And both Royce and he had already taken much interest in studying the queer moods and ideas of these Africans.
"What is troubling them, Kulana?" he asked quietly.
The Hausa looked him full in the face, and, seeing no anger there, replied:
"No want camp dar, sah—berry bad place."
"Oh! Why is that?"
And then the man began to pour out an explanation of which at first Challis could make nothing. Kulana's English was not adequate to express his thoughts. He talked of "debbils" and "bad medicine," and went through a pantomime of gestures expressing fear and fright, the other men listening intently, and murmuring approval now and then.
After a time, however, Challis had a glimmering of light.
"You think the spirits of the dead men haunt the village—is that it? And you are afraid they will come and bother you during the night?"
"Sah savvy all 'bout it," said the man, delighted that his meaning was understood.
The others clapped their hands, and looked much more cheerful.
"Well, I don't want you to see black ghosts, I'm sure," Challis went on. "I don't know that I'd like to see them myself. We'll find another place."
The men shouted, and springing to their feet, hoisted their loads with alacrity. Challis reflected that the work of constructing a camp more in the open would be good for them, preventing them from brooding over their troubles, real and imaginary.
After a rapid glance around, he led them to an open spot at some little distance from the village, and ordered them to make a small zariba with branches from the bushes around. It was an excellent situation for a camp. Its openness rendered it possible to detect the approach of an enemy, and a small stream running close by furnished an ample supply of water.
As he had expected, the work of cutting the bushes took the men's minds from their misfortunes. They soon began to chatter with their usual cheerfulness. By nightfall they had constructed a thick fence six feet high and several yards square. The tent was erected in the middle of the enclosure, the baggage was placed against one of the walls, and the men, tired out, but no longer despondent, were ready for their supper.
Challis dealt out pills to the ailing ones, promised them all a long rest on the following day, and spoke confidently of the speedy return of his companion with ample supplies. He arranged for the watching of the camp during the night, and, as an extra precaution, set his alarm clock, when he himself turned in, so that it wakened him in an hour. Then he took a look round, set the clock again for an hour ahead, and so on, through the night. He enjoyed the inestimable power of sleeping at any minute.
The night passed quietly. In the morning, Challis sent two of the men outside the zariba to fetch water and to take a look round.
When they returned they were rather excited. They explained that they had made two discoveries. One was that across the stream lay an extensive swamp, upon which they had seen a large flock of birds pecking for worms. The other was that a little farther off was a banana plantation, which had escaped the ravages of the raiders.
"Good boys!" said Challis. "We will make some use of your news by and by."
The presence of the birds and the bananas afforded a welcome opportunity of replenishing their scanty larder. Challis decided to go out and try his skill as a sportsman. There would be some risk, of course, that the noise of his gun might attract the notice of undesirable visitors; but there was very little food of any kind left, and poultry would be a treat to the men. In view of the possibility of Royce's return being delayed, it seemed too good a chance to be neglected. Besides, he reflected, there was no other village in the neighbourhood, and the raiders, having accomplished their destructive work only too completely, were probably by this time far away. After he had made a bag of birds, he would send out some men to gather bananas, and the party would revel in a regular banquet.
Accordingly, he ordered Kulana to keep a careful watch, and on no account to allow the men to move outside the zariba; then, taking his shot-gun, he set out for the swamp, with the two who had brought the information, to retrieve the game.
The swamp was half-a-mile away, and Challis found it necessary to walk round it for some distance before he could get a fair shot at the birds, which had settled down in a bed of rushes. They appeared to be a variety of pigeon, a delicacy which the men would appreciate after living almost wholly on meal.
When he had located the game, he sent his men forward to start them. The instant they rose in the air he let fly with both barrels in rapid succession, and brought down a bird with each shot. Following up the rest of the covey until they settled again, he killed another brace, and so went on for nearly an hour, until there were as many birds as the men could carry.
His success had quite banished the misgivings with which he had started. Picturing the delight of his boys at getting a whole day's good eating, he had given the order to return, and was half-way back to camp, when he was startled by a great shouting and commotion from its direction.
Sprinting on at full speed, he was just in time to see a number of his boys running across the open space in front of the zariba, closely pursued by a dozen horsemen. The runners, who appeared to be laden with bananas, darted into the enclosure through the gap they had left in the fence; but before they could draw the rough gate across it, the foremost horsemen galloped through at their heels.
Challis guessed in a moment what had happened. The men's appetite had been whetted by the report of the nearness of a banana plantation. They had been too childishly impatient to await his return, and, either with Kulana's consent or in defiance of him, they had gone out to gather the fruit, only to be surprised by some wandering tribe.
He rushed impetuously across the open space to the support of his men, not staying to reflect that he could do nothing really effective. Besides his shot-gun, he carried a revolver. The horsemen had fire-arms, which they had not used as yet, feeling no doubt that their swords were sufficient for the work in hand. Some of the Hausas had rifles, but it was clear that they were too much paralysed by the appearance of a mounted enemy to make use of them. They were yelling with fright.
Before Challis was half-way to the zariba, a second party of horsemen broke from cover in the direction of the village, and rode straight at him. Flinging up his shot-gun, he emptied the barrels almost at random; then drew his revolver. But at that moment a shot from the pistol of one of the galloping horsemen struck him above the wrist, and the revolver fell to the ground. In another second he was spun round by the impact of a horse's shoulder, reeled, and fell. The horsemen galloped over him on their way to the zariba, and before he lost consciousness it seemed to him that he had been kicked and trampled by a hundred hoofs.