"Say 'tis two miles between 'em as the crow flies; they could run that in twelve minutes widout distressing themselves."

"But they couldn't take the shortest road, because that would bring them under fire from our walls. The distance would be a good deal more than two miles. And we should have to cover half that distance to the camp and back, the return journey up hill. It doesn't leave much margin, Barney."

"Five minutes at the very most, sorr. But a man can do a power uv fighting in five minutes."

"Let us think it out carefully. We mustn't throw away all our success by a mad enterprise now. We oughtn't to weaken the defensive strength here much, for Elbel has such numbers that he could afford to lose a few in storming."

"And we needn't, sorr. 'Tis not numbers that will count in rushing the camp; 'tis dash, sorr, and ivery man together."

"That's quite true. And I think our men will work together better than Elbel's. But there's a very serious difficulty--that outpost of his half-way between us and his camp. It's the only post he has kept up permanently, and now it's a nuisance to us."

He referred to a couple of men stationed at the edge of a copse to the west of the stream. They were screened by rocks, and from their position they could see the blockhouses and the tops of the huts, and keep the west and south quarters of the fort under fairly strict observation.

"You see, they would instantly detect any movement of ours down the hill; and by the time we got to the camp the enemy would be on the _qui vive_."

"There's only wan thing to be done, sorr."

"Well?"

"Shut the eyes and the ears and the mouths uv the n.i.g.g.e.rs at the outpost."

"All very well; but they're too well screened to be shot at, and killing them is the only way to destroy all their senses. Besides, it would be madness to fire. The sound would alarm the enemy and spoil our plans."

"'Twas not meself that thought uv firing at all at all, sorr. I was thinking uv Samba."

"Samba! What can he do?"

"Sure and I don't know no more than the dead, or I'd tell it you meself, sorr. But Samba's the ould wan himself at schaming; will I fetch him?"

"Certainly. We'll see if he can do anything. Hurry up!"

[1] This man.

[2] Are you speaking the truth?

[3] Mother!--the strongest affirmative.

CHAPTER XXI

A Dash and All Together

Barney brought back with him both father and son. Mboyo was a finely-built negro, but Samba, who had been growing rapidly, promised to outstrip his father in height, as he already excelled him in nimbleness of wit. He had a n.o.ble brow, and eyes of extraordinary l.u.s.tre; and Jack could not help contrasting him with the mean-looking white man, who, in the providence of King Leopold, was entrusted with the lives of such people as these.

Jack explained his purpose, and the difficulty which seemed to stand in the way. A glance was exchanged between Samba and his father; then the boy said that they would deal with the outpost.

"How will you do it?"

"We will creep upon them."

"But it is daylight."

"True. We may fail; but we will do our best."

"Very well. Now we must get our men together, Barney. It will be useless for Samba and Mboyo to start until we are ready. In fact, we will postpone the whole thing for an hour or two. In the hottest part of the day the men in the camp will very likely be dozing or fast asleep; even if they're awake, they'll probably not have all their wits about them."

He selected twenty riflemen, including Imbono, Makoko, and Lepoko, and fifty spearmen, the pick of the force, and ordered them to a.s.semble at a given signal at a small exit he had recently had cut in the base of the wall on the gully side. The hole had been made at a spot where the gully was very rugged and covered with creepers, so that any one leaving the fort by this small aperture could scarcely be detected except by an observer placed immediately opposite. The portion of the wall which had been removed could be replaced, and it would be impossible, save on very close scrutiny, to discover the existence of the exit.

A dozen of the men, besides carrying their weapons, were to sling round their shoulders some large fireb.a.l.l.s which had been made under Barney's superintendence from the resin in the confiscated barrels.

"Begorra, sorr, 'tis meself that has an idea!" cried Barney in the midst of these preparations. "Couldn't we do something to hould the attention uv those villains at the outpost while Samba and the chief are doing their job?"

"A good idea, indeed. What do you suggest?"

"'Deed now, I wish we had Mike Henchie and Denis O'Sullivan and a few more uv the bhoys. We'd treat the n.i.g.g.e.rs to the finest dancing wid the shillelagh that iver was seen this side uv Limerick."

"I wish we had! You speak of shillelaghs. Won't Indian clubs do? I have it! We'll get some of the children to go through their exercises.

Go and collect them, Samba--Lofinda and Ilafa and Lokilo and Isungila, they're the best, and about a dozen more. But hang it! I forgot.

They won't be seen over the wall."

"Sure there's the platform by the blockhouse, sorr. 'Tis uncommon small for a stage play, but 'tis meself could make it wider in a brace uv shakes."

"Then do so, like a good fellow. It's a capital idea of yours, Barney."

The platform was quickly enlarged. Then, just after midday, when the sun was blazing fiercely, and in the ordinary course of things everybody would be at rest in the huts, Barney marshalled some twenty children, boys and girls, on the platform, and Jack accompanied Mboyo and Samba to the little exit.

"You must give me a signal if you succeed with the outpost," said Jack, as they prepared to slip through. "It must not be a sound. You had better show yourself for a moment above the rocks, Samba."

The instant they had reached the gully, Imbono's drummer began to beat his drum, not with the powerful strokes that would have sent a thunderous boom echoing for miles around, but with gentle taps that would scarcely be heard beyond the two outposts. At the same time two or three children blew softly through their little trumpets of banana leaves. In a moment two woolly heads could be seen cautiously peeping over the rocks for which Mboyo and Samba were making. Then the performance began. Instructed by Barney, the children on the platform swung their clubs about, wondering why they were forbidden to sing the song about Lokolobolo which usually accompanied their exercise. They knew nothing of the intention of their instructor, nor why he had chosen this hot hour instead of the cool of the evening; but they loved him, and delighted in the rhythmic motion, and they plied their clubs gracefully, all unconscious of the four curious eyes watching them from the rocks a few hundred yards away.

Jack saw nothing of their pretty movements. He was at the wall. The two men of the outpost gazed at the children. Jack gazed at them.

Below him squatted his warriors, subdued to unnatural quietness by the thought of what was before them. Impatiently they waited for the word.

They did not know exactly what they were to do; Lokolobolo had simply said they were to follow him. But they knew Lokolobolo; had he not time and again brought Elobela's schemes to nought? Lokolobolo had said they were to follow him; and they were confident that where he led was the one place in the world for them.

Twenty minutes pa.s.sed. The performance on the platform still went on.

Then Jack suddenly saw the two black heads above the rocks disappear.

Next moment Samba's head showed itself where they had been.

"Aiyoko!"[1] said Jack to his men.

Quickly, one by one, they slipped through the narrow hole, and formed up under cover of the thick-growing creepers in the gully. Jack went last, saw that the opening was closed behind him, and turned to address his men.

"We are going to Elobela's camp," he said. "We shall go down the gully until we come opposite to it, then I shall lead you; you will come behind me silently, keeping your ranks. I hope the men in the camp may be asleep. You will not fire until I give the word. When we have driven them out of the camp, those of you who have fireb.a.l.l.s will set fire to their huts. Then seize on all the guns and ammunition you can find, and return as quickly as possible to the fort."