"I would suggest," said the commander of the Dwarf, "that we put a prize crew aboard the German merchantman still in Duala, iron our prisoners, put them aboard her and send her home. We can make a thorough search of the town and destroy all arms and ammunition to be found."
"But," said Captain Marcus, "we shall first have to dispose of those Germans who escaped to the forest."
"That shouldn't be a hard job," replied the commander of the
Dwarf, "I do not imagine there are many of them."
"About how many would you say?" asked Captain Marcus, turning to Frank, who, with Jack, had accompanied the two officers on the tour of inspection.
"Not more than a hundred, sir," was the lad's reply.
"Good!" replied Captain Marcus. "Do you feel equal to the task of rounding them up?"
"Perfectly, sir," Frank made answer.
"So be it, then. You may act at your own discretion; only see that you make a good, swift job of it."
Frank and Jack saluted and hurried away. Leaving half their force to guard the village, the lads, with the other half, which had dwindled to less than 100 by now, were soon lost to sight in the forest. They went quickly, but as silently as they could, for they wished, if possible, to take the foe by surprise.
"This is likely to be, a wild goose chase," declared Jack, when, at the end of an hour of forced marching they had seen no sign of the enemy. "There is no telling where the Germans are. They know the lay of the land and we don't. If they continue to retreat, there is no telling where we may come up with them, if at all."