"You shall have your chance next time. Now, Samba, run off to the camp and bring some men to cut up the buffaloes. We will wait hereabouts until you come back."
When Samba had gone it occurred to Jack that he would eat his luncheon at the summit of a small hill that rose steeply about half a mile from the spot where the buffaloes had been killed. The chiefs, disinclined like all Africans for exertion that was avoidable and seemed to have no object, pointed out that their present situation was quite suited for having the meal, and they were quite hungry enough without climbing for an appetite. But Jack persisted. He wished to ascertain whether there was a clear view from the hill, and though he might have ascended it alone, he feared lest in his absence the chiefs would again fall out over the buffalo. With an air of resignation the negroes accompanied him on the short walk, and luncheon was eaten on the hill-top.
Jack at least felt that he was well rewarded for his climb. A magnificent panorama was open to his view—a vast extent of forest-clad country, with here and there strips of open ground such as that below in which they had discovered the buffaloes. The forest stretched in an almost unbroken mass of foliage as far as the eye could reach, approaching on the north-east very close to Imbono's village.
After luncheon Jack got up and walked about the hilltop, taking a nearer view of the country through his field-glass. Here he caught a glimpse of the river, a small bluish patch amid the green; there, of a little spire of smoke rising perhaps from the fire of one of Imbono's scouts. All at once he halted and stood for some moments gazing intently in one direction. Far away, across a clearing only just visible through the trees, something was moving, continuously, in one direction. So great was the distance that the appearance was as of an army of ants. But he fancied he detected a patch or two of white amid the mass of black.
"Mboyo, look here!" he called.
The chief went to his side, and, stretching his head forward, gazed fixedly at the moving mass.
"Soldiers!" he exclaimed suddenly. "Black soldiers, and white chiefs! They are going to Ilola."
Imbono sprang to his side.
"It is true," he cried. "Mboyo speaks the truth. They are going to Ilola!"
Jack drew a deep breath. The long-expected was coming to pass. The enemy was at hand! And it was ominous that he was coming from the west by land instead of by river from the south. This must have involved a detour of many miles, through difficult forest country; but thus the enemy avoided the certainty of his approach being heralded in advance, as it would have been if he had come by the river. Elbel was planning a surprise!