It was a strange and impressive scene as Imbono's people filed in. They were excited, but not with alarm or fear. Some of them even were merry, laughing at little mishaps—the dropping of a basket of manioc, the breaking of a pot, the sprawling of children as Pat dashed in and out among them, barking as though it was he that was shepherding the throng. Barney was the master of ceremonies. With Samba's help he separated the various families, and showed each father the hut or huts he was to occupy. It was not a wealthy community, and only a few of the men had more wives than one; but these tried Barney's patience sorely, and he sighed for Father Mahone to come and tache the haythens betther manners.
"Only what could he do, if he came?" he said. "Whin a man has been fool enough to marry two or three wives, faith, I don't see how ye can alter it unless ye make 'em all widders."
About two miles from the camp there was a spot above the river from which the clearing and village of Ilola could be seen. An hour before dawn Jack went out with Samba to this spot and waited. Just after day had broken they perceived a large body of men rushing out from the forest towards the village stockade. Through his field-glasses Jack saw that the negroes were led by two men in white. Imbono, before he left, had had the gate of Ilola closed and barricaded. The invaders did not pause to break it down; they swarmed up the stockade and momentarily hesitated at the top, as though suspecting, from the silence of the village, that a trap had been laid for them. Then some of them could be seen dropping down inside; the rest instantly followed; and Jack smiled as he saw them assemble in little groups in the deserted compound, gesticulating in their excitement.
A few minutes later dense volumes of smoke rose from the village. The forest guards had fired the huts, no doubt in their first fury at the escape of the villagers. Jack could not help thinking that they would regret their hasty action. If they intended any long stay in the neighbourhood, the village would have been more useful to them intact than as a ruin. He had dismantled his own former camp, so that unless Elbel's men set about building for themselves they would have no shelter. Their folly only confirmed Jack's belief that they were but a poorly-disciplined rabble, and that Elbel himself was out of his element in work of a military kind.
Having learnt all that he wished to know, Jack returned to his camp. Elbel had clearly not expected the village to be abandoned. Jack wondered if he had learnt of the formation of the new camp. It seemed likely that news of it would long since have been carried down the river. He had apparently planned to wipe out the villagers first and tackle Jack later.
"Bedad, sorr, if he's any sinse at all he will lave us alone," said Barney when Jack told him what he had seen.
"I don't expect that. I'm sure he'll use his men against me. He'll want his revenge, for one thing; and then he has his eye on the gold, remember. He didn't dig about the cataract for nothing. He'll be glad of any excuse for attacking, if he sees a fair chance of beating us. You may depend upon it he knows all that Uncle has been doing, and if he can manage to drive us out and occupy this ground before Uncle gets back, it's all up with poor Uncle's claim, Barney. Possession is more than nine points of the law in this State. If Uncle had known the sort of things that go on here, he'd have thought twice before spending his money."
Very soon after Jack regained his camp, Imbono's scouts came in to report that the enemy was on the move. Before midday the head of the column was sighted making its way up the stream, this forming on the whole an easier approach than the rough stony ground on either bank. There was immense excitement in the camp as the people watched the advancing crowd. Jack could not but be touched as he observed the demeanour of the people. A few months before the sight of so many of the dreaded forest guards would have made them cower in abject fear; now, so great was their trust in the young Inglesa who had twice defeated Elobela, and who had prepared for them this fine new village with its wonderful defences, that they viewed the progress of the enemy with feelings only of anticipated triumph.
"Please God, I won't fail them," thought Jack.
About half a mile below the cataract the column came to a halt, and three men in white, attended by half a dozen armed negroes, advanced to within less than a quarter of a mile of the wall.