Ilombekabasi and Surrounding Country, showing Elbel's First Camp in Foreground
These reflections passed through his mind as he pondered on the information given by the scouts. His constant preoccupation during the past months with problems of attack and defence had given rise to a habit of looking at every move or incident in its military bearings.
"I wonder whether the fellows in the army class would envy me or pity me most!" he thought.
Elbel attempted nothing in the way of fortification for his camp except a light stockade—with his superior numbers defensive work seemed almost a superfluity. By comparing the reports of various scouts—who, as usual with negroes, were somewhat erratic in their ideas of number—and by his own observation through his field-glass, Jack concluded that Elbel had, in addition to his two hundred rifles, about five hundred spearmen. Jack himself had, in addition to his forty-five rifles, three hundred spearmen. The mere numbers were, of course, no real index to the proportionate strength of the two forces. In ordinary circumstances, indeed, the spearmen might almost be neglected; the striking power was to be measured in rifles alone. But Jack hoped that, with the drill and discipline his men had undergone, it would be proved that a determined fellow behind a spear was still by no means a combatant to be held lightly. Had not the Arabs of the Soudan shown this? He had no little confidence that, when the time of trial came, his three hundred spearmen would prove every whit as staunch as the dervishes who broke the British square at Abu Klea and threw away their lives by the thousand at Omdurman.
On the second morning after Elbel's appearance Jack found that pickets were posted all round the fort. Clearly it was no longer safe to send out scouts, at all events by daylight. The danger was little diminished after dark, for fires were lit at various points and a regular patrol was established.
"I don't care about sending out any of the men now," said Jack to Barney. "If one of our fellows was caught, his fate would be horrible. It's to prevent scouting, I suppose, that Elbel has posted men round us."
"Might it not be to prevent reinforcements from reaching us, sorr?"
"Not likely. There are no people for scores of miles round, and the country indeed is mostly virgin forest. The only reinforcement likely to reach us is my uncle's contingent, and their arrival is sure to be advised all along the river for days or perhaps weeks in advance; and that's one of my worries, Barney. I don't want Uncle to fall into Elbel's hands, but how can I stop it?"
"Send a couple of men off to meet him, sorr, and tell him of the danger."