He called up the boy. His story was very simple. Mboyo and he had crawled round under cover of the rocks and bushes, and came upon the unsuspecting sentries from the rear. They had their knives; the men died without a sound. Jack shuddered. It was not an Englishman's way of dealing with an enemy; it was the negro's way. But his feeling of compunction was somewhat diminished when Samba added that one of the men was Bomolo, the brutal forest guard who had been the terror of Imbono's people. For how many maimings and murders had this man been responsible? Surely in this quick death he had met with far less than his deserts!
Jack had every reason to be satisfied with the success of his sortie. To have burned the enemy's camp; captured more than half his reserve ammunition, and destroyed the rest, was no mean feat. And as for the people of Ilombekabasi, they were frantic with delight. So quietly had Jack made his preparations that the majority of the people knew nothing of what was happening until they heard the first shot. Then they crowded to the wall and watched eagerly. The camp itself was hidden from them by the contour of the hill, but they saw the smoke rising above the bushes and hailed it with loud shouts. When they understood the meaning of the great noise that followed Lokolobolo's return they were almost beside themselves with joy. And in the cool of the evening Jack allowed them to hold a great feast, after which Imbono reeled off a long oration in praise of Lokolobolo, and the village bard composed and chanted a new song in numerous stanzas, the whole populace roaring the chorus:—
O kelaki na?
Bomong'ilombe,
Bosak'owa wanga,[[2]]
Lokolobolo!
For several days after the sortie Jack was left undisturbed. He guessed how Elbel was occupied, and his conjecture was confirmed by Samba, who at once resumed his scouting work. Elbel was constructing another camp a good distance east of his former position. And he was spending more time and labour on it; the stockade was more than usually high and thick, and was flanked with bastions after the model of the blockhouses at Ilombekabasi.
Samba also discovered that on the day after the burning of the camp one of the white men with twenty paddlers had gone down the river. Jack had no doubt that he had been despatched to the headquarters of his Company for more ammunition. Clearly Elbel was rendered only the more determined by his successive rebuffs.
"And I don't wonder at it," remarked Jack, talking the situation over with Barney. "We are making hay of the rubber collection in this district, and Elbel's Company will be pretty mad with him. I understand why he hasn't got help before this from the State forces. For one thing he has got to rehabilitate himself with his Company, who'll certainly cashier him if he doesn't find a way out of the mess he has got into. For another thing, if he brings the State forces on the scene, he'll most likely lose all chance of collaring uncle's gold, and I believe that's at the bottom of it right through. But things can't last much longer as they are. The State must intervene soon, whether Elbel likes it or not."
"And what then, sorr?"
"Then it will be all up with us, I'm afraid. But we won't look forward to that. I only wish I could find some means of sending word to England of what goes on here, and what we're doing."
"What would be the good uv it, sorr? Sorrow a bit."
"Why do you say that?"