"That wasn't fair; we left them."
"So they said. You may imagine what a funk I was in when they came back without you. I didn't sleep a wink all night."
"Poor old chap! We went after congoni when they were cutting up the hippo, and were rushed as neatly as possible, and carried off to the village of Bill's 'bad men' in the hills. Our captors were evidently an embassy from Juma to enlist the chief's assistance. Three or four hundred warriors in full fig left yesterday morning: have you seen anything of them?"
"Not yet. We heard a great hullabaloo in Juma's camp last night, and I guessed the lot you signalled about had come in. I was glad you signalled; it was a relief to know you were alive. I wished I could come up and rescue you, and I'd have had a shot at it if you hadn't told me the war-party were coming. Of course that dished it. I couldn't have got through, and I'm afraid our fellows wouldn't have held out long if I'd left them."
"Of course not. It would have been simply mad to try it."
"All the same, it was pretty rotten having to stop here able to do nothing. I chafed a good deal, I can tell you. When I got your message, as the enemy were very quiet I sent Coja and one of my askaris out to see if they could spy out where you were; and what do you think--Said Mohammed insisted on going too."
"Well, I'm hanged!"
"He said it was quite impossible for him to pursue the even tenor of his way while you, his boss and patron, were in parlous circs. and durance vile. I'm beginning to think the Bengali has been libelled; go deep enough and you'll find a man. Anyway, he insisted on going, and I'm sorry to say none of the three has come back."
John groaned from utter weariness and disappointment.
"What a mess I've made of everything!" he said. "If ever we get safely out of this I'll not go rampaging after stolen rifles again. Look what I've brought on everybody!"