No: they might have sought for it, but they would never find it. They could not tell where it had been concealed, and if they had returned to the camp they would not have discovered it, for the Arabs had strewed ashes from their fires over the spot, to hide the disturbance of the earth. Bill knew where it was; he could lead the msungu straight to the spot; and the msungu who had been his friend would show his friendliness still, and would perhaps buy the treasure when it was laid bare.
"What do you think of it?" John asked Ferrier, as they talked it over together.
"It sounds like a fairy tale. You may be sure that the 'bad men' did find it. They would naturally suppose it had been buried in the camp and search for it there."
"I'm not so sure. They're not a very intelligent lot, to begin with. Imagine a crowd of chawbacons----"
"What are they?"
"Oh, I suppose you haven't got 'em in Canada--raw country yokels who haven't any ideas beyond beans and bacon. Imagine them in the same case, chasing a party for twenty miles or more and then finding that they hadn't got what they supposed they had. They wouldn't know but what the treasure had been hidden anywhere along the twenty miles run, and they'd adjourn to the nearest 'pub.'"
"You may be right, though I guess no Canadian would give it up so soon. Anyway, we can't help the old fellow, can we?"
"We've got our own job to see through first, and that will be tough enough, I expect. The beggars must have marched at a tremendous pace, and we shall be short of food soon. If we don't catch them to-morrow we shall be in a pretty bad way, for the country seems practically a wilderness. But we won't croak yet. I'll take first watch while you sleep: I'll wake you at midnight; and we'll make an early start."
The camp was astir while it was still dark, and at dawn was on its way, observing the same precautions as before; indeed, John was even more careful, for being ignorant how far ahead the raiders were, it was necessary to run no risk of approaching them too rapidly. Again the course took a north-westerly direction, but after skirting one of the larger foothills of Mount Kenya, it bore a little more to the west. Bill said that they were now marching almost straight towards his old home. After two hours they came upon the site of the raiders' last camp, and John, finding the ashes of the fires warm, though the sun had not yet broken through the morning mist, concluded that they had been raked over not more than two hours before. This caused him some little uneasiness. Though no attempt had been made hitherto to trap the pursuers, he was still alive to the possibility of such an ambush being laid: it was possible also that the raiders had left a rearguard to advance behind the main body, after they had assured themselves that there was no pursuit. These considerations led him to swerve from the direct track, and proceed through a belt of scrub half-a-mile to the right of it, Ferrier with the safari marching at the same distance still farther to the east, and only at intervals being in sight. He intended to return to the track from time to time, when a favourable opportunity occurred, to make sure that he was still proceeding in the right direction.
It was fortunate that he adopted this precaution, for the first time he struck off to the left to revisit the trail he was astonished to find, distinctly imprinted on the dewy grass, the footsteps of men going in the reverse direction. The sun being now up, he at once signalled to Ferrier to halt, and then carefully examined the new trail. It was quite fresh; the trodden grass had not had time to erect itself; and after a careful scrutiny he came to the conclusion that the marks had been made by four or five men, all wearing sandals. He suspected from this that they were some of the Swahilis of the party, and suspicion became certainty when Bill discovered a tiny strip of white cotton on a spike of a wait-a-bit thorn-bush. The conclusion was irresistible that some of the raiders had doubled on their tracks in order to watch for and perhaps ambush any pursuers.