"Ober dar, sah, two bad fellas!" A guffaw. "Tubus, sah. Up a tree, sah."
"There's nothing very funny about that."
"No funny? Oh my lawks! Up a tree, sah—no come down. Boys frow spears, sah. Berry funny, all same."
"This won't do," thought Challis. "I suppose the Tubus got away, and the men are trying to spear them instead of taking them prisoners. But it's strange. There was plenty of time for them to escape altogether when I called the men off. Why didn't they run away?" he asked.
"No can do, sah," replied John, laughing again. "Crocodiles wait for dinner."
"Goodness!" Challis ejaculated. "Are there crocodiles in the swamp?"
"Oh yes, sah! fousand hundred," answered John. "Sah come and see. Him laugh all same."
He preceded Challis towards the swamp, to which the whole population of the cave were now flocking like children running to see a Punch and Judy show.
Challis hurried on. Arriving at the edge of the swamp he saw, about two hundred yards away, two Tubus crouched in the branches of a low bushy tree, not five feet above the surface.
A number of the spearmen had gone forward as far as they dared on the spongy ground, and were gleefully hurling their spears at the negroes. The range was too long, however; the weapons fell short, and splashed into the water.