"Him say, Sah him father and mother," said John, "do eberyfing what Sah say."
"Very well; let him go."
Umgabaloo, released, threw himself at Challis's feet and poured out a torrent of thanks and protestations.
"I wonder if I've done right," thought Challis, as he dismissed the man.
He had decided to make a start for the fort that day, while the impression made on the enemy was fresh. At his orders, every man loaded himself with four days' provisions from the ample stores in the cave. Then he drew up in column the men whom he had already led to victory, and the newcomers tried to arrange themselves in similar formation behind, but were too much excited to be very successful.
Challis had now between three and four hundred men at his command. They were still largely outnumbered by the Tubus; and what was of still more consequence, they were not so well armed. In the recent encounter he had been able to choose a good tactical position; such a chance was not likely to occur again. No doubt, moreover, the Tubus, warned by their defeat, would move more cautiously, and, being mounted, they would take advantage of their mobility to fight on ground of their own choice.
These considerations, and the desire to avoid bloodshed, influenced Challis's plan. His object was to reach the neighbourhood of the fort unobserved, to communicate with Royce, and if possible to secure a peaceful withdrawal. He therefore decided not to follow either the route by which he had come, or that taken by the Tubus when they made their ill-fated attack.
As his orderly, John had distributed among the best of the men the rifles and ammunition captured from the Tubus. But Challis commanded them on no account to use these weapons without orders. No warning must be given to any Tubus who might be scouting along the route.
All being ready, he went to the head of the column with a man who knew the country well and would act as guide. Then the whole party set off in a north-westerly direction, to skirt the swamp and cross the river some distance to the west.
The first stage of the march was very difficult. The negro knew paths across the swamp which a stranger could hardly have discovered, but even so progress was slow and laborious. The men had to go in single file, sometimes over boggy land close to the water's edge, keeping a wary eye for crocodiles; sometimes through rushes as tall as their heads, from the midst of which they disturbed game of all kinds, birds and beasts.