Then, just as his horse was steadily overhauling the man in front, there was a sudden dramatic development.
Goruba glanced round, took the measure of the situation, and drawing a pistol, while still riding at full speed, deliberately shot the horse of his follower. The beast fell with its rider. Royce was unable to check his horse in time; it turned a somersault over the fallen animal, and Royce was shot over its head into a thorn bush several yards away.
The Hausas yelled with alarm and reined up. Challis, forgetting Goruba in his anxiety for his friend, sprang from his horse and ran to assist him as he rose, torn and bleeding, from the merciless thorns.
For a few seconds Royce was too dazed with pain and shock to think or speak. Then, collecting his wits, he said:
"Don't bother about me! After Goruba—don't let him escape."
But Goruba had reckoned on the confusion and delay which his shooting the horse would occasion. By the time that Challis had remounted and dashed on in pursuit, the bold negro was out of sight.
CHAPTER XXXIII
THE END OF GORUBA
While Royce was recovering from the shock of his fall, Challis and some of the men, including Gamba, the young Tubu, galloped on in the hope of overtaking Goruba. But when they had ridden for a mile or two without catching sight of him, Challis pulled up, unwilling to leave Royce with only two or three men to support him in case the scattered Tubus attacked.
Riding back, he had not gone far, however, when he met Royce and the rest of the party.