CHAPTER VIII
SETTING A TRAP
There was no more sleep for any of the three that night. Royce's nerves were on edge; the negroes, though they recovered sooner than he from the shock, remained in a high state of excitement. John related a dismal story of the absorption of a cousin of his by a snake, showing such a relish for gruesome details that Royce ordered him to choose another subject.
With the earliest glimmer of dawn they descended from their perches. At the foot of the tree lay an unusually large specimen of the African python, measuring at least eighteen feet. Royce shuddered at the thought of the fate which the Hausa had so narrowly escaped.
They made the best breakfast they could, and as soon as it was light enough to mark the trail, they set off again in the track of the enemy.
Royce knew that, lightly burdened as he and his companions were, their speed was likely to be much greater than that of the raiders, whose pace must be regulated by the men carrying heavy loads. So he was not surprised, after marching only two or three hours, to reach the spot where the party had encamped during the night.
From the aspect of the place, and the still warm embers of fires, John guessed that the camp had been broken up rather later in the morning than usual, and not very long before his arrival. This conclusion led him to press on with redoubled vigour, and at the same time with caution.
Royce asked himself more than once what he would do when he came up with the raiders. Always he had to admit that he did not know. It was hopeless to attempt to form a plan. Indeed, he acknowledged to himself that the whole enterprise was pretty hopeless. The hoof marks and the prints of feet were so numerous that the party must be a large one. The Hausa had spoken of thousands of Tubus. That was no doubt an exaggeration; the negro is always ready to magnify numbers; but it was almost certain that the horsemen mustered a score or two. What was more surprising was the character of the footprints. Royce's full party consisted of only sixteen carriers, of whom two were now with him; but the depth of the impressions on the sandy soil, rather than their number, indicated that there were many more than fourteen prisoners. African natives march nearly always in single file, each man stepping in the tracks of the man in front of him; the footprints now before him were so deeply impressed that they must have been made by a large number of men.
Of the three trackers, John went first, as the most experienced in travelling over this kind of country. Every now and again he would point to the marks of Challis's boots, when they were clearly distinguishable from the other prints. Presently he declared that Massa Chally must be tied to a horse, for his footprints corresponded regularly with the marks of four hoofs.
Towards midday the track struck into a well-beaten native path, on which the foot-prints were less clearly marked. It ran northward over undulating wooded country, broken now and then by open spaces of prairie-like land. John declared that there were signs of their approaching a river.