It seemed hours before the carriers came up. Challis was close behind them with his party.
"Thank goodness!" exclaimed Royce. "There's the fort, as you see. But we must let the men rest awhile, and then make a dash for it."
"Why not go straight on?"
"I saw two Tubus cross yonder. If we're to get there safely we must put on our best speed; we can't go at this terrible dawdle—less than two miles an hour lately."
"I am sure we had better go on. If the men drop their loads they will become noisy, and the Tubus may hear them. Let's take the bull by the horns, old man."
"Very well, then. We must keep close together; it would be fatal to get scattered. But we'll go in the same order. John, tell the carriers they must move quickly and silently. Now, are you ready?"
He led the way from the forest into the scrub, the rest of the party forming a compact column behind him. Keeping an eye fixed on the clump behind which the Tubus had disappeared, he made straight for the fort.
As yard after yard of the ground was covered, he became more and more hopeful of gaining the shelter of the walls unmolested. But when the party was within less than half a mile of their goal there were shouts in the distance. Immediately afterwards, from the forest on the left, a cloud of horsemen dashed out and galloped straight towards them. At the same time a smaller party, farther ahead, rode diagonally across the open ground to cut them off.
It was a critical moment. There was just time, Royce thought, to reach the small belt of woodland below the hillock. Calling on the carriers to hurry, he placed the Hausas to guard their flank.
"Tell the men to go straight up to the fort," he said to John, adding to Challis: "We must try to keep the enemy off until the men are safe."