The fort, small as it was, was too large to be defended by forty men against serious attack. To make the most of his garrison, Royce arranged that each man should have about three yards of wall to defend. If the enemy should pluck up resolution to make a simultaneous assault on all sides, they were numerous enough to throw eight or ten men against every one of the garrison, and the odds were more than sufficient for success.
The only weapons available for B Company, as Challis called the released prisoners, were the tools included in their camp equipment—mallets, hatchets, hammers, a saw, and a few tent pegs.
Though so ill provided, Royce thought that in day time the defence would have a sporting chance. The rifles could take toll of the enemy while they were advancing over the three or four hundred yards of fairly open ground beneath the fort; and even if the attack were pushed home to the walls, it would be possible to reinforce the men in the quarter where the assault was hottest.
A night attack would be much more difficult to meet. Covered by the darkness, the enemy might approach to within a few yards of the walls without being detected, if they moved quietly; without suffering much loss, if they were heard. At the walls their numbers would tell far more effectually than in daylight. With such odds in their favour, it would seem impossible to keep them out. And if once they got in, the garrison must inevitably be overwhelmed.
But the Englishmen had little fear of a night attack. It was more likely that the Tubus would move in the twilight of early morning. This would be little less formidable. They might creep a long way up the hill before they were seen, and the chance of checking their rush would be small.
From the defensive point of view the weakest spot in the surroundings of the fort was a patch of rocky scrub-covered ground about a hundred and fifty yards away on the north-east side. It provided good cover for an advance up the hill, and left only a short distance for the final charge. From the attackers' point of view the disadvantage of this spot was that it was small in extent, and would give cover to only a limited number of men.
The day having passed undisturbed, Royce could not help feeling a little anxious about the night. What if the Tubus should attack, after all? He decided to keep half the garrison on guard while the rest slept, and to send three or four of the most trustworthy Hausas some way down the hill to act as scouts and give warning of any movement of the enemy.
Both he and Challis, during their spells of watching, went round and round the walls with the regularity of soldiers doing sentry-go. Eyes and ears were tensely on the alert; not a sound escaped them. The little various noises made by birds, insects, and small animals darting through the scrub were sometimes smothered by sounds from the distant camp. At one time the din was so loud that Challis, who was on duty at the moment, was almost on the point of awakening Royce. But he reflected that warriors intending a night attack, even though savages, would have the common-sense to move quietly, and he took himself to task for what he considered a tendency to panic.
"I mustn't get jumpy," he said to himself; "but this is a great change from camping on Salisbury Plain."
In the morning, as soon as the sky began to lighten, Royce set the men to work again on repairing the walls. Presently he caught sight of some of the enemy in the distance. They were evidently watching the fort. A little later one of them fired, and at odd times during the morning there was fitful sniping whenever the workers allowed themselves to be seen above the walls. But no one was hit, and the Hausas' contempt for the Tubus' marksmanship was voiced by John.