"We are above the nullah," thought Tom. "That fellow Haroun must have discovered a way out and in. Our position is to be turned. My word!"
Some twenty minutes passed. Haroun's head reappeared at the edge of the slope. He spoke to Reinecke volubly, using his hands in free gestures, as though demonstrating a point. The German appeared to be convinced. He got up, stepped over the edge with the aid of the Arab's hand, and followed the man slowly out of sight.
[CHAPTER XV--THE BACK DOOR]
"Run back and see if the askaris are still there," said Tom to Mwesa.
The lad darted away through the bush that clothed the top of the bank of the defile. Returning in a few minutes, he reported that the enemy had not stirred from their position.
"Then we will go on. Keep close to me."
They made their way carefully down the slope. At the bottom they peeped over. A narrow cleft zigzagged down the face of a steep cliff, for the most part bare rock, but with trees and bushes growing here and there where soil gave them roothold. This vegetation and the windings of the cleft hid Reinecke and the Arab from sight; but several hundred feet below they could just discern, through the mist, the still surface of an expanse of water.
Mwesa's eyes opened wide with surprise.
"Don't speak," whispered Tom. "Yes; I think it is our lake."
Reinecke's purpose was now clear to him. He acquitted his sentries of negligence. Haroun had evidently discovered a hitherto unsuspected means of egress from the nullah; on his information Reinecke had brought up his askaris to take the position in reverse, but before committing them to the enterprise had gone down to test the Arab's veracity. It would take him a long time to climb down the steep and rugged cleft, hampered as he must be by his wounded arm: still longer to climb up again. What would he do when he returned? Would he at once order the attack? Daylight would last just long enough: a night attack was impossible; no sane person would attempt to descend by so precipitous a path in darkness. Would he camp for the night, and attack with the dawn? It seemed to Tom that he would hardly wait unless delay were unavoidable, for there was the chance that rain would fall again, and a tropical storm that might continue for days would render his scheme hopeless. No doubt his decision would depend on the result of his observations below.