“There’s only one explanation to it, and that is that Miller, while on his way to the Narugas, warned the Massais that he might be pursued.
“If these savages have some kind of an arrangement with the Narugas, what is more likely than that they would try to scare a pursuer back?
“We have got out of the trouble with them peacefully, but some of those warriors who interfered with us first were evidently disappointed at the orders to let us go on.
“Now it would not be at all surprising if one or two of those same fellows should go ahead and warn the Narugas that we are coming.
“If the Narugas are really as desperate as the Kimberley police think, we may have loads of trouble with them before we get through.”
This prophecy was well justified by later results, but the Narugas were yet a long way off, and Trim found plenty to interest him before he arrived at the borders of their territory.
On the second day after the adventure with the Massais they came to the Orange River.
This river is one of the greatest in the world. It flows westward into the Atlantic Ocean.
Trim’s men told him that a great deal of time and trouble would be saved by floating down the river on rafts for somewhat more than a hundred miles.
It would take him a little out of his course to do this, and yet it would bring him to the borders of the Narugas’ territory.