It was really a good hiding place, for back of the donkeys and the baggage which was also taken in there was a mountain ledge.
In front was the sheet of falling water, and the only way in was at the sides by a passage that only one or two men could enter at a time, and which could not be seen from outside without hunting for it.
It did not take long to get the donkeys and the baggage in place. Then Trim and his men went out into the open air again and started down toward the meadow.
They went cautiously, for there was no telling but that the white men and their black companions might be hid somewhere in their course.
Trim and his party arrived at the edge of the meadow without meeting anybody.
Pausing there and looking toward the river they saw that the party whom Trim had seen from the top of the cliff were on the bank of the river.
They had managed somehow to catch one of the rafts and had dragged it to the shore.
“No doubt they’re wondering,” said Trim to Dobbin, “what has become of the men who were traveling on it.
“Now, men, we must keep in the edge of the woods and get down as close to the river as we can before they realize what we are up to. Then we’ll see if we can stampede them.
“If we succeed, as we probably shall, drive off the blacks and capture the white men.”