"Not with serious work on hand," replied Colonel Narfield. "They were keeping an eye on the niggers carrying the ivory, and they knew the importance of that. Yet, curiously enough, the blacks didn't notice the lads' disappearance, otherwise some, if not all, of the ivory would have been missing. It wasn't."
Within forty minutes of his arrival Wynyard was on the road again. With him went Van der Wyck, none too readily, for he mistrusted mechanical cars. He would have preferred his trusty horse, but that animal had been worked hard of late, and, as time was a great consideration, the Afrikander took courage and rather nervously sat beside Wynyard in the car.
In the rear were crowded Tenpenny Nail, Blue Fly, and the native sergeant, while the second car was packed with native trackers, police, and a huge dog, partly bloodhound and partly wolfhound.
"We are nearing the place where the Sibenga Kraal trackers lost the spoor," cautioned Van der Wyck, as the leading car jolted and bumped through the dense avenue.
"Oh," ejaculated Wynyard, "is that so? But I think I'll start at the beginning. There's nothing like independent clues."
The cars pulled up outside the hut of Logula, Sibenga's successor came out to do "Konza," accompanied by almost every man, woman and child in the village.
There was a sneer on the Chief's face as he watched the preparations. He rather resented the employment of trackers from another tribe, but he said nothing and thought the more.
Meanwhile Wynyard was holding one of Colin's sun-helmets to the hound's nose. The animal, quickly picking up the scent, trotted off with his tail erect and his nose close to the ground.
Twenty yards or so behind followed the car containing the District Commissioner and Van der Wyck, with the Haussas riding on the running-board. The other car came close behind, with four of the more daring natives of Sibenga's Kraal augmenting the numbers of the already closely-packed occupants.
Van der Wyck was not in the least surprised that the hound came to a standstill at the very spot which the two pairs of trackers had already indicated as the end of the spoor. The animal, showing a decided disinclination to proceed, was led back to the second car, and the Nyaruma trackers were told to carry on the good work.