"Did you notice he didn't send us a message or even refer to us in his letter?" asked Desmond. "That was strange, wasn't it?"
"Yes," admitted Colin. "It was. There's no getting away from that fact. Possibly he was in a hurry and clean forgot. We'll have a line from him in due course, never fear ... I say, what's that? A dust storm?"
He pointed to a dark cloud moving close to the ground at a distance of a mile or a mile and a half from the house.
"Goodness knows!" replied Tiny. "It looks weird. Here's Tenpenny Nail. Let's ask him."
The Haussa, carrying two buckets full of water, was crossing the courtyard. At a shout from the lads he put down his burden and ran up.
"What's that, Tenpenny Nail?" asked Colin, pointing to the dark cloud, which, instead of coming straight towards the house (the wind was blowing in that direction), was moving obliquely, so that it seemed likely that the phenomenon would not approach sufficiently near to admit of a personal investigation.
For perhaps fifteen seconds Tenpenny Nail looked. Then a broad grin overspread his features.
"Him locust, Massa Colin," he replied. "Me go tell Colonel one time quick."
Then, with a haste that the broad grin belied, the Haussa ran towards the house. He reappeared quickly at the heels of Colonel Narfield, who was shouting for the rest of the "boys" to turn out and look sharp about it.
Catching sight of Colin and Desmond, the Colonel called to them to rout out everyone they could find.