"It will make a good load, but we can add to it the lightest parts of the stock we have at the Cataract."
Before reaching the mouth of the cavern, a[p. 49] messenger hurried over from the Cataract with the information that two runners had arrived from the Professor and from Blakely, and they drove back as quickly as possible, and reached there to learn that another had just arrived from Blakely.
The two runners first to arrive conveyed the information stated in the previous chapter, but the last carried the additional news that there had been a fight between Blakely and the tribes, and that he was slowly moving back to the Cataract, but there was no occasion for alarm.
The latter part of the note read as follows: "Do not be alarmed and continue your work, and if the matter should be at all serious I will advise you by runner in ample time, and shall in any event send another in the next four hours."
John called in Muro and said:
"The forces with Blakely are having a fight with the tribes. I want you to take fifty men, and also twenty-five guns, and assist Blakely and his warriors, and keep me informed of the progress of events. Tell him that by day after to-morrow we shall be on our way. In the meantime you should draw them this way, as we do not want them to go back. For that purpose keep up the show of retreating, and hold them until day after to-morrow."
Within an hour the column was ready and moved toward the scene with celerity, equipped with the new guns, and an ample supply of ammunition, together with the new arrows which had been made.