"What is it?" gasped Omar, with wide-open eyes.
"Our enemy, Samory, is upon us!"
"Samory!" we both cried.
"Yes. Not much longer than a moon past I was crossing the mountains of Niene, near the confines of his country, on my way hither from the sea, and learnt the truth. Two moons ago, accompanied by twenty thousand armed men, Kouaga marched out of Koussan to obtain savage allies for an expedition, having for its object the conquest of Mo."
"The conquest of our country!" Omar cried astounded. "Only a week before we returned hither one of his expeditions was utterly routed and slaughtered in the Grave of Enemies. Now another has been dispatched! What route has it taken?"
"On learning the news I at once reassumed native dress, crossed into our enemy's country and acted as spy," Makhana answered, his fierce-looking eyes glistening in the moonlight. "In Koussan I ascertained that the expedition, led by Kouaga, the man who was once our Grand Vizier, had gone northward one moon's journey towards the Niger, his intention being to skirt the country of the Aribanda and to enter our territory from the north by crossing the Hombori Mountains."
"You have done well to ascertain this and hasten on," Omar answered. "But there is only one pass by which the Hombori can be crossed."
"That is known to Kouaga, for three years ago he led our army through it to the successful conquest of the border tribes of the Massina. He is now a formidable enemy, for he knows all the secret approaches and the whereabouts of our hidden defences."
"We must dispatch an army at once to meet them," Omar said, after a thoughtful pause.
"No time should be lost," Makhana urged. "Already they are due at the Hombori, and it will occupy our expedition fully two weeks to reach there. Yet Samory's hordes may be delayed, and if so, we shall be able to hold the pass successfully and sweep them down as they advance. I have brought with me from England the ten additional Maxims ordered by the Naya."
