Part 13 (1/2)

”Y's guessed right, ma.s.sa. Me hold de reins. Me shout de orders, and de men brave and behabe demselbes. We fire slow and careful, same as ma.s.sa tell us, and we still plenty cartridge left.”

”And practically no water. That is the most serious news, and makes it impossible to remain for long where we are. How long will the moon be up, Johnnie?”

”Soon down,” was the answer. ”In four hour, I tink.”

”Then we will consult with the chief. Fetch him along, Johnnie.”

d.i.c.k strolled out into the compound, and having made sure that all was quiet and that the men were alert, he took his seat close to the gate, with Johnnie and the two chief miners beside him. It was a strange place and a stranger hour to have a meeting, and as remarkable, too, was the fact that d.i.c.k could only just make himself understood and gather the meaning of the natives, while Johnnie was useless at the task.

Still, d.i.c.k was able to act as interpreter, for he could speak a little Fanti, and there is only slight difference between that and the Ashanti dialect. Tersely the young leader of the party told his news, how he had overheard the half-caste, and how two hundred Ashanti warriors were expected.

”They will eat us up,” said the chief, with an involuntary shudder when he heard what d.i.c.k had to say. ”They will pour like a river up to the gates of the stockade, and we shall not stop them. They will swarm over, and we shall be slain.”

”While if we are successful during the day they would certainly succeed at night, chief. Then there is the question of the water.”

The chief shook his head dolefully.

”We are as good as dead,” he said, ”and glad I am that one can meet with death only once. As well sally out now and end the matter.”

”And be shot down like birds,” was d.i.c.k's answer. ”But I agree that the situation is serious. We should be better off were we out in the forest, for there we could divide and scatter. Again, we could make for the launch and steam down the river.”

”If it were possible,” cried the chief, with a look of hope in his face.

”But how to get away? These foxes close round us. They know that we are secure, for who could leave the stockade now?”

”I got in safely, thanks to your rush. Why can we not get out again?

Can you think of nothing? Come, man, we must make an effort.”

But it was useless. The chief of the miners could make no suggestion.

He and his men were ready to follow their leader to the death, and he could rely upon their courage. But they could offer no plan of escape.

They came of a race noted for its ferocity and courage, a race trained to arms, but they were more inclined to the ways of peace.

”Then I will tell you what I think,” said d.i.c.k, when many minutes had pa.s.sed, and the four had stared silently at one another as they sat in the rays of the moon. ”We agree that death waits for us here, whether by the knives of the enemy or by water famine. Then we must go. The question becomes when and how? I will tell you. We must distract the attention of these men, and this is how I propose that we shall do it.

First of all, however, are there any here who can creep like a snake through the gra.s.s and so escape discovery?”

The chief threw his head up proudly. ”That is one of the first lessons we learned as boys,” he said. ”There is not a man here who cannot do that.”

”Then this is my plan. As we sit here, the launch lies straight over the crest of the hill where some of the enemy crouch. I believe that so far our boats are undiscovered, and that being so, the enemy will not expect us to take that direction, seeing that it is the roughest and the steepest. It would be natural for us to strike to right or left of the stockade, for the attack has been in the very centre.”

There was a grunt of acquiescence as d.i.c.k paused to look at the chiefs.

”Our chief speaks wisely for one so young,” said the leader. ”But we know him now, and can expect good advice. Say on.”

”We decide, then, to flee by way of the crest. Then we must make a demonstration in the opposite direction. We will choose that to our right, being the farthest from the crest. We will send out four of our best and most active men just after the moon disappears, with orders to get as close as possible to the enemy and then fire on them. These men will retire within five minutes, when they will be joined by more who also will fire. We will move swiftly from right to left and back again, and the men can be so disposed that there will be no danger of hurting one another. That should alarm the enemy, and, in any case, it will attract the attention of those in that quarter.”

”They will take alarm and think that we are attempting to break through.

They will call in all the men,” said the chief, with a.s.surance. ”I begin to follow your meaning.”

”While the firing is going on two of our number who are accounted brave”--d.i.c.k noticed that the chief again tossed his head into the air--”will creep to the top of the hill and over it. They will be given a quarter of an hour to see that it is clear. They will not be satisfied till they have killed the sentries or shown that they are absent. Then one will return with the news.”