The man made no objection. John opened his knife and carefully washed the sharpest blade; then ordered two of the men to hold the patient, and began to probe the wound as gently as he could. The bullet was imbedded in the flesh where there was no danger of his severing an artery. He soon found the bullet, and setting his teeth, started the first surgical operation of his life. He had a steady hand: the man lay inert as a log, without wincing or even groaning; and in a few minutes he had extracted the bullet, feeling a vast admiration for the big fellow’s fortitude. Having bathed and bound up the leg, he gave the man some food, and saw him in a few minutes fall asleep. John drew a good augury from this little incident. The man had sought him, and not his own master; John took it, perhaps superstitiously, as an indication that he, and not Juma, would, as he put it, "come out on top." He sent out Bill, with one of the men, to look for the enemy. They returned early in the afternoon, reporting that they had failed to see either the men who had been ejected from the fort, or the larger party under Juma’s command. Bill judged from the tracks that the former had scattered, some to the south to meet their friends, others to the east. In the daylight John confirmed his overnight examination of the fort. He saw now that there were rapids at both ends of the pool, and sighed for leisure to do a little fishing, guessing that such a river would provide good sport. But he had something more serious to think about. After their night’s rest the men were less fatigued than he had expected, so he saw no reason to defer the destruction of the fort. His purpose was to rase the wall, and hurl into the pool the stones of which it was built. They were piled loosely one upon another without cement or mortar, and he thought that it would be a light job to remove them; but it turned out to be a much more troublesome business than he had supposed, and when, after two hours’ work, he saw how little had been accomplished he felt rather troubled. At the same rate it would take two or three days to complete the work. He had no gunpowder to spare for blowing up the wall; and he wished neither to remain so long absent from Ferrier, nor to be found on the spot when Juma returned, as he assuredly would do. A little while after Bill had returned from his reconnoitring expedition he suddenly cocked his ear towards the south-east and in a moment declared that he heard the sound of fire-sticks. The men were chattering, and John fancied that the Wanderobbo must be mistaken. He called for silence, and all listened intently, but could hear nothing except the slow gurgle of the water in the pool and the far-away rumbling of the rapids below. "Do you hear it now?" he asked. "No," Bill replied; "but I did hear it."