At nightfall the canoes were let down over the wall and carried to the shore. Then the men conveyed the stores to them, moving so silently that only a very alert enemy could have detected the activity. The canoes had to make several journeys across the pool before all the goods and the men were ferried over. There was not a sound from the enemy’s encampment. When all were safely landed, John called the men about him, and repeated his instructions to march quietly and above all to beware of straggling; then he set off with Bill to lead the way. Behind him came in order four askaris carrying rifles: then the twelve men with the ammunition and the assortment of oddments found in the fort; then six men bearing in litters three others whose wounds prevented them from marching. After these came the rest of the negroes, among whom the prisoner taken at the camp was enrolled, Ferrier and Coja bringing up the rear to ensure that there was no straggling at the end of the line. It was a dark night, but the sky was clear and the air cold. To make a direct course was impossible. Bill knew the way in the daytime, but at night he was completely at a loss. John, however, was aware of the general direction, and by keeping within touch of the river, as he could easily do by his sense of hearing, he knew that he could not go very far wrong, though the journey would necessarily be longer than if he had been able to avoid the windings. Fortunately in this hilly country the ground was much less obstructed by tangles of thorn than it was in the less elevated districts to the south, and the safari was not hindered by the annoying necessity of having to cut a way through pathless jungle.