John’s guess at the course of events was very near the mark. Ever since the defeat of the Arabs, Juma, the sole survivor of their hapless safari, had lived for nothing else than the recovery of the ivory, which would make him a millionaire according to the native standard of wealth. But the store lay in the enemy’s country; he had the best of reasons for knowing how formidable they were, and what his fate would be if he was discovered by them when removing the ivory. He had recognized that there was little chance of obtaining possession of it unless he came with sufficient force to repel attack. Its transport would demand a large number of porters, and a still larger number of armed men to protect them. It had therefore been the work of his life to organize such a party. For this he had become a porter himself, to avail himself of opportunities of stealthy pilfering. For this he had established himself in the island fort, hoping to seize an occasion when the villagers were absent on a raid or a hunting expedition to make a dash up the river and achieve the aim of his ambition. The unexpected series of events that culminated in the capture of the fort had interposed a check at the very moment when he saw success within his grasp. But his cunning mind conceived the scheme which he had carried out: to form an alliance with the very tribe with whom he had expected to come into conflict. He seized upon the presence of the white men as a rational basis for their alliance, intending, when the white men and their safari had been annihilated, to turn his arms against his allies, and having overthrown them, to secure the prize he had so long coveted. Again he was baulked by the prolonged resistance of the white men. But it happened that the combined force of natives which he had gathered about him ran short of food. In this circumstance he saw his opportunity. On the morning after John had left the fort, Juma set off with his own contingent before the escape had been discovered, ostensibly to go hunting for game. He took with him almost all the men who had rifles, and a large party to carry the game he promised to shoot. Striking at first to the west, he turned sharply northward, and pushed on with all speed towards the knoll where the hoard of ivory lay concealed. Had he secured it, his whilom enemies, his present allies, would have seen him no more. He would have taken the shortest route to the coast, to dispose of the ivory at one of the ports. His approach was hidden from the people in the village by the hill rising behind it, and being quite unaware that the village was now held by the white men, he felt that he had nothing to fear except chance discovery by some one who might happen to stray up the hill. To provide against this he had posted the two scouts whom John saw at the base of the knoll.