Bill ran from one tusk to another, frantic with joy. But John was too much concerned with the serious work that lay before him to trouble himself for the present with the ivory, however valuable it might be. He saw at once that he must remove all his men from the village to the knoll if the plan of floating down the river was to be successfully initiated. After their fright, Juma and his men might for a time be disregarded; but the war-party of villagers could not now be far away, and the interval before their arrival might be all too short. The knoll not only formed a good defensible position, but it was the most convenient spot for the launching of the rafts, and the timber upon it offered material for the second raft yet to be constructed. Keeping part of his men to hack branches from the trees with their knives, he asked Ferrier to return with the rest to the village and bring over the hill the first raft and all the stores. "Get the women to help," he said. "Promise that we’ll do no more harm to the village if they’ll work for us. They’ll be glad enough to get rid of us, no doubt. I’d go myself, Charley, only my back is bothering me again, confound it." Ferrier hurried off. In little more than half-an-hour he reappeared on the shoulder of the hill, followed by a long line of the men of the safari and the women of the village, carrying the loads of provisions, the impedimenta of the camp, and the raft, a cumbersome object which required twenty men to carry it. As they descended the slope, shots were fired at them from the trees bordering the river, but manifestly at so long a range that they were little likely to do any harm. They reached the knoll in safety; the baggage was piled up a short distance from the bank to form a sort of rampart: and then the whole party, including a crowd of women who were impressed to fetch and carry, worked rapidly at the construction of the raft. "There’ll be mighty little protection if they fire at us on the way down," said John gloomily. "Yes," replied Ferrier, "we haven’t got enough baggage to screen us. But look here! Why not make a sort of fence to go all round?" "The very thing! The men are so used to making bomas that it won’t give them any trouble." While the second raft was being finished, the men who were not engaged upon it were set to weave a light framework of canes, rushes, and slender branches, about three feet high, and strong enough to be impenetrable by spears or arrows. As portions of this were completed, they were lashed to the edges of the first raft. Fore and aft the framework was raised to the height of six feet, and a hole was cut in it through which a pole might be thrust, to ward off rocks or other obstructions as the raft floated downstream, and to steer the unwieldy craft.