At midday a good deal of the work still remained to be done. The sun beat down mercilessly upon the workers, and John, eager as he was to finish, ordered a rest and a meal. The negroes threw themselves on the grass, and appeared to feel no discomfort from the heat; but the white men were glad to seek the shade of the trees crowning the knoll, where Said Mohammed served their dinner. The order had just been given to resume work when they saw a vast crowd of dusky warriors pouring over the brow of the hill. "Here they come!" said John, starting up; "and by the look of them, and their yells, we’re in for a tight little scrimmage." Ferrier laughed. "Not unless they’re prepared to attack us over the bodies of their wives," he said. "They can’t shoot at us without hitting them." "Of course not. I hadn’t thought of that. But they’re so mad that they may be ready to sacrifice their nearest and dearest. We must prevent the women from running away. It’s shameful coercion, but we can’t help it." The furious villagers halted within a short distance of the knoll, and one or two let fly arrows at the busy workers behind their rampart of baggage. A wild shriek arose from the terrified women, though none had been hit; and John, running among them, told them sternly that their only safety lay in remaining at their work. To give point to his warning, and at the same time to daunt the warriors, he lifted his rifle and fired towards the dense mob, taking care to aim above their heads. The result was a general stampede. The men had already learnt the power of the wasungu’s weapons, and being exposed on the bare hillside they recognized their disadvantage. They retreated up the hill to a position of security, and stood there in impotent wrath, watching their womenkind toiling for the hated enemy. The work went on without pause until the rafts were finished. The next thing was to launch them. The river swept round the knoll in a half-circle, and John decided to have the rafts carried to the water on the side remote from the village and out of sight of the warriors, any interference being guarded against by leaving his askaris with loaded rifles at the baggage. When the rafts were launched and moored to prevent their being carried down by the current, the ivory was conveyed to them. One side of each had been left undefended by the framework until the loading was finished. The tusks having been stowed on one raft, half-a-dozen men were set to lash on the framework while the stores and the rest of the baggage were carried to the second raft. It was clear that Bill had by no means exaggerated the value of the ivory. There were twenty-three tusks, varying in weight and size, but scaling in all at least half a ton. John did not know the market value of ivory, but so large a quantity would probably fetch several hundreds of pounds. By the time the loads were stacked round the rafts, close against the framework, it was drawing towards evening.