of help to come from Fort Hall, and would at least encourage the men to hold out. The three waited until darkness covered the ground, having meanwhile tethered the animals. Then the Baganda set off on foot just after seven o’clock with a small bundle of food strapped to his back so as not to encumber his movements. The minutes passed slowly; there was no sign from the encampment; and after what seemed hours John ventured to strike a match under cover of the bush and look at his watch. It was only eight. But there had been time enough for the Baganda to have reached the encampment, and John wondered what had happened to him. He did not think he had been captured, for that would have been announced by a shout or a shot. Only a few minutes after he had looked at his watch there was a sudden bright glare in the direction of the encampment: one flash and then darkness. This was followed by a confused murmur of voices, and then by several irregular shots. At the same time two fires were lighted, one on the north and the other on the south of the encampment--a clear sign that the besiegers meant to hold their ground during the night, the fires having been kindled to keep off wild beasts. John guessed that the white man within the boma had adopted the flare as a better signal than the one he had suggested; undoubtedly the Baganda had reached the camp in safety. The problem now was to follow him without being detected. The flare had shown John the exact direction in which he should go; but it had also put the besiegers on the alert, though it was unlikely that they had any suspicion at present of the meaning of the light. Luckily no fire had been kindled on the west side of the camp, on which there was no gate, and as the night was pitch dark, John hoped with care to escape the notice of the savages. Leaving the animals tethered, he crept forward with Coja, a little nervous lest he should stumble upon some obstruction or go astray in the darkness. The plain was covered with grass up to his knees, and here and there clumps of mimosa. As the two crept forward the sky in front of them was momentarily lit up by another flare. "He’s got his wits about him, whoever he is," thought John. Again he heard shots, but he could not tell whether they were fired within or without the boma. The Baganda had not reported that the besiegers had rifles: one or two of them, he said, had very old guns; but the shots were evidently those of rifles, and John wondered whether the besiegers had been reinforced during the day.