"With submission, sir," he said, "I offer myself as unit in this expeditionary force. I undertake to be no cipher, but integer, sir, and not a minus quantity. Need I remind you of the saying of some great and glorious general whose name I have forgotten, that an army marches upon its tummy? _Verb. sap_. Grub, sir, is the sinews of war, and astounding military gumption is no go without a cook. Furthermore, was I not honoured to interpose unworthy corpus between raging lion and your honour’s nobility? If so, what is a life saved if not also preserved? Permit me, therefore, to be the life-preserver." "All right. Hurry up! No time to waste," said John, remarking to Ferrier, as the Bengali went off to fetch his bundle: "I suppose he’s afraid the place will be attacked again in our absence." "A bad look-out if it is." "Well, we shall soon find out whether the whole gang of the raiders are on the march. If they are, I don’t think they’ll come back, and as nobody else has molested us for more than a year I think we may be pretty easy. Now, khansaman, buck up; we’re off." John had already decided that every member of the party should go on foot. Donkeys might prove a great nuisance if the country was difficult; moreover, mounted men would form conspicuous objects in the plains. Accordingly Ferrier and he had donned stout-soled boots, and set off to tramp after Bill and Coja, who had gone ahead with the chief to select the men for the safari. Said Mohammed brought up the rear. CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH--Tracking the Raiders The two white men had just forded the river when they met the porters marching to the farm to fetch the loads laid there in readiness for them. It was plain that the chief was in earnest, for the forty young men were the most stalwart in his community. Each carried his bow and arrows, and as John turned and watched them striding lithely along he thought they would prove no mean antagonists in a fight. He went on with Ferrier to the village, had a short conversation with the chief, and then set off with Bill on the trail of the raiders, leaving Coja and Said Mohammed to bring the safari. He wished to go a few miles ahead in order to examine the trail and get some guidance of his course before the others came up.