"Well, judging by what Said Mohammed said, they made their attack between one and two--the hottest part of the day, when everybody would be sleepy. Allowing a couple of hours to sack the village and get the loads together, they might start at four and march till seven, so that in about an hour’s time we ought to get to their last night’s camp. The trail runs fairly straight, so it looks as if they’re making direct for their refuge in the hills, and I hope to goodness it’s pretty far away: the farther it is the better our chance of coming up with them before they get there. It runs west-nor’-west, you see" (he had taken out his pocket compass), "which leads to the foothills of Kenya. We ought to find ourselves on rocky ground presently, and may lose the trail." "Hadn’t we better wait for our men now?" "We’ll come to the raiders’ camp first. Coja won’t lose us; and I want to see what sort of camp they made: it may help us." They hastened on. At one point the track swerved to the east to avoid a steep incline, but returned to its former direction immediately that had been passed. At another it led due west, skirting a swamp, at the edges of which the footprints were still deeper in the soft mud, which was, however, beginning to dry in the sun’s rays. Then it crossed a shallow stream, and John wondered at first why the raiders had marched for some little distance up the bank before crossing, since the stream was fordable anywhere. He understood when Bill pointed to a long depression in the soft earth at the brink: a crocodile had lain there, and the men had given it a wide berth, for if it had heard or seen them it would have slipped noiselessly into the water and seized some hapless fellow as they crossed. At length, after a rapid march of two hours, during which they had covered, as John estimated, about eight miles, they came suddenly to an open glade in the midst of scrub, where there were clear signs of the previous night’s encampment. A thorn boma was left partly standing. Within it there were the black marks of fires, and a circular patch of discoloured grass where the loads had been stacked. Here John decided to halt and await the arrival of the safari. The smell of burnt wood was still so strong that he guessed the raiders had not made a very early start, giving him the hope of coming up with them before nightfall if his men would be content with a short rest.