Feeling that he must find out exactly what had happened, he began with Bill cautiously to follow up the new track, looking warily ahead, and observing with especial care the few large trees that were to be seen here and there in the distance, for any flight of birds would at once indicate the presence of men. As they walked, they found that the trail curved slightly westward, which seemed to show that it would presently join the main track which they had quitted. John moved now more cautiously than ever, for if his supposition was correct, the men would halt before they actually reached the direct course, at some spot where they could overlook it. As they proceeded, the ground rose and the scrub became thicker. But suddenly the bushes thinned away and they saw, at the top of a long incline, a clump of trees. And then they stopped short and dropped hurriedly to the ground. Before them, on the knoll, at the foot of a tree, they had caught sight of three white-clad men looking upwards among the branches. They had rifles. Without doubt this was the spot chosen for keeping watch on the trail. Wriggling under cover, at the cost of some scratches, John and the Wanderobbo saw a fourth man perched high up in the tree below which the others stood. Had he not been intently gazing towards the main track, and his companions looking up at him, it would scarcely have been possible for John to escape discovery. The men were speaking. At the distance John could not distinguish what they said; foreign words are always difficult to pick up when the speakers are at all remote; but from a certain impatient intonation he gathered that the men had been for some time on the watch, and were weary or disappointed at the apparent fruitlessness of it. As he lay there, his heart jumped as he thought how easy it would be to shoot the men. He could take aim at his leisure, and pick off two of them with certainty. Taken by surprise, the others would probably bolt. But it would not be playing the game; he could not bring himself to stalk them as he would stalk a wild animal, though he knew that if they spied him and got first shot they would have no compunction about shooting him. For a moment he thought of dispatching Bill to fetch Ferrier; with his aid, backed by the natives with their bows and arrows, he might capture all four, or, if they showed fight, dispose of them. But he soon gave up the idea. The men might decamp before Ferrier could arrive; they might indeed see the Wanderobbo creeping through the bush, and, the most important consideration of all, a shot would certainly give the alarm to the main body of the raiders, and that would defeat his purpose. If they took to flight he would lose his only chance of recovering his rifles and ammunition, which was his immediate object. If they hastened back at the sound of the firing, he would find himself matched against overwhelming numbers, and the result would be disaster. His only hope of