His broad face disappeared. After some minutes he returned with an armful of creepers, which he stripped of their leaves and deftly wound into a rope. This he let down into the pit. Challis tied it under his arms, and called to John to pull. But John, strong as he was, could not haul up a man of Challis's weight without leverage, as he found in a very few moments. There was no convenient tree within easy reach. What was to be done? "Wind it round you, and I will climb up," said Challis. But he had risen only a few feet above the floor of the pit when John staggered, and Challis let go and dropped for fear of pulling the Hausa down. The mishap seemed to tickle John, who laughed heartily, though Challis found it no laughing matter, and was all the time uneasy lest the Tubus should appear on the scene. "Don't stand there grinning like an ape," he said somewhat tartly. John sobered at once. "Me savvy, sah," he said, and for the second time he went away. When he came back he was accompanied, to Challis's astonishment, by the two Tubus whom they had captured on the previous day. Lengthening the rope a little, he wound it tightly round the two men, who were still tied together, then called to Challis to climb. [Illustration: RESCUED BY THE ENEMY] In half a minute Challis's head was level with the brink of the pit. Then John, telling the Tubus to move away, grasped his master's hands, and by dint of the efforts of the three men Challis was hauled out of his prison. CHAPTER XXX THE FORWARD MARCH "How did you happen to be here with the Tubus?" asked Challis, when he stood beside John. "Nebber let go, sah," said John. "But I told you to take them back to the men." "All same, sah," was John's reply. He seemed unwilling to say more, fearing, perhaps, a reproof for disobedience. But Challis managed to get out of him the explanation that he had been too anxious about his master's safety to go far away. He had left the Tubus tied up to a tree while he went on to the fort to give his jackal cry, and on returning to them he had decided to wait in the forest to make sure that Challis would come back safely. At dawn he was stealing in the direction of the fort when he heard Challis's cry. "Well, it's very lucky that you did disobey," said Challis, "and I owe you my life, John. Be sure I shan't forget it." "Like to please Massa Chally," John grinned happily. Anxious to make up for lost time, Challis hurried back with John and the Tubus to the spot where he had left his men. As he expected, they were becoming restless. But they gave a great shout of joy when they saw him in the distance, and Challis sent John forward to order them to be silent; for all he knew, Tubu scouts might be in the neighbourhood.