At last they arrived at the river, and Gamba galloped at headlong pace down to the ford. There he sprang from his horse and feverishly examined the tracks on the softer soil. To his surprise and dismay, there were none very recent, and those there were all pointed in the opposite direction. It was clear that no horseman had crossed to the northern bank for some weeks past. Baffled, he rode up and down stream to see if Goruba had avoided the ford, and perhaps swum his horse across the river at some other point. While he was doing this Royce crossed at the ford, and examined the ground on the opposite bank, and Challis sent some of the men to scour the neighbourhood. After a long search they had to confess utter failure. In no direction was there any trace of Goruba's horse. Goruba had given them the slip. Gamba wept with disappointment. "It's enough to make any one snivel," said Challis. "What can have become of the fellow?" "Whatever it is, we are done brown," said Royce. "It's no good riding any farther; we might tumble among a whole swarm of Tubus. And as it's getting late, we had better camp for the night, and then go back and digest our disappointment as well as we can." At this moment Gamba gave a succession of peculiar shrill whistles. "What's that mean?" asked Royce. Gambaru explained that the man was whistling for his horse, thinking that Goruba had possibly left it some distance from the river and swum across, so that hoof marks might not betray him. But the signals were ineffective, and Gamba wept again. Retreating from the bank, they formed a camp on a sheltered hillside, ate some of the food they had brought with them, and settled down for the night, arranging for the men to keep watch in turn. Nothing disturbed them, and early in the morning they started back for the fort. On the way they caught sight of many stray Tubus making their way towards the river. These always slunk away when they saw the Englishmen, who did not think it worth while to pursue them. They already had enough prisoners, and shrank from further bloodshed. They reached the fort just before noon. The fort itself had not been occupied during the night. John reported that the men had conceived such a horror of it that they preferred to remain in the open. The Tubus had wholly disappeared. Their failure and the flight of their leader had broken their spirit. Some of the victorious natives had already gone back to their homes to relate how the dreaded Tubus had been defeated. "We couldn't hope for anything better," said Royce. "The whole countryside will hear of it in a day or two; the prestige of the Tubus will be utterly shattered, and the people won't be afraid of them any longer. I rather fancy they will keep to their own side of the Yo in the future." "If they do, we'll have done some good in the world," said Challis. "But now, old man, I want to see Rabeh's hoard. What's going to happen to that?"