As a precaution against being discovered, Royce suggested that they should leave the path, and pursue their course at some little distance on one side of it or the other. John agreed that this was wise, though it would retard their progress. This, however, mattered little, seeing that they were travelling considerably faster than the raiders were. A little later, Royce himself, on ascending a slight eminence, caught sight of the horsemen. The size of the party surprised him. At the rear were about a dozen mounted men, more or less clothed, turbaned and armed; the sunlight flashed on their weapons, though at the distance he could not yet discover what those weapons were. Beyond them, strung out in a long line that wound like a snake over the country, was a body of more than a hundred negroes on foot, with mounted men among them at intervals. At some distance ahead was another party of armed horsemen, larger than the one in the rear. To determine their numbers exactly was impossible. Royce wished he had thought of taking his field-glasses with him when he left the camp a few nights before; they were now, he feared, among the captured baggage, but at a rough estimate he felt sure that there could not be fewer than forty mounted men, in charge of perhaps a hundred and twenty captives. It was clear that the Tubus had raided several small villages, and that Challis and the Hausas were the latest additions to their haul. No doubt they were now making for their own district across the Yo, in high spirits at the successful results of their expedition. Only a few minutes after Royce caught sight of them, the straggling column came to a halt. It was the time for their midday meal. "Eat now, sah?" asked John. "You can go on a bit longer?" said Royce. "Can do same as Massa," John replied. "Very well, then. I suppose they will rest for a couple of hours or more. That gives us a chance of getting ahead of them." "Oh yes, sah. Get ahead, sure 'nuff." John regarded the suggestion as one that would merely score a point in the game. Royce, however, had a serious object in view. The size of the party had made clear what he had all along suspected: that direct intervention on his part was impossible. What could a little band of three, of whom only two were armed, do against so formidable a force? When two combatants are unequally matched, the weaker tries to accomplish by guile what he cannot do by strength. Royce was wondering whether, by slipping past the raiders, and examining the country in front, he could discover a spot where by some trick or ambuscade he might throw them into confusion, and rescue Challis before they had recovered from their surprise. He had no definite plan in mind; everything depended upon the nature of the ground.