Following his example, the Hausas fired. It was a somewhat ragged volley, but at the short range almost every shot told. Many saddles were emptied; some of the enemy drew rein; others galloped on, to be met by a second volley, which completely broke the charge. The survivors wheeled their horses and dashed madly back towards the bushes from behind which they had emerged. "Now, boys, with me!" cried Royce. He led them at the double across the open space into the belt of woodland which John with his party had already entered. His stand had given them a respite, but there could be little doubt that this troop of the enemy was merely an advance guard, for Goruba was not among them. Everything now depended on whether the fort could be reached before Goruba came up with a much larger force. "Step out as quickly as possible, boys," said Royce. "Their horses won't be much good to them if we get into the fort. You have done well." CHAPTER XI A STRATEGIC RETREAT John, the headman, was very intelligent. His sense of locality and direction appeared to be good. But Royce felt a little anxious about his ability to act as guide in their march towards the fort. The man had only visited it once. Hurrying to the head of the column, he said: "You are quite sure you can find the way?" "Nebber lose it, sah!" replied John, with a gurgling laugh at his own simple joke. "Savvy way all same quite correct." "Very well. Remember that we all depend on you. You will save time by getting some of these new men to take turns with our boys in carrying the stuff. I leave you to arrange that." The party now consisted of more than forty men. John went ahead with two or three of his original gang and the released prisoners, who numbered over a score. Some distance in the rear came Royce and Challis with the rest of their boys, armed. "I'm a little doubtful whether we are doing the right thing," Royce remarked to his companion. "Why?" asked Challis. "Because I'm out of my element. I don't know in the least how these Tubus are likely to act. If they were a civilised enemy, I should be sure that the check we have just inflicted would not choke off the pursuit. In that case we should be doing the right thing--the only thing, in fact, to avoid extermination." "You mean that if we have choked them off, we ought to be hurrying away to the south?" "That's it. My experience in field days with the Scouts and the O.T.C. doesn't help much now." "I'm not so sure of that," said Challis. "I think you have done jolly well so far." "Well, looking at matters from the worst point of view, and assuming that the Tubus will still come after us, I don't see that we could do better than we are doing. The difficulty is this: if we get into the fort, we escape immediate destruction, but we are in no position to stand a siege. Our ammunition will hold out a good while, but our food won't."