They had to wait until long past midnight for the setting of the moon. Challis did not regret the delay. By the time they could start the Tubus would probably be well asleep. Every night the glow of their camp-fires could be seen at different spots round the fort, and sounds were heard far into the night from each of the camps. On this occasion it seemed that the enemy turned in even later than usual. It was at least an hour after the moon's disappearance that silence fell upon the country. Then the little band were let down by a rope gently over the wall, on the side farthest from the gateway. Dark though it was, Challis thought it well to crawl down the hillock until level ground was reached. Then the three stole along under cover of the bushes towards the patch of woodland. Half-way across, Challis inadvertently kicked a loose stone, and paused, listening anxiously. There was no sound of alarm. They reached the clump, and crept through it, leaving the enemy's camp on the left, and meeting no obstacle except the undergrowth, in which they were all experienced travellers. "I don't see why we shouldn't all have got out," said Challis to himself, feeling half-inclined to run back and persuade Royce to join him. But the hopelessness of such an attempt was borne in upon him at once by a sound on his left. The enemy's horses were snuffling and pawing the ground, apparently between him and the campfire. Even if the garrison could leave the fort quietly enough to escape instant detection, they must move slowly, burdened with packs as they would be. Their tracks would be discovered in the morning, and the mounted Tubus could overtake them in a few hours. Challis had just dismissed the idea of a general exodus as impracticable, when the slight sounds made by the horses swelled to a considerable noise. The snuffling became snorting and whinnying, and there mingled with it one or two human calls. Could the flight have been discovered? Mogra was leading, with John close behind, Challis third of the line. At the commotion the guide was seized with panic, and was bolting blindly forward, when John dashed up behind him, caught him by the neck, and bade him, in language which he understood, not to be a fool. They went on, carefully picking their way through the scrub. The noise on their left rear increased. They heard numbers of horses galloping away to the north and north-east, and many men shouting. Challis wondered whether the Tubus had been drawn away by sudden news from their own country, or by some false alarm. Then a gust of wind striking him from the right suggested a more likely explanation. The wind was carrying his scent to the camp. Unused to the scent of a white man, the horses had taken fright and stampeded, followed hot-foot by their owners.