"First of all, I want you to send messengers to all the friendly villages round about, asking the chiefs to send their best fighting men to join us. Tell them that we are going to fight the Tubus, and put a stop to their evil deeds." "That shall be done, O white man!" "Then I want to see what your own men can do with the spear, how they march, and how they attack." "That shall be done, O white man!" He gave an order. The warriors formed up, as Challis expected, in single file, and marched thus, lithely as wild animals, before him. At another order they started to run, uttering fierce yells, crowding into an unwieldy mob, and flinging their spears high into the air. The chief watched them proudly, and glanced at Challis as if to say: "Can you wish for anything better than that?" "It is very good," said Challis, to the chief's great contentment. "Now bring them back; I want to find out which are the best spearmen." The men, gathering their spears, came running back in a scattered crowd, and collected again in their former shapeless array. Asking permission from the chief, Challis ordered John to form the men up in line. It was a long and difficult business. No sooner were a few of the negroes placed shoulder to shoulder than one man would step out to see what a particular friend of his was doing some distance away, and showed a good deal of resentment when John hauled him back and explained vigorously that he must not move without leave. Then another man would find that he had something urgent to say to his mother, among the crowd of women watching the scene curiously, and he would sprint across the ground, engage in animated dialogue with the old woman, and return at his leisure. John was reduced to despair. "Silly fellas, sure 'nuff, sah!" he said in dudgeon. "Dey no good--too much fools, all same!" An idea occurred to Challis. Knowing from his past experience with the Hausas how keenly negroes enter into competition one with another, he ordered John to explain that, if the men kept the line, he would give prizes to the best spearmen as soon as they reached the fort, and make them his own bodyguard. After the men had gathered into a crowd and squabbled noisily for several minutes, this offer had the desired effect. They allowed themselves to be formed into a line, which, however, all John's efforts could not prevent from gradually assuming a crescent shape. Then, one by one, after several failures to make them act in turn, they threw their spears at the word of command. In this way, Challis selected the twenty men whose cast was the longest and straightest, and they immediately rushed across to the spectators to proclaim their merits. By this time Challis was very tired. "Drilling my platoon in the O.T.C. was nothing to this," he said to himself. "How in the world can I make anything of them in a fortnight?"