But on his arrival he found one of the Hausas groaning with pain, supported by his two comrades. They pointed to a gash in the man's thigh. "Bring him along," said Royce to Kulana, deferring questions until he had rendered first-aid. They carried the man to Royce's room. Royce took some lint from his medical stores, soaked it in water, and tied it tightly over the wound. He saw at once that the injury was not serious, and the cut, being clean, would heal in a few days. "Now, how did it happen?" he asked. The negro told Kulana that he had suddenly seen beside him a stranger, a man of immense size, very fierce-looking, with two long scars on each cheek. He had given a shout of alarm and rushed at the man, who was moving stealthily towards the well-yard. At the shout the stranger turned, dug his knife savagely into the Hausa's side, and rushed away. Royce wished that he had questioned the man before. It would be hopeless to search for the intruder now. From the description, he had no doubt that it was Goruba, who had entered the fort for the second time in some mysterious way. Royce was staggered. How had the man contrived again to get in unperceived? What sentries could cope with him? What could be his object in coming alone into the fort? Why was he running such risks in venturing unsupported among a garrison whom he knew to be well-armed and watchful? "I must solve this mystery," Royce said to himself. "The men are scared out of their wits, and if this sort of thing is to happen their courage will melt away. There must be a secret entrance somewhere. To-morrow I'll search the place thoroughly again, though, upon my word, we have been through it so often that I can't for the life of me conceive where the rat's hole can be." He gave the wounded man a sleeping-draught, did his best to calm the fears of the rest, and remained on guard all night, in case another alarm should create a panic. CHAPTER XXI A BLOW FOR LIBERTY Challis grudged every day spent in training, lest the fort should be stormed by the Tubus before he had come to the relief. But he saw clearly that only by training his little army would he have the slightest chance of effecting a diversion in favour of the beleaguered garrison. The odds, in any case, were enormously against him. But at the end of the fifth day he had unexpected encouragement. About nightfall, just as John was lighting the bonfires, he caught sight of a crowd of armed negroes rounding a hillock some distance away. "Bad fellas coming, sah!" he shouted excitedly. Challis blew a whistle he had shaped out of a piece of wood, and his eighty men came pouring out of the cave, and formed up in something resembling the line which he had been at such pains to teach. They howled with disappointment at not receiving the order to attack at once. Challis got the chief to send one of his men forward to hail the strangers and ask the meaning of their coming.