Tom’s first business was to examine his spoils of war. Besides a considerable quantity of maize and other foods intended for the askaris, there was a case containing coffee, condensed milk, tinned fruits, biscuits, and a few bottles of wine--articles which were very welcome additions to his private larder. Still more welcome were the boxes of ammunition. One small case held a couple of dozen metal objects whose use he did not know; but unscrewing the top of one of them he saw what he took to be combustible material of some kind, and confirmed his guess with a lighted match. These flares, he thought, might prove very useful in case of a night attack. A commander’s chief preoccupation, perhaps, is to divine the intentions of the enemy. What would the column from Bismarckburg do? Its officers had no doubt learnt within an hour or two what had happened to the eastern column, and it seemed probable that the disaster would have deranged their plans. In the course of the afternoon Tom received a message from the scout who had been stationed on the hill overlooking the enemy’s halting place. The man reported that a number of the askaris had climbed the hill on different sides, and he had withdrawn to the next post northward. Tom guessed that the German commander had suspected the presence on the hill of scouts who had given him away, and had wisely determined to get rid of them. The post having been thus abandoned, the enemy’s movements could not be known at the nullah until they had come within sight from the next post. That, however, was more than twenty miles away, and Tom expected to receive warning of their approach in ample time to prepare for them. He conjectured that they would make no move until they had replaced the supplies of which they had been deprived. He was not one to sit with folded hands, idly waiting. Next day, taking advantage of his largely increased stock of ammunition, he spent a good many hours in giving his men rifle practice. Owing to the nature of the position, firing, when the attack came, was likely to be at point blank range, so that it was unnecessary to instruct the mass of the natives in the mysteries of adjusting sights. But in view of the possibility of having to fall back up the nullah, he gave special instruction in long range firing to a score of the men who had had former experience with firearms.