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MANAGEMENT INFORMATION
SYSTEMS
Seventh Edition

INSTRUCTOR MANUAL
Chapter 2

Kenneth J. Sousa
Bryant University
Effy Oz
The Pennsylvania State University
Management Information Systems 7/e
Instructor’s Manual Chapter 2

Table of Contents
CHAPTER 2 – STRATEGIC USES OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS................................................... 2
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................ 2
CHAPTER CASE – KIMBALL’S RESTAURANT: USING INFORMATION STRATEGICALLY ............................... 2
WHY IS THIS CHAPTER IMPORTANT FOR THE STUDENTS? ......................................................................... 3
LECTURE NOTES ......................................................................................................................................... 3
TEACHING THOUGHTS ................................................................................................................................ 4
POINTS OF INTEREST................................................................................................................................... 6
WHY YOU SHOULD ............................................................................................................................. ....... 6
WEBSITES FOR LECTURES AND ASSIGNMENTS ........................................................................................... 6
KIMBALL’S REVISITED ............................................................................................................................... 6
What is Your Advice? ............................................................................................................................ 6
New Perspectives .................................................................................................................................. 7
ANSWERS TO REVIEW QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................ . 8
ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ..................................................................................................... 10
ANSWERS TO THINKING ABOUT THE CASE QUESTIONS ............................................................................ 12
Finish Line Finishes First .................................................................................................................. . 12
Realizing the Goal Helps Reach Results ............................................................................................. 13

Revised: January 2014

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Management Information Systems 7/e
Instructor’s Manual Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 – STRATEGIC USES OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Chapter Objectives
The objectives of this chapter are:

Explain what business strategy and strategic moves are.

Illustrate how information systems can give businesses a competitive advantage.

Identify basic initiatives for gaining a competitive advantage.

Explain what makes an information system a strategic information system.

Identify fundamental requirements for developing strategic information systems.

Explain circumstances and initiatives that make one IT strategy succeed and another fail.

Chapter Case – Kimball’s Restaurant: Using Information Strategically

The chapter case begins as Kimball’s has completed their third year as a successful restaurant. The
owners have leveraged their experience, hard work and knowledge to steadily develop a loyal
clientele at the restaurant. The owners were approached by someone (Shaun Reilly) that owned a
campground facility, located in the same town as Kimball’s, which could be converted into a
restaurant facility with a great location overlooking a lake.

Originally, the campground building did operate a restaurant for the campers. Shaun believed
that the building’s other areas could be used to create a larger restaurant to house Kimball’s. It also
included a patio area which overlooked the lake. The owners were interested in the
possibility of expanding from their current location.

 Develop a discussion of what questions and thoughts would (should) the owners consider
before moving forward with the expansion. Strategic information can be gained through an
information system, if designed, developed and implemented properly.

 Discuss the importance of compiling a business plan. The plan will be developed
incrementally as more information is known, researched and analyzed. You may wish to
discuss the “waterfall” method of analyzing this new initiative.

 The owners analyzed this situation in a cautious, but methodical approach. In a similar
method to cooking a meal, discuss the advantages of planning, research and analyzing
various data and forecasts.

 The owners used the point of sales system information (implemented when they opened
the current location) to analyze sales and customer data. Discuss with the students as a
reminder of Chapter 1 where the owners did not have reliable and complete information

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Management Information Systems 7/e
Instructor’s Manual Chapter 2

from the previous owners before opening the restaurant. So their effort and resource
allocation into a POS system will help them evaluate this expansion more effectively.
Analyzing the expansion would be a) more risky and/or b) based on the same incomplete
or inaccurate information. Three years of historical data from the POS system would
clearly be a significant advantage (regardless of the decision) on the expansion analysis.

Why Is This Chapter Important for the Students?

The students should realize that ISs are not used merely for automating manual work, storing
data and information, or calculation. IT is now used by many companies to gain strategic
advantage. At the least, IT may have a strategic impact when new ISs are used, whether the
company intended it or not. The purpose of putting this chapter so early in the book is to emphasize
this point. It is important for students to now that as future business professionals they will need to
be proactive and agile about their management and decision making through the innovative use of
information technology. They should not expect the “techies” to provide them what they (the
“techies”) believe are the best ISs; rather, they, as professionals who know their business, should
initiate ISs for competitive advantage.

Lecture Notes
1. Note that the text uses “strategic advantage” and “competitive advantage” interchangeably. The
reason: In business, a strategic advantage almost always gives a business a competitive
advantage. A competitive advantage allows the business to improve its performance and maintain
a performance gap between it and other businesses. Competitive advantage is accomplished by
increasing market share, sales or profits as well as the reduction of operating expenses and
increasing organizational productivity. In addition, in the “age of the customer,”, a sustainable
competitive advantage can be gained by providing more value to current and potential customers.
2. When explaining strategic moves, you may want to clarify that competitive advantages are not
always gained by being the first to adopt a technology. There is a very fine line between an
organization being on the leading edge and what may prove being on the “bleeding” edge; the
first organization to adopt a technology may suffer because of the high cost of educating employees
and training them. This situation can occur because the technology may not deliver what its leaders
and developers promised. Indeed, many businesses wait until another organization (often in
the same industry) uses the technology for a while and adopt it only if it proves successful. Of
course, this is a risk, but one that many organizations are now willing to take. They can then adopt
the new technology and be the highly successful of its integration.
3. Students must recognize that the notion of strategy has its origin in warfare (while not trying to
make it sound like war). Indeed, businesses continually compete with other businesses for market
share and often the additional market share that they gain comes at the expense of other
businesses. However, business strategy is not only about achieving against another business, but
is also much about creating new services and products that expand or transform the market industry.
IT combined with ingenuity can produce new products and services. In other words, organizations
do not always operate in a zero sum game; a good strategy can create a new market. Thus, a market
is rarely fixed in size and IT can often be used to increase market size markedly.

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Another document from Scribd.com that is
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 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.

It turned out that they were the fighting men of a village about ten
miles off, nearly a hundred strong. The story of the killing of the lions had
reached them, with the addition of all sorts of wonderful details gathered
in its course through the countryside. They had heard rumours also of the
marvellous medicine which the white man was preparing for the Tubus,
and they desired to see these marvels for themselves.

Their chief and the elders of the village had desired to take the
cautious part and remain aloof; but their counsels had been overborne by
the younger men, who had insisted on marching out to see the white lion-
killer and medicine man.

It was an opportunity too good to let slip. In the ruddy light of the
bonfires, Challis put his men through their evolutions.

Spurred by the desire to impress the strangers, the men excelled

themselves. The result was that the newcomers clamoured to be allowed
to join the forces of the great medicine man, and Challis found himself
stronger by nearly a hundred vigorous, able-bodied young men.

The only drawback to this accession of strength was the necessity of

devoting more days to training. Challis was so anxious about the welfare
of Royce and his little party that he sent a scout next day to approach the
neighbourhood of the fort and discover whether the Tubus were still in
position there.

He set to work at once with the new men, selecting forty to join his
spearmen and making pikemen of the rest. These latter he posted as a rear
rank three feet behind the front rank, giving them spears three feet longer.

The new men picked up the simple drill quickly, having models in the
original company. But before Challis had time to perfect them, his work
was put to a sudden test.
 In the intervals of training his men, he had made a point of studying
the surrounding country with an eye to its suitability for attacking or
defensive operations.

The cave was situated in a hilly, rocky district, difficult for horsemen,
but well adapted for defence against a mounted force. The side from
which it could be most easily rushed was from the direction of the nullah
which had been the scene of his adventure with the lions.

A little below the spot at which this incident had taken place the nullah
disappeared. The stream which flowed through it in the rainy season ran
in a broad shallow channel, easily fordable, with a rocky hill on one side
and a practicable path along the dry margin of the bed of the stream.

About two miles from the cave the rocky ground on the right of the
stream ended in a swamp, formed by overflowings of a little river which
Challis had satisfied himself was identical with the stream that flowed
past the base of the hillock on which the fort stood. Into this river the
shallow stream emptied itself.

On the right, at the angle formed by the junction of the two streams,
there was a low-lying patch of dry land, triangular in shape—an island
inclosed by streams and the swamp. While this island was at the present
time dry, Challis had no doubt that it was submerged when the streams
were flooded by the rains.

Challis had considered the possibility of being attacked before he was

ready to move out towards the fort with his little army. He decided that
such an attack, if it occurred, would most likely be made from this
direction, the ground being more level and open than on any other side. It
was clear that the best point at which to meet the attack would be where
the swamp approached most closely to the steep hill on the left.

Including the shallow bed of the stream, about fifty feet wide, there
were altogether about a hundred and fifty feet of firm dry land between
the swamp and the hillside, except for the stream, now little more than a
yard across. Here his men could best make their stand.

Since his arrival at the cave, Challis had insisted on an elementary

precaution which it is the habit of negroes to neglect. Every morning at
dawn he had sent out scouts in a southward direction, to give notice if the
enemy approached. These men took sufficient food for the day, and
returned at nightfall.

He arranged that the line of scouts should extend for several miles
towards the enemy's country, each man posting himself within hailing
distance of the next. By this means he ensured that he should receive
warning within a few seconds of the sighting of the enemy by the
remotest man.

On the sixth day after his arrival he had reason to be glad of his
forethought. About noon the nearest scout ran in with the news that a
force of Tubus was approaching from the direction of the river.

A fact that somewhat surprised him was that their line of march would
bring them direct to the cave, not to the village whence the people had
migrated. It seemed as if they had information of what was going on. Was
it possible that there was a traitor in the camp?

With a little more experience of negro life he would have divined the
true explanation. The story of his doings had spread for many miles
around, gaining in magnitude with every repetition. Certain of the
neighbouring tribes purchased immunity from attack by spying for the
Tubus, and there was no doubt that some of these people had carried to
Goruba the report that a white man was making big medicine at the cave.

But it was not at all likely that Goruba had any idea who the white man
was, unless he had already stormed the fort and discovered that it
contained one white man instead of two. The probability was that he was
coming or had sent to test the truth of the story he had heard. The white
man might be a missionary, unlikely to trouble him.

Challis, it must be confessed, felt very nervous. His men were as yet
only partially trained; how would they behave if it came to a fight? Would
they forget all that he had tried to teach them, and either run away from
their dreaded enemy, or rush forward in their old disorderly manner, and
fall an easy prey? He looked forward to the test with doubt and misgiving.

But he let no sign of his thoughts escape him. Within three minutes of
the scout's arrival he had all his warriors ranged in double line.
 "John," he said, "you will bring them along and down the hill after me.
Be sure you do not let them break the line."

Then, jumping on his horse, he cantered along the bed of the nullah to
the point where he had already determined to make his stand. One of the
scouts ran beside him. On reaching the spot, he left his horse with the
scout and climbed the hill on the left to get a view of the enemy.

It was some time before he was able to distinguish them. When he first
caught sight of them they were picking their way very slowly and
cautiously along the bank of the river. They numbered, as nearly as he
could guess, about three hundred men—a force which, mounted, armed
with rifles, and used to warfare, represented terrible odds against fewer
than two hundred raw levies, on foot, and without firearms.

Small though their numbers were, however, and in spite of their

imperfect training, Challis had no reason to be dissatisfied with the spirit
of his men. Before he regained the bottom of the hill the whole of his
force were already on the spot, so closely and eagerly had they followed
in his footsteps. Their ranks were in better order than he had expected,
and he praised them warmly, hoping fervently that their morale would
stand the shock of the imminent conflict.

Losing no time, he drew them up in order of battle. With the swamp on

his right and the hill on his left, there was no necessity to protect his
flanks. Across the space between hill and swamp he placed a hundred of
his pikemen in two ranks of fifty each. He had still twenty pikemen—
these he posted in reserve ten yards behind the rear rank, to deal with any
horsemen who might break through. Of these John was placed in charge.

Of the sixty spearmen, who had six spears apiece, he arranged that
thirty should advance in front of the line of pikes, cast their spears, and
run back within the lines for shelter. The other thirty he posted in the
bushes fringing the hillside, with orders to remain hidden until the leading
ranks of the enemy had passed, and then to assail the rear ranks with a
fierce shower of spears.

And then, having placed his horse behind a tall bush, he stood, rifle in
hand, tense with anxiety, in the centre of the front rank of his expectant
men.
 If at that moment he could have been spirited away to England, he
would have been glad. He had no liking for the soldier's trade, but here he
was, here he must stand; if there was to be a fight, it was for liberty and
peace.

The enemy advanced slowly down the bed of the stream. Not until
their front ranks turned the corner of the hill did they become aware that
opposition awaited them. They then saw a line of men drawn across the
bed of the nullah on their right, with a white man in the centre.

They drew rein for a moment to take stock of the little force opposed
to them. Realising how small it was, they burst into mocking shouts and
charged. Challis had hoped for nothing better, knowing that spears were
no match for firearms.

He blew his whistle. Fifty more pikemen trooped out from the bushes
on the right, and formed a second line behind the first; twenty ranged
themselves in a third line. Then, before the jeering horsemen had covered
half the distance between the two forces, they saw themselves confronted
by a triple line of bristling pikes, a kind of obstacle to which they were
unaccustomed.

But they did not check their charge. Galloping on with furious shouts,
they were within a hundred yards of the pikemen when a flight of spears
from their left hurtled among their ranks. Carried on by their impetus, the
horsemen dashed upon the pikes outstretched across their front. In some
cases the riders, in others the unfortunate horses, were the victims.

Some penetrated the first line and the second, only to find still a third
awaiting them. Meanwhile their comrades in the rear had been assailed by
another shower of spears, and, led by Challis, the pikemen whose
weapons had not been broken by the charge pressed forward on the now
wavering ranks.

Then the thirty spearmen on the hill came into action, darting out upon
the rear of the Tubus, hurling their spears, and following up with a charge.
Assailed in front, flank, and rear, the Tubus lost heart, pulled their horses
round, and galloped away in the only open direction, towards the stream.

Crowding one upon another in their haste, many of them urged their
horses on to the swamp, unaware of its treacherous surface until the
animals began to sink. Then the men sprang from the saddles in fright,
abandoned horses, arms, food, and rushed headlong away, to escape the
spears of their pursuers.

It was just at the moment when the flight began that the victors
temporarily lost their leader. As one of the Tubus was wheeling his horse,
he dealt a sweeping cut with his scimitar at the pikeman standing next to
Challis in the line. Challis threw up his rifle and intercepted the blow,
which drove a deep dent into the barrel. The force of the impact caused
him to stagger against the horse's flank; he was thrown to the ground, and
the horse, galloping off, dealt him a kick with one of its hind hoofs. His
pith helmet was flattened on his head. It saved his life, but he lay stunned
where he fell.

When he came to himself, he found John bending over him, with a

score of the negroes in a silent, anxious group behind.

"Where are they?" were his first words.

The negroes shouted with joy when they saw that the man who had
taught them "medicine" was still alive. John pointed to the swamp.

"Ober dere, sah," he said. "Bad fellas all gone smash."

Challis raised himself on his elbow. He saw struggling horses,

dismounted Tubus, some fleeing over strips of firm ground, others
plunging deeper into the morass, with the victorious negroes swarming
around them.

"Enough!" cried Challis, anxious to avoid slaughter now that his object
was achieved.

He blew a shrill blast on his whistle. Most of the men turned and came
hastening towards him.

"Bring off the rest, John," he said. "They are not to fight any more. Get
ropes and save the wretches who are sinking in the bog."

The fighting ceased. Some of the negroes took ropes, hurled them
towards the struggling Tubus, and hauled them to dry land. The prisoners
expected to be butchered, the rescuers to be ordered to slay them. Both
were equally surprised when John, at Challis's command, shouted that the
Tubus were to be spared. The negroes could not understand why mercy
should be shown to a merciless enemy, but Challis saw gladly that they
obeyed him.

"Take them near the cave, and set a guard over them," he said. "We
will teach them another sort of medicine."

Rising painfully, he surveyed the field. Some sixty Tubus would hunt
no more slaves, burn no more villages. Many horses had been captured,
together with swords, firearms of various kinds, and ammunition. The
victory had been won at small cost.

Challis ordered that the wounded Tubus should be treated exactly like
those of his own force. Then, feeling sick and dizzy, but proud of his men,
and rejoicing in the success of his first blow for liberty, he went back to
the cave, amid lusty shouts from the warriors and shrill cries from the
women and children.

CHAPTER XXII

THE DISCOVERY OF RABEH'S HOARD

Royce spent several hours of the night of his discovery of Goruba's

second entry in cudgelling his brains over his new problem.

Twice had Goruba made his way into the fort; twice had he escaped.
Yet on neither occasion had anyone seen him on the ramparts, nor had
anyone seen him in the interior except Challis and the man who had now
been wounded.

What puzzled Royce almost as much as the secret of Goruba's means

of entry and of exit was the fact that he seemed to make no use of it.
Being able to get in and out without being observed, why did he not make
use of his power, and lead his followers into the fort?

"I wish Tom were here!" thought Royce. "I feel like Robinson Crusoe
before he had Friday to talk to. John is the only Hausa at all equal to
Friday. I almost wish they had not gone."

Next morning he set the men again to work on the ditch, and went
through the fort from corner to corner, searching for some secret passage.
The gaps in the walls had all been filled up. The stone slabs of the floor
all seemed to be solid; none of them gave forth a hollow sound when he
stamped on them. At the bottom of the well the spring bubbled constantly,
the overflow passing away through a narrow slit through which a rabbit
could hardly have crawled.

"It beats me altogether," he said to himself after his thorough survey.

He walked round inside the wall to see how the men were getting on
with the ditch, and came to the foot or two of brickwork which had been
uncovered.

"I wonder!" he exclaimed, as a sudden thought struck him. "Gambaru,

fetch me the spade."

When the man returned, Royce began to dig away the earth on each
side of the brickwork, which was itself too hard and to firmly imbedded
to be cut into or prised up by the only tools he possessed.

He found, after some little time, that the brick-work was about four
feet wide and very deep, and that it extended inwards. Dropping the
spade, he walked into the fort in the same straight line as the brickwork.

"This may be the clue," he thought with some excitement. "At any rate,
I must see."

The direction of his walk led him straight to the well.

"A false scent," he said to himself, more puzzled than ever.

He went back to the ditch, to make sure that he had not been mistaken
in his course. No; there was no doubt, about it; he felt sure that if he
uncovered the brickwork completely it would end at or near the wall of
the well.

Just as he was beginning to dig again, another idea occurred to him.

 "It would take me a couple of hours to clear all the earth away," he
thought. "Perhaps it would be waste labour. I'll have another look at the
well."

He returned, Gambaru following, much puzzled at his master's strange

proceedings.

Standing on the brink, he peered down into the well, which was wide
and fairly light. He had seen nothing extraordinary about it when he
supervised the clearing out of the rubbish; there was nothing
extraordinary about it now.

In the walls there were rusty iron staples, intended as footholds, and so
used by the men. He descended, examining the walls and the staples;
there was nothing strange about them.

"The brickwork is just about six feet below the surface," he thought.
"I'll measure the same distance here."

At a little more than his own height below the ground he scrutinised
the masonry carefully. There were slight clefts where the separate stones
met, but nothing unusual in their appearance. He pushed and strained at
the stonework, without effect.

Then he noticed, just within arm's reach to his right, a staple quite out
of line with the rest. It seemed to have been fixed in the wall without
purpose. Leaning over, he pulled at it, at first cautiously, then more and
more vigorously.
 GAMBARU IS AMAZED

Suddenly he felt a shock of surprise. Was the staple moving, or was he

himself? He planted his foot firmly on the staple on which he was
standing, and still pulled. There was no doubt about it; he was slowly
swinging round. The huge slab of stone against which he was supporting
himself had moved inwards on his right, outwards on his left, and he was
turning with it.

Now thoroughly excited, he tugged steadily, and in a few moments

found himself looking into a dark aperture in the wall.

"Eureka!" he exclaimed joyfully, and Gambaru, leaning over the brink

of the well above, gasped with terrified amazement as he saw his master
disappearing.

"A candle!" shouted Royce.

The Hausa sprinted away, and returned with the whole garrison at his
heels.

"Back to your places, you idiots!" cried Royce. "Kulana, keep them at
their posts. Give me the candle, Gambaru."

Holding the lighted candle, he stepped from the staple into a low dark
passage, and groped his way stoopingly along it. For some forty or fifty
yards it was narrow; then all at once it opened into a huge natural cavern,
warm and stuffy, with an earthy smell.

Royce looked about him and gasped with astonishment. The

candlelight fell on an enormous store of elephants' tusks, huge and
massive objects ranged in close-packed rows, and filling nearly three
parts of the cavern.

"My word! What a find!" Royce exclaimed.

He began to count the tusks, came to a hundred, and gave it up.

"Five hundred, at a guess," he thought. "They must be worth a fortune.

No wonder Mr. Goruba wanted to strangle me! ... What's that yonder?"

He went farther into the cavern. Beyond the tusks lay an assortment of
many things—ivory cups, vessels of gold, an old French musket, swords,
scimitars, a kepi or two, a French officer's sash, some cartridge cases,
several native spades and pickaxes—and, at the far end, objects which
caused him to recoil. They were human skeletons.
 At this gruesome sight Royce felt that he had had enough for the
moment. The air was stifling, rendered still worse by the smoky candle.
He retraced his steps, stood firmly on the staple in the slab, and this time
pushing at the other staple, caused the stone to revolve on its pivot and set
flush with the wall.

"What does it all mean?" he thought, as he sat in his room above,

eating the frugal dinner which Kulana brought him.

He remembered what the old chief had told him about Goruba—that
he had been lieutenant of Rabeh, the extraordinary negro who had risen
from the position of a slave to the lordship of a great territory in the
Sahara, tyrannised over the natives, and long defied the efforts of the
French to put him down.

Was this secret hoard of wealth Rabeh's? Had he stored it in this

cavern in the side of the hill, hoping some day, when he had defeated the
French, to dispose of it?

"That must be the explanation," Royce concluded. "I don't know

anything about the ivory trade, but those tusks must be of immense value,
and must have represented a vast fortune even to a potentate like Rabeh. I
suppose he let Goruba into the secret. When he was killed and his empire
broken up, Goruba was for years a fugitive, the old man said. But he was
ambitious, like his master. He always meant to get hold of this treasure.
What Rabeh had done, he thought he could do. No doubt he joined the
Tubus because their country is near this fort, and has gradually made
himself a power with them. That's why he comes on his lonely visits—to
see that Rabeh's hoard is safe. I don't suppose the Tubus know anything
about it. It wouldn't suit his plans to inform them until he has made
himself their absolute master."

Then his thoughts turned in another direction.

"How many villages were sacked, how many thousands of poor

wretches were killed or enslaved in the gathering of this hoard? And
Goruba is like his master in that, too—he is the same blood-thirsty tyrant
and oppressor. But, please God, Tom will give him a shake.

"Ah! those skeletons—how did they come there?"

 He pondered for a time without arriving at a conclusion.

"I see!" he said to himself at last. "They are the skeletons of the poor
slaves who dug the passage Rabeh killed them to preserve his secret.
Horrible! ... But I haven't discovered everything yet. Where is the
entrance at the other end, by which Goruba reaches the cavern? I must go
again—but not to-day. I can't face those skeletons again to-day; to-
morrow, perhaps."

CHAPTER XXIII

GORUBA IS CAUGHT

On the morning after his discovery of Rabeh's hoard, Royce made a

second visit to the cave to search for the exit which he felt sure must lead
to the outer air.

Carrying a lighted candle, he walked slowly round the walls,

examining them carefully. They appeared to be in their natural state—
rough, irregular, knobby, but with no hole or gap large enough to admit a
man.

Then he tried the floor. It consisted of slabs of stone. He tapped them

here and there, but they gave no hollow ring; apparently they were solid.
The ivory tusks were ranged in such orderly rows that it seemed hardly
likely the entrance was beneath them.

Puzzling over what to do next, he suddenly thought of testing the place

with the candle flame. If there were an opening, there must be a current of
air. He returned to the slab in the wall of the well and closed it as tightly
as was possible from the inside; then placed the candle at several spots on
the floor of the cave, one after another, and, retiring to a distance,
watched the flame for signs of flickering.

But he had no success; the flame only flickered in the current caused
by his own movements.
 "Where can the entrance be?" he said to himself. "The air is stuffy, but
not foul. I'll try the passage."

He tapped the wall on each side; no sound rewarded him. Then he

placed the candle on the floor near the threshold of the cave, and
ejaculated "Got it!" when he saw the flame flicker gently. Hastening to
the spot, he knelt down and passed his hand slowly over the slabs, and felt
a distinct though slight draught at the seam between two of them.

He pushed at each of the slabs. They did not move. He got up, and
jumped on them as forcibly as the low roof allowed, still without effect.
Then, lifting the candle, he examined the walls.

At his left hand, near the roof, was a single staple, like those in the
wall of the well. It could not be intended for climbing—what, then, was
the use of it? Standing under it, he grasped it and pulled. It did not yield.
Then he pushed, more and more forcibly. The staple did not move, but he
fancied that the slab on which he was standing sank a little.

Looking down, he saw, just below the floor, a narrow jutting ledge of
rock. With his left foot on this, he pushed at the slab with his right, still
shoving at the staple with his hand. The stone began to revolve, slowly,
with a slight grinding sound. Presently it stood upright in the middle of
the passage, and moved no more.

Royce now saw beneath him half a dozen steep steps leading down
into gloom. He descended carefully, lighting his way with the candle, and
found himself in a passage, narrower than the upper one, but much cooler
and less stuffy. From the direction of the cave there was a steady draught.

Moving against it, Royce, after about fifty paces, caught sight of a
glint of light ahead. He pressed on eagerly, and discovered that the
passage ended in an opening roughly circular in shape, about a yard in
diameter. Passing on, he came out into a tangle of brushwood through
which he saw trees. He forced his way forward, and stood in a clump of
woodland. There was nobody to be seen, no sound. He stole cautiously
among the trees until he came to the edge of the clump. It looked over
open country. Glancing round, taking care to keep hidden from
observation, he saw at last the fort, on the hill about two hundred yards
away.
 "This must be the clump we noticed," he thought. "Now I understand
why Goruba has not used it for cover in attacking us. He doesn't want any
of his men to discover the secret entrance to his hoard. Of course, with the
slab down they couldn't find the hoard itself, but evidently he doesn't
mean to be bothered with inconvenient questions. Well, Mr. Goruba, I
have caught you out. I only wish I could catch you."

Royce made his way back quickly, feeling that he was perhaps risking
a good deal in leaving the men so long. He carefully replaced the two
slabs, ascended the wall of the well, much to Kulana's relief, and, having
assured himself that the garrison were at their posts and that the enemy
had made no move, he sat down to devise a trap for Goruba.

"I suppose the fellow will come again," he thought. "Why does he
come at all? A visit to the cave and no farther would prove that his
treasure is safe. I suppose his idea in penetrating right into the fort is to
spy, perhaps to frighten the men into deserting me. I mean to stop your
little game, my man."

His first notion was to place a couple of sentries in the cave, to catch
Goruba on his next appearance. In the darkness the giant would not see
them. But he soon gave that up. It would probably be better not to let the
men know anything about the cave for the present. Besides, he could not
tell when Goruba would pay his next visit, and the superstitious negroes
would never endure a long wait in the dark.

After long puzzling, Royce hit on a plan that seemed likely to be

successful. He attached a thin cord to the slab in the well, at a point where
it would not be seen in the semi-darkness by any one entering from the
passage.

Carrying the cord round the well, he passed it through hooks of his
own devising—nails driven into the brickwork and bent almost double.
At the top he fastened similar hooks to the wall of the well-yard, near the
floor, drew the cord through them, and finally tied it to the topmost of a
short column of empty meat tins in his own room.

When this was done, he went down to the well again, turned the slab
gently on its axis, and in a moment or two heard a slight clatter as the tins
were overturned.
 "I call that a stroke of genius," he said to himself. "The question is,
will the sound scare Goruba away? He is bound to hear it, though it is not
so loud as I expected. But, after all, there is nothing to make him connect
the sound with his own movements, so I fancy there will be a little
surprise in store for him."

At dusk that evening he sat in his room, watching the pile of tins, and
waiting eagerly for the alarm signal. But it did not come. All night he
remained awake, unable to sleep from excitement. Not a sound broke the
stillness.

Next evening he took up his post at the same time. Tired and sleepy, he
was just falling into a doze when the tins fell with a crash that made him
jump.

Pulling off his boots, he slipped very quietly into the well-yard and
stooped below the top of the wall. He knew that he was in plenty of time,
for the intruder was sure to move slowly and with caution.

With his electric torch in his left hand and his revolver in his right, he
passed round to the side of the well opposite to where the staples were
placed. In a few seconds he heard a slight rustle; the man was climbing
over the coping of the well. He saw his form, a huge black shape against
the dark blue sky.

The man stood listening for a moment, then crept towards the doorway
leading to Royce's quarters. Royce stole on tiptoe after him, and just as he
reached the opening pressed the button of the torch. The negro turned
instantly, and the bright ray from the torch flashed upon the startled eyes
of Goruba.

Royce had expected astonishment, even dismay. He was not prepared

for the extraordinary readiness, decision, presence of mind with which the
negro would act. Without an instant's hesitation, Goruba sprang at him
with uplifted knife. Royce fired, but either he missed or there was no
stopping power in the bullet, for in another fraction of a second he was
hurled back towards the well, narrowly escaping toppling over the coping
into its depths.

But if Royce missed, so did Goruba, dazzled, perhaps, by the light of

his torch. His knife crashed on the coping, and was shivered to pieces.
Next moment Royce found himself for the second time locked in the
giant's embrace.

Exerting all his strength, he strove to prevent the negro from hurling
him into the well. He shouted. Answering shouts came from the men. And
then he discovered, to his surprise, that Goruba was not so formidable an
antagonist as when they had first met. His grip was not so firm; all the
pressure came from his left arm.

Encouraged by this, Royce grappled him closely, tried a back-throw he

had learnt in jiu-jitsu, and had Goruba on his back as the Hausas, headed
by Kulana, came shouting into the yard.

Royce was only just in time to prevent them from plunging their
knives into the struggling negro. At his order, they tied him up with cords,
so tightly that he howled with pain.

"Loosen them!" cried Royce. "Don't hurt him."

Kulana stared.

"Him hurt massa," he protested. "Him fit for kill all same."

"No; that's not our way," said Royce firmly. "We've got him, and we'll
keep him safe. I hope this is the end of our troubles."

The Hausas, grumbling sullenly, carried Goruba into the passage next
to Royce's room, and laid him against the wall. It was then found that his
right wrist was sprained.

"He must have struck it against the wall when he missed me and
smashed his knife," thought Royce. "That accounts for his feebler grip."

To the further disgust of his men, he bound a wet rag tightly round
Goruba's wrist.

"Now for a good night's rest for once," he thought. "We shall not be
attacked to-night, at any rate."
 CHAPTER XXIV

A FIGHT WITH CROCODILES

In the afternoon after the fight with the Tubus, Challis was reclining on
a moss-covered rock near the cave—he could not endure the atmosphere
of that close-packed habitation.

He was thinking things over, wondering whether, after his first victory,
he dared lead his men towards the fort to encounter the main body of the
enemy under their redoubtable leader Goruba.

Suddenly he was aware of some excitement among the crowd of

natives just beyond the mouth of the cave. Could the Tubus be returning
to the attack?

He sprang up, intending to reassure himself on this point. But at this

moment John came running towards him, his broad face contorted by a
grin.

"What is it, John?" Challis asked.

To his surprise John burst into loud laughter, slapping his thighs,
bending his body, now and then pointing towards the swamp and
doubling with laughter again.

"Come, come, what is the joke?" asked Challis.

"Oh, my! Oh, dear! Oh my lawks!" spluttered the Hausa. "Ober dar,
sah, ober dar."

"Well? Stop laughing, and tell me about it."

John controlled himself with difficulty.

"Ober dar, sah, two bad fellas!" A guffaw. "Tubus, sah. Up a tree, sah."

"There's nothing very funny about that."

"No funny? Oh my lawks! Up a tree, sah—no come down. Boys frow

spears, sah. Berry funny, all same."
 "This won't do," thought Challis. "I suppose the Tubus got away, and
the men are trying to spear them instead of taking them prisoners. But it's
strange. There was plenty of time for them to escape altogether when I
called the men off. Why didn't they run away?" he asked.

"No can do, sah," replied John, laughing again. "Crocodiles wait for
dinner."

"Goodness!" Challis ejaculated. "Are there crocodiles in the swamp?"

"Oh yes, sah! fousand hundred," answered John. "Sah come and see.
Him laugh all same."

He preceded Challis towards the swamp, to which the whole

population of the cave were now flocking like children running to see a
Punch and Judy show.

Challis hurried on. Arriving at the edge of the swamp he saw, about
two hundred yards away, two Tubus crouched in the branches of a low
bushy tree, not five feet above the surface.

A number of the spearmen had gone forward as far as they dared on

the spongy ground, and were gleefully hurling their spears at the negroes.
The range was too long, however; the weapons fell short, and splashed
into the water.

And then Challis saw that for some distance around the tree the swamp
was almost like a lake. The water was evidently several feet deep. And
the terrified Tubus, clinging to the branches of the tree, were gazing with
horror at the snouts of half a dozen crocodiles which formed a half circle
projecting a few inches above the surface.

Challis was almost as much horrified as the Tubus themselves. He

knew the cunning and treacherous nature of the hideous beasts. He knew
that usually they came upon their prey by stealth. It was a surprise to him
to find that they were bold enough to attack men openly.

It was clear that the hapless negroes were hopelessly imprisoned. In

the tree they were safe, but they could not descend and attempt to swim
away without the certainty of falling victims. And the cave dwellers
crowding at the edge of the swamp laughed with delight at their enemies'
plight and, yelled with disappointment when the weapons of the spearmen
fell short.

"Stop that!" cried Challis to John. "Tell them I am very angry with
them for wasting their spears."

John shouted to the men, who shamefacedly drew back. They felt no
shame at trying to kill a helpless enemy, but dreaded the wrath of the
white medicine man.

"I must save the wretches," thought Challis. He meant to break the
power of the Tubus if he could, for the sake of all the natives of the
district; but he could not stand by and see two helpless men swallowed by
these slimy monsters.

It was clear that they could not save themselves. The hungry crocodile
is pertinacious; he will not leave his expected prey. Some time or other
the men would fall off the tree from sheer terror or weakness into the very
jaws of the reptiles.

Challis gazed across the swamp. The people, seeing that he did not
share their merriment, fell silent, and watched him curiously.

The swamp was covered in patches with aquaceous plants; there was
no other tree except that in which the negroes had taken refuge. It would
be useless to fire at the reptiles. Only the tips of their snouts were visible;
Challis could not be sure of hitting a vulnerable part. He tried a shot, but,
as he expected, it had no other effect than to startle the crocodiles for a
moment; the next, when the sound had died away, their snouts bobbed up
again.

On the hillside behind the cave there grew a few small trees.

"John," said Challis suddenly, "take some men up the hill, cut down a
dozen strong young trees, strip off the leaves, and bring the trunks here as
quickly as you can, with plenty of creepers."

John started off with a band of men. The rest, excited at the prospect of
seeing more big medicine, chattered noisily.

When the men returned, Challis set them to lash the saplings together
with the creepers to form a raft. In half an hour it was completed. At his
order they carried it to the verge of the yielding ground. The crowd,
having an inkling of his purpose, shouted with delight. The white man,
they thought, was going to bring back the Tubus to be slaughtered.

It was difficult to launch the raft from the soft boggy ground. The men
shrank from entering the water. John explained that crocodiles had been
known to snap up a man from the midst of a large party. To reassure them,
Challis ordered some of the spearmen to stand by, and watch for the
beasts while their comrades hauled the raft into the water.

When it was at last afloat, he wanted four men to paddle it. But when
John selected four strong fellows and told them what they were to do,
they yelled with fright, and fled back among the crowd.

"Well, we must do it ourselves," said Challis.

"All same, sah," said John.

But Challis noticed that he looked very uneasy. Only the desire to
"show off" before the people prevailed over his fear.

The two got upon the raft, and standing well in the centre, poled out
with saplings across the thick weedy water. Challis felt somewhat anxious
himself when he realised how frail and crazy was this rapidly made raft.
And they had only gone about fifty yards from the shore when he got
some notion of the nature of the adventure on which he had embarked.

Almost without a ripple on the surface a snout emerged from the water
a few yards ahead of them. In another moment a second and yet a third
appeared. Then more came on each side and behind. The swamp seemed
to be swarming with the reptiles.

Challis tried another shot. The snouts instantly disappeared, emerging

again, however, after a few seconds, at a little greater distance. Whether
Challis had killed one he did not know.

He was taking aim for a third shot when the raft, neglected by John,
intent on watching his master, lurched against a half submerged bank of
weed. Challis staggered, and in catching at John to steady himself,
dropped his rifle, which struck the side of the raft and fell into the water
with a big splash.
 "Never mind," said Challis, trying cheerfully to hide his annoyance.
"They can't get to us on the raft."

Coming into deeper water, they used the saplings as paddles. The
crocodiles kept at a greater distance, but they followed the raft, swimming
slowly and quite noiselessly after it as it crept towards the tree.

Challis felt the presence of this escort not a little disconcerting. He was
not scared, but uncomfortable. He thought of driving off the reptiles by
shouting; it was quite an effort to find his voice. When he shouted and
splashed with his paddle there was a momentary scattering and
disappearance of the snouts; but as soon as he left off, they came up
behind and around the raft again.

He was heartily glad when at last they reached the tree.

"Tell the Tubus to come down," he said to John.

The Hausa jabbered to the men in the tree; they neither moved nor
answered. He shouted to them again, still without effect.

"Plenty silly chaps," he said scornfully.

"Perhaps they think we shall kill them," said Challis. "Tell them we
have come to save them."

It required a great deal of eloquence on John's part before the negroes

were convinced that the white man wished to save, not to take their lives.
Even then they hesitated from fear of the crocodiles. To encourage them
John beat the water noisily with his paddle, all the time abusing them as
"silly chaps."

At last they lowered themselves cautiously from the branches and

stood clinging to each other in the centre of the raft. The crocodiles
hovering round seemed to be conscious that their prey was escaping them,
or, as Challis thought, felt that their dinner was assured, for they made a
sudden dash at the raft. Some of them got their snouts over the edge, and
while Challis and John belaboured them with their paddles, the Tubus fell
on their knees and crouched howling.

The crocodiles sank into the water, and Challis and his man began to
paddle shoreward with all their energy. But soon the reptiles, finding that
they were none the worse for their battering, the blows of the paddles
being but flicks on their tough hides, returned to the attack.

This time the danger was more serious. The slight raft rocked about
and dipped at the rear as Challis and John smote desperately with their
poles at the crocodiles, some of which had pushed their snouts and
forelegs over the edge. The Tubus, who might have maintained the
balance by going to the other end, cowered and howled in the middle.

Challis and his man had to withdraw from the edge in order to avoid
being capsized, and the reptiles scrambled farther on. John's pole snapped
on the back of the foremost, but he thrust the splintered end into the
monster's eye. At the same moment Challis plunged his pole down the
throat of another. The two strokes were almost too effective. The
crocodiles slid back into the water, and Challis had only just time to
spring forward and prevent the raft from overturning.

THE FIGHT WITH THE CROCODILES

There was a brief breathing space. The monsters had disappeared. But
the raft was stationary, and the poles were gone. It was impossible to
propel it farther except by paddling with their hands. They were
beginning to do this, Challis on one side, John on the other, when both
started back simultaneously as the hideous snouts once more rose above
the surface.

The scene had been watched with growing excitement by the crowd on
shore. Realising the peril of the situation, some of the men began to hurl
spears at the reptiles, which were again closing in behind the raft. This
was more dangerous to the men than to the crocodiles. One of the spears
fell on the raft. Challis snatched it up, telling John to order the men to
cease throwing.

Three more of the monsters were now scrambling up, and under their
pressure the raft moved towards the shore. Challis jabbed his spear at
their eyes and gaping mouths. He disposed of them one after another. But
his victory brought catastrophe. The third flopped off so suddenly that
before Challis could step forward the raft tipped up, and all four men
were thrown into the water.

The Tubus yelled, John shouted, the people on shore shrieked. Challis
felt that all was over. Against these reptiles in their own element he could
do nothing. He could only swim for it.

"Splash with your legs!" he cried to John, who, like the Tubus, was
already striking out vigorously for land, now only fifty yards away.

The spearmen, aghast at the plight of their white chief, forgot their
fears and dashed into the shallower water to save him, the crowd behind
them yelling frantically. The tremendous splash, the din and clamour
scared even the monsters. They sheered off and sank beneath the surface.

In a few moments Challis, slimy with weeds and green with ooze, was
dragged up by his jubilant followers. John and the Tubus scrambled on
shore unassisted. The crowd made a dash for the latter, but Challis sternly
called them off, ordering John to look after them as prisoners of war. And
then they all marched back to the cave, the people shouting and laughing
with joy, though Challis felt by no means like a conqueror.
 CHAPTER XXV

CHARGED BY RHINOCEROSES

On the day after the fight by the swamp, while Challis was exercising
his men, some of the boys whom he had turned into scouts ran in with the
news that a band of fifty or more armed negroes was approaching from
the south-west.

Challis hoped that he would not have to engage a new enemy. Giving
John orders to watch the newcomers, he went on with his work. By and
by, out of the tail of his eye, he saw John talking to a group of strangers,
who looked on at the drilling with the interest and curiosity of children.

It was plain that the newcomers were friends, and that John, with much
self-importance, was eloquently expounding the virtues of white man's
medicine.

When the drilling was over, John announced that the strangers had
heard in their village, several miles away, of the defeat of the Tubus, and
had come to see the white man who had punished them. He further
explained that the negroes wished to join the forces, and learn how to
march, advance, spin round, and use pikes like them.

While John was speaking, the scouts signalled the approach of a

smaller band. Shortly afterwards, to Challis's amazement, a third party
was announced.

It was a striking proof of the extraordinary rapidity with which news

spreads in the wilds of Africa. Before the day closed, two or three
hundred men had arrived from widely scattered villages, all eager to see
the white man, and to learn something of his magic.

They were armed for the most part with spears. Challis saw in them
the making of a very respectable army; but it was clear that, if Royce
were to be relieved, there would not be time to give them even the very
slight training of the earlier recruits. He did not, however, reject them.
They would help to make a good show, and might come in useful, if not
to achieve a victory, possibly to follow it up.
 Before the night was over he had reason to doubt the wisdom of his
decision. The new men belonged to different tribes, and were inclined to
quarrel among themselves. Challis ordered John to quarter the various
parties separately in the neighbourhood of the cave, hoping that by
keeping them apart he would prevent disturbance.

But a new trouble arose. One of the bands got up a war dance around
their camp fire, and worked themselves up to a fury of excitement. Then,
having learnt the whereabouts of the Tubu prisoners, they made a rush
towards them, and Challis was only just in time to prevent a wholesale
massacre.

The ringleader, who had fairly lost his head, threw a spear at the Tubus
in spite of Challis's stern command. It was clear that a lesson was needed.
Challis doubled his fists, and with two well-planted blows, left and right,
sent the man spinning.

"Tie him up," he said to John, "and keep a guard over him for the rest
of the night. To-morrow I shall send him back to his village. These people
must understand that they must do as they are told."

The fall of their leader sobered the rest of the band. They felt a great
respect for the white man's fists, and remained peaceful until morning
broke. Challis was sitting alone, waiting for John to bring his breakfast.
When the Hausa came up, he was followed by a group of the negroes,
looking anxious and sheepish.

"Silly fellas, sah," said John with a grin. "Dey say Umgabaloo berry
fine fella, sah. No want him to go back."

"Oh! He's sorry for himself, perhaps; wants me to forgive him."

"Dat's him, sah. Just a silly chap. No savvy good things like me; no
savvy sah knock him down."

Challis could not help smiling at John's notion of "good things." He

reflected. It was said that negroes respected nothing but force; that they
took forgiveness as a sign of weakness. Would it be wise to pardon this
Umgabaloo, who seemed popular with his friends?

"I'll risk it," he thought. "Bring Umgabaloo to me," he said.

 John fetched the negro, marched him up, and stood him before Challis,
keeping his hand on the man's neck. Umgabaloo looked very crestfallen.

"Tell him that he's no good to me unless he can do what he is told,"

said Challis.

John translated this with forcible additions.

"Tell him I'll let him off this time if he'll promise to obey," Challis
went on.

When John made this announcement, Umgabaloo's friends shouted,

and the man himself tried to move forward, but was brought up by John's
determined grip.

"Does he promise?" asked Challis.

"Him say, Sah him father and mother," said John, "do eberyfing what
Sah say."

"Very well; let him go."

Umgabaloo, released, threw himself at Challis's feet and poured out a

torrent of thanks and protestations.

"I wonder if I've done right," thought Challis, as he dismissed the man.

He had decided to make a start for the fort that day, while the
impression made on the enemy was fresh. At his orders, every man
loaded himself with four days' provisions from the ample stores in the
cave. Then he drew up in column the men whom he had already led to
victory, and the newcomers tried to arrange themselves in similar
formation behind, but were too much excited to be very successful.

Challis had now between three and four hundred men at his command.
They were still largely outnumbered by the Tubus; and what was of still
more consequence, they were not so well armed. In the recent encounter
he had been able to choose a good tactical position; such a chance was not
likely to occur again. No doubt, moreover, the Tubus, warned by their
defeat, would move more cautiously, and, being mounted, they would
take advantage of their mobility to fight on ground of their own choice.
 These considerations, and the desire to avoid bloodshed, influenced
Challis's plan. His object was to reach the neighbourhood of the fort
unobserved, to communicate with Royce, and if possible to secure a
peaceful withdrawal. He therefore decided not to follow either the route
by which he had come, or that taken by the Tubus when they made their
ill-fated attack.

As his orderly, John had distributed among the best of the men the
rifles and ammunition captured from the Tubus. But Challis commanded
them on no account to use these weapons without orders. No warning
must be given to any Tubus who might be scouting along the route.

All being ready, he went to the head of the column with a man who
knew the country well and would act as guide. Then the whole party set
off in a north-westerly direction, to skirt the swamp and cross the river
some distance to the west.

The first stage of the march was very difficult. The negro knew paths
across the swamp which a stranger could hardly have discovered, but
even so progress was slow and laborious. The men had to go in single
file, sometimes over boggy land close to the water's edge, keeping a wary
eye for crocodiles; sometimes through rushes as tall as their heads, from
the midst of which they disturbed game of all kinds, birds and beasts.

They had been some two or three hours on the march, and had got
round to the far side of the swamp, where the ground was drier and
firmer, when Challis saw the guide, some few yards ahead, suddenly halt
and make signs to him to be cautious.

Wondering if the Tubus were in sight, Challis halted the column,

ordering the men to be silent, and walked warily forward. When he came
up with the guide, the latter pointed to the path about a hundred yards in
front. And there Challis saw, not Tubus, but two enormous square-
mouthed rhinoceroses, lying in the mud right across the path.

At the moment he caught sight of them the great beasts scrambled to

their feet, turned their heads in his direction, and snorted. They had
evidently scented him.

Knowing that the rhinoceros is usually a timid and inoffensive

creature, living on herbs, and not a flesh-eater like the lion, Challis
expected the beasts to sheer off. But these animals, like other denizens of
the wilds, are sometimes driven into hostility and aggression by alarm.

There was a moment of suspense. Then the rhinoceroses raised their

blunt-horned heads, snorted again, and came at a lumbering charge
straight for the head of the column. The guide shouted and threw his
spear, which glanced off the tough hide of the first, then he uttered a yell
and bolted.

Challis had only an instant for making up his mind what to do. On one
side of the path was yielding bog, on the other was drier ground, dotted
with bushes. The path itself was blocked by the halted column. He dared
not use his rifle, for fear of giving warning to the enemy. The leading
rhinoceros was charging straight towards him. The only chance of safety
was to run.

He turned and sprinted across the open ground. The rhinoceros,

infuriated by the guide's spear, swerved off the path and followed him. Its
companion headed straight along the path.

In a few seconds Challis found that the beast, in spite of its size and
unwieldiness, was gaining upon him. He darted aside when it was close
behind him, expecting that it would continue in its half-blind charge. To
his alarm it struck off almost immediately in his direction.

There was no friendly tree in sight. The rhinoceros broke through the
bushes as if they were cobwebs. Challis dodged, first on one side, then on
the other, but the beast showed an alarming nimbleness. More than once
Challis escaped its formidable horn only by inches.
 THE RHINOCEROS IN PURSUIT

Running on in desperation he stumbled, and had given himself up for

lost when he was conscious of a diversion. A dark form, running with
extraordinary speed, dashed obliquely towards him, and buried a spear
deep in the animals' side. It turned savagely to deal with this new
assailant, who had darted off at an angle. For a few yards the rhinoceros
followed him, then it staggered, made a vain effort to recover itself, and
fell a huge heap upon the ground.

The negro rushed back, plucked out his spear, and driving it again into
the quivering beast dealt it a death-blow. Challis went up to him.
Umgabaloo fell on his knees.

"I was right," thought Challis, glowing with pleasure. "Any one who
says that the negro knows no gratitude lies."

Meanwhile the column had scattered far and wide to escape the second
rhinoceros, which had apparently taken fright at the number of men, and
had now disappeared. It was an hour before the negroes were collected
and the march resumed.