weakness, and at
those of them who still lived the pursuers were firing. One woman, who
had fallen under the weight of the great slave-stick which was fastened
about her throat, was crawling forward on her hands and knees. An Arab
fired at her and the bullet struck the ground under her stomach but
without hurting her, for she wriggled forward more quickly. I was sure
that he would shoot again, and watched. Presently, for by now the light
was good, I saw him, a tall fellow in a white robe, step from behind the
shelter of a banana-tree about a hundred and fifty yards away, and take
a careful aim at the woman. But I too took aim and--well, I am not bad
at this kind of snap-shooting when I try. That Arab's gun never went
off. Only he went up two feet or more into the air and fell backwards,
shot through the head which was the part of his person that I had
covered.

The hunters uttered a low "_Ow!_" of approval, while Stephen, in a sort
of ecstasy, exclaimed:

"Oh! what a heavenly shot!"

"Not bad, but I shouldn't have fired it," I answered, "for they haven't
attacked us yet. It is a kind of declaration of war, and," I added, as
Stephen's sun-helmet leapt from his head, "there's the answer. Down, all
of you, and fire through the loopholes."

Then the fight began. Except for its grand finale it wasn't really
much of a fight when compared with one or two we had afterwards on this
expedition. But, on the other hand, its character was extremely awkward
for us. The Arabs made one rush at the beginning, shouting on Allah as
they came. But though they were plucky villains they did not repeat that
experiment. Either by good luck or good management Stephen knocked
over two of them with his double-barrelled rifle, and I also emptied
my large-bore breech-loader--the first I ever owned--among them, not
without results, while the hunters made a hit or two.

After this the Arabs took cover, getting behind trees and, as I had
feared, hiding in the reeds on the banks of the stream. Thence they
harassed us a great deal, for amongst them were some very decent shots.
Indeed, had we not taken the precaution of lining the thorn fence with a
thick bank of earth and sods, we should have fared badly. As it was, one
of the hunters was killed, the bullet passing through the loophole
and striking him in the throat as he was about to fire, while the
unfortunate bearers who were on rather higher ground, suffered a good
deal, two of them being disp