atched outright and four wounded. After this
I made the rest of them lie flat on the ground close against the fence,
in such a fashion that we could fire over their bodies.

Soon it became evident that there were more of these Arabs than we had
thought, for quite fifty of them were firing from different places.
Moreover, by slow degrees they were advancing with the evident object
of outflanking us and gaining the high ground behind. Some of them, of
course, we stopped as they rushed from cover to cover, but this kind of
shooting was as difficult as that at bolting rabbits across a woodland
ride, and to be honest, I must say that I alone was much good at the
game, for here my quick eye and long practice told.

Within an hour the position had grown very serious indeed, so much so
that we found it necessary to consider what should be done. I pointed
out that with our small number a charge against the scattered riflemen,
who were gradually surrounding us, would be worse than useless, while
it was almost hopeless to expect to hold the _boma_ till nightfall.
Once the Arabs got behind us, they could rake us from the higher ground.
Indeed, for the last half-hour we had directed all our efforts to
preventing them from passing this _boma_, which, fortunately, the stream
on the one side and a stretch of quite open land on the other made it
very difficult for them to do without more loss than they cared to face.

"I fear there is only one thing for it," I said at length, during
a pause in the attack while the Arabs were either taking counsel or
waiting for more ammunition, "to abandon the camp and everything and
bolt up the hill. As those fellows must be tired and we are all good
runners, we may save our lives in that way."

"How about the wounded," asked Stephen, "and the slave-woman and child?"

"I don't know," I answered, looking down.

Of course I did know very well, but here, in an acute form, arose the
ancient question: Were we to perish for the sake of certain individuals
in whom we had no great interest and whom we could not save by remaining
with them? If we stayed where we were our end seemed fairly certain,
whereas if we ran for it, we had a good chance of escape. But this
involved the desertion of several injured bearers and a woman and
child whom we had picked up starving, all of whom would certainly be
massacred, save perhaps the woman and child.

As these reflections flitted through my brain I remembered that a