join our comrades in front."

When the black stoker looked again his master was gone, and with a sigh
and a shiver of apprehension he sat down beside the lamp, and waited
there in silence, for he and the Ashanti chief could not understand one
another. As for our hero, he crept forward till the shots on either
hand told him that he was amongst the men. Then he sought one of them
and whispered in his ear, with the result that the miner passed to left
and right, giving his comrades the message, with orders to pass it on.
It was wonderful with what intelligence these Ashantis carried out their
part of the work. They began to fall back slowly, firing at the flashes
of the enemy's rifles, till they were within fifty yards of the
stockade.

"Now begin to hold your fire," said Dick, and in a minute the shots
lessened. Another five minutes and the men were slinking back to the
stockade, while our hero raced to and fro, firing his rifle repeatedly,
so as to make the enemy think that the whole garrison was there. He
fired, in fact, till his weapon was almost too hot to hold, and actually
blistered his fingers. And then, when he judged that all must be clear
of the stockade, and at the crest by now, he threw down his rifle and
ran. Dashing into the stockade, he hardly paused as he snatched up the
lamp, and went on pellmell for the hut. Leaping the train of powder, he
ran to the far corner of the building, and knelt beside the "devil." A
jerk threw the lantern open, and in a second he had the candle in his
hand. There was no time for hesitation, and at once he held the flame
to the devil till it smoked and a few grains fizzled. But it did not
fire at once. A little more heat was required, for he had over-damped
the powder, and in his overstrung condition the extra time entailed in
providing that heat was maddening. At any time the enemy might suspect.
They might even then be within the stockade. He would then--Ah! It
had fired. The devil was well alight, throwing out its pungent fumes,
till they gripped Dick's throat. He could move. The act was
accomplished. The place was as good as fired.

He rose to his feet, stamped on the candle, and stole to the door. He
would have been out in the open in another second had not something
suddenly caused him to throw himself full length on the floor, where he
lay in deep shadow, while just in front of him a few feeble rays from
the spluttering devil passed through the door