Then I went to
inspect all the rifles and ammunition, which Hans had got out to be
checked and overhauled. It was at this moment that I heard a far-away
and unaccustomed sound, and asked Hans what he thought it was.
"A gun, Baas," he answered anxiously.
Well might he be anxious, for as we both knew, no one in the
neighbourhood had guns except ourselves, and all ours were accounted
for. It is true that we had promised to give the majority of those we
had taken from the slavers to Bausi when we went away, and that I had
been instructing some of his best soldiers in the use of them, but not
one of these had as yet been left in their possession.
I stepped to a gate in the fence and ordered the sentry there to run
to Bausi and Babemba and make report and inquiries, also to pray them
to summon all the soldiers, of whom, as it happened, there were at the
time not more than three hundred in the town. As perfect peace
prevailed, the rest, according to their custom, had been allowed to go
to their villages and attend to their crops.
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