It was just then that I missed Hans and asked where he had gone.
Somebody said that he thought he had seen him running away, whereon
Mavovo, who was growing excited, called out:
"Ah! Spotted Snake has sought his hole. Snakes hiss, but they do not
charge."
"No, but sometimes they bite," I answered, for I could not believe
that Hans had showed the white feather. However, he was gone and
clearly we were in no state to send to look for him.
Now our hope was that the slavers, flushed with victory, would advance
across the open ground of the market-place, which we could sweep with
our fire from our position on the ridge. This, indeed, they began to
do, whereon, without orders, the Mazitu to whom we had given the guns,
to my fury and dismay, commenced to blaze away at a range of about
four hundred yards, and after a good deal of firing managed to kill or
wound two or three men. Then the Arabs, seeing their danger, retreated
and, after a pause, renewed their advance in two bodies. This time,
however, they followed the streets of huts that were built thickly
between the outer palisade of the town and the market-place, which, as
it had been designed to hold cattle in time of need, was also
surrounded with a wooden fence strong enough to resist the rush of
horned beasts.
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