them too, and
immediately he managed to give the information to our companions, when,
somewhat to my amusement, a loud chorus of snores ascended from all
parts of the camp. "Dat good," he whispered to me; "dey t'ink we all
sleepy. Now, see!"

As he spoke, we could distinguish several black figures crawling on the
ground close up to the fort. They stopped and listened, then rising to
their feet, ran back to their companions, who yet, we supposed, remained
concealed in the neighbouring bushes and long grass. Fearing, probably,
that the snoring garrison might awake, the whole array of blacks now
advanced, crouching down close to the ground, and had we not been
watching for them, they might easily have got close up without being
discovered. They advanced in a semicircle, closing gradually in on the
fort. We lay still as death. The dogs, I should have said, had been
muzzled, and stowed away under the waggon, where they remained quiet.
Closer and closer the blacks advanced. "Dey t'ink dey climb over and we
not know," whispered Timbo. "Now, see!"

We let the blacks get close to the palisades. They were touching them,
expecting without difficulty to climb over, when at a word from Stanley
up we all started, firing directly in their faces. The result was even
more satisfactory than we could have anticipated, for in an instant the
front ranks rushed away, knocking down those behind them in their
terror, when the whole army instantly took to flight. The two boys gave
vent to loud hurrahs, which were taken up by the rest of our party, when
Kate and Bella, who had not been told of what was likely to take place,
came rushing out of their tent to inquire what had occurred. We soon
found, however, that we were not to gain so easy a victory as we had
hoped. The blacks, recovering from their fright, and not acquainted
with the effects our firearms were able to produce at a distance, once
more assembled, and advanced bravely to the attack. We were
consequently compelled to give them a volley, but except from the rifles
of two or three of our best shots, very few of our bullets took effect.
Seeing that we were not to be taken by surprise, the enemy again
retired. We were in hopes that they had gone off altogether. To
ascertain whether this was the case, Timbo volunteered once more to go
out. He soon returned, saying that they had only retired under shelter,
and from the sounds he had heard, he suspected that they propos