t. Nobody guards the water-front; I don't know why, unless
it is that the gate on that side is kept locked almost always and the
wall runs along the water's edge."

"As a matter of fact," said I, "those two sentries on the wall will be
too busy staring at the fire, if the Greeks really make a big one, to
see anything else unless we march by under their noses with a brass
band."

"Bah!" sneered Lady Waldon. "If I get that rifle I would dare shoot
them both for you myself!"

"If you overstep one detail of Will's plan, I guarantee to put you
ashore on the first barren island we come to!" said Fred. "Leave
shooting to us!"

The next problem was to draw away from the Greeks the attention of the
askari at the cross-roads. We could not see him, for it was one of
those black African nights when the stars look like tiny pin-pricks and
there are no shadows because all is dark. To go out and look what he
was doing would have been to arouse his suspicion. Yet there was
always a chance that he might be patrolling down near the Greek camp;
doubtless acting on orders, he had a trick of approaching their tents
very closely once in a while.

So when Lady Waldon had slipped out into the darkness we lit half a
dozen lamps and started a concert, Fred playing and we singing the sort
of tunes that black men love. He took the bait, hook, sinker, and all;
in the silence at the end of the first song we heard his butt ground
on the gravel just beyond the cactus hedge in front of us; and there
he stayed, we entertaining him for an hour. By that time we were quite
sure that Lady Waldon had passed along the road behind him; so Fred
went out and gave him tobacco.

"It's time you went and looked at those Greeks again!" he advised him.
"You would be in trouble if they slipped away in the night!"

Now that a plan of campaign was finally decided on, there seemed much
less to do than we had feared. Mapping out in our minds the way round
the back of the hill to the dhow was perfectly simple; we went and
smoked on the hilltop, and within an hour after breakfast had every
turn and twist memorized. Fred drew a chart of the track for safety's
sake.

Persuading Brown of Lumbwa proved unexpectedly to be much the most
difficult task. Added to the fact that the askaris who marched behind
and the Greeks who marched in front were unusually inquisitive, Brown
himself was afraid.

"We'll all be shot in the dark!" he objected.

"Would you rath