The tent
was soon pitched and supper prepared, of fried plantains, rice,
a tin of sardines, and tea. Later on they had a cup of chocolate,
and turned in for the night.
In the morning they were awakened just at daybreak by great talking.
"Men come for baggage, sar," Ugly Tom said, putting his head in
the tent door.
"They have lost no time about it, Frank," Mr. Goodenough exclaimed.
"It was midday yesterday when the messenger left us. He had forty-five
miles to run, and could not have been in till pretty nearly eight
o'clock, and these men must have started at once."
There was no time lost. While the Houssas were pulling down and
packing up the tent Ostik prepared two bowls of chocolate with
biscuit soaked in it. By the time that this was eaten the carriers
had taken up their loads, and two minutes later the whole party
started almost at a trot. Ugly Tom soon explained the cause of
the haste. The army of Dahomey was, the evening before, but eight
miles from Abeokuta, and was expected to appear before the town by
midday, although, of course, it might be later, for the movements
of savage troops are uncertain in the extreme, depending entirely
upon the whims of their leader.
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