“By Jove!” cried Compton; “look at the view.  Isn’t it splendid?”

“Well, it won’t vanish,” said Mr. Hume, “so we’ll have breakfast first.”

Further on along the ledge there was a little cascade, falling into a bath-like opening evidently, from the signs, of human construction, and here, in ice-cold water, they refreshed themselves.  After breakfast they were like new men.  The keen air put to flight the beginnings of malaria contracted in the noisome atmosphere of the dark water-course they had last travelled, and brought the sparkle into their eyes, and a smile to the lips.

“Now for the view—­for a good long look at the Garden of Rest.”

“Not yet.  We’ll first overhaul our rifles and stock of ammunition.  This is no picnic, you know.  We may be fighting for our lives to-morrow; so to work!”

Orders had to be obeyed, and the ammunition was sorted out—­ providing 150 rounds for the Express, 250 rounds each for the three carbines, and 175 rounds for the shot-gun.

“That is a short supply, boys.  We must be careful not to throw away a single shot; for, remember, we’ve got to go a long way before we reach safety, even after this business of Hassan’s is done.  We must try and do with fifty rounds apiece in this little affair.”

“Little affair!” muttered Venning, remembering the flotilla of canoes and the mob of fierce-looking cannibals.

“Big or little, we can’t afford to indulge in reckless firing.  One bullet, one man, is my motto.”

“But we cannot all shoot like you,” grumbled Venning.

“A matter of habit,” said the hunter, quietly.  “All you have to do is to get the advantage of position, and then it is no merit to shoot straight.  Drop three men out of a hundred, and you will stop the remainder; drop thirty out of a thousand, and the same thing happens.  If there are only a hundred, and you have the upper ground, let them come within two hundred yards; if the enemy is in great numbers, open at five hundred yards; and anywhere down to fifty yards according to his dwindling strength.  Shoot straight every time, and the plan answers like clockwork.”

“Have you tried it?”

“Many times, but only in self-defence.  Now we’ll just examine our position, for it is always good to have open a line of retreat.”

They walked along the ledge to the mouth of the gorge up which they had ascended, saw that the ledge ended there, then retraced their steps past the cave and the bath to a spot where a break in the ledge opened up a way down into the valley.

“Just take note of that path,” said the hunter, “and follow it down.”

“What a beautiful spot!” said Compton.

“It does the eyes good to look on it,” said Venning, enthusiastically.  “See how the sun shines on the broad leaves—­ banana-leaves, I think—­bordering the silver stream.”

“Never mind the silver stream,” broke in Mr. Hume, testily.  “Fix your attention on this path.  Get it into your mind.  See how it drops down to that solitary palm.”