You
will take a hundred of the Bada-Mawidi and put them in the rocks round
the Forza camp. Let them fire a few shots but do no great damage, lest
this man Holm dare not leave. If I know the man at all, he will only
hurry the quicker when he hears word of trouble, for he has no stomach
for danger, if he can get out of it creditably. So he will come down
here to-morrow with a tale of the Bada-Mawidi in arms, and find no men
in the place to speak of, except these two strangers. I will have
already warned them of this intended rising, and if, as I believe, they
serve the Government, they will let no grass grow below their feet till
they get to Forza. Then on the day after let your tribesmen attack the
place, not so as to take it, but so as to make a good show of fight and
keep the garrison employed. This will keep these young men quiet; they
will think that all rumours they may have heard culminate in this rising
of yours, and they will be content, and satisfied that they have done
their duty. Then, the day after, while they are idling at Forza, we
will slip through the passes, and after that there will be no need for
ruses."
The chief rose and pulled himself up to his full height. "After that,"
he said, "there will be work for men. God! We shall harry the valleys
as our forefathers harried them, and we shall suck the juicy plains dry.
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