They saw nobody; from which Arcoll could deduce that his man had gone down the Berg into the forests.
Had the Basutos been any good at woodcraft we should have had better intelligence.

But living in a bare mountain country they are apt to find themselves puzzled in a forest.

The best men among the trackers were some renegades of 'Mpefu, who sent back word by a device known only to Arcoll that five Kaffirs were in the woods a mile north of Main Drift.

By this time it was after ten o'clock, and the moon was rising.
The five men separated soon after, and the reports became confused.
Then Laputa, as the biggest of the five, was located on the banks of the Great Letaba about two miles below Main Drift.
The question was as to his crossing.

Arcoll had assumed that he would swim the river and try to get over the road between Main Drift and Wesselsburg.