`` of course , we would have the devil of a time going after them in there , to begin with , '' granby said that evening : they had climbed up to the summit of corcovado together under the cover of darkness , to spy upon the tswana in their nightly conclave : the dragons huddled in a circle with the tswana warriors and councilors forming an inner ring around a low fire : their shadows stretched away long like the spokes of a wheel .