A couple of well-directed shots settled their accounts; but the mulatto, in rushing to Ellerton"s a.s.sistance, failed to notice that the edge of the cliff above him swarmed with natives.
Even as he bent over the bodies of Ellerton and his a.s.sailants, a spear thrown with terrible force struck him in the back. Hardly knowing what hurt him, the mulatto sprang to his feet, and with his dying strength discharged his revolver at one of the blacks who was descending the rope, ere he fell across the bodies of the victims of his first two shots.
This episode had caused the crowd of savages, who had previously been congregating immediately above the name, to rush to that part of the cliff nearest to the scene of the tragedy, and thus the actual explosion did not inflict very great damage upon the invaders.
Nevertheless the moral result was a good service to the sore-pressed white men, for the savages refrained from renewing the attack, and withdrew to the shelter of the palm-groves.
The approach of night also prolonged the mutual cessation of hostilities, for the natives dreaded the great flashing beams of light more than anything else.
Terence, in spite of himself, fell asleep several times beside the searchlight, while Andy, weary-eyed and stricken with grief, was kept awake solely by his devotion to his wounded comrade.
Fortunately Ellerton"s injuries were not so bad as Mr. McKay had at first supposed. The missile had struck him a glancing blow, and although reducing him to insensibility, was more of the nature of a cut than a contusion. There had been a copious flow of blood which relieved the pressure on the scalp that a bruise would have otherwise caused.
Before midnight Ellerton had recovered sufficiently to relate the circ.u.mstances of the affair so far as he knew, although he was ignorant of the actual ambush. Neither did Mr. McKay think fit to tell him at present of Quexo"s death in his heroic and successful attempt to save his master from mutilation.
With the return of daylight the savages renewed the attack. Large stones, brought to the brink of the cliff by their stupendous efforts, came crashing down upon the frail defences, till only a small section of the barricade midway between the walls of the defile remained intact.
Here Mr. McKay and Terence kept up a continuous but apparently ineffectual fire, while Ellerton, still weak and showing signs of light-headedness, did his best with a revolver.
Andy, nearly done up for want of rest, resumed his solitary vigil at the cliff path, occasionally adding to the fusillade whenever a group of natives appeared at the edge of the cliff to hurl another of the weighty missiles.
With parched lips and swollen eyes the weary little band continued the unequal combat, almost unable to raise their rifles to their aching shoulders, till, to add to their misfortunes, Andy perceived ten large canoes rounding the south-eastern promontory of the island.
The natives had at length grasped the importance of a simultaneous rear and frontal attack.
"We must retreat to Blight"s cave," exclaimed Mr. McKay, when his son had shouted the disheartening intelligence. "Let us hope the explosion has not closed up the entrance. Pull yourself together, Hoppy! We"ve got to make a rush for it."
"I"m going to stay here--I"m quite comfortable where I am," replied Ellerton with astonishing determination.
"But you can"t, man; you"ll be cut to pieces in less than a minute."
But Ellerton refused to move. His comrades looked at each other anxiously. In ordinary circ.u.mstances it would have been no easy task to compel the lad to get up and walk, and with a few hundred savages hanging round, the difficulties were increased tenfold.
"I"ll risk it," muttered Mr. McKay. "It"s either kill or cure." And raising his voice he said: "Hoppy, old man, Quexo is missing. He went to look for you and has not returned."
"What?" exclaimed Ellerton wildly. "Quexo missing? I"ll go and look for him."
"We are all going," replied Mr. McKay. "Take your rifle and keep with us."
The savages saw the white men deserting the shelter of the barricade, and with shouts of triumph they redoubled the hail of missiles, while numbers of them rushed to the head of the defile and thence straight for the abandoned defences.
Edging cautiously along the base of the cliff, the forlorn little band continued its retreat till Ellerton, who was leading, came across the body of the faithful mulatto.
For a moment he gazed at the ghastly scene with drawn face and staring eyes; then, his scattered wits returning, he burst into tears.
"Good!" exclaimed Mr. McKay to his son. "That"s saved his reason. But here they come."
Already the leading pursuers were appearing on the edge of the cliff-path, while others, rushing down the gorge, had scrambled over the debris of the barricade, and with brandished clubs and spears were charging down upon their white foes.
"Pick him up, Hoppy; we must not leave him to those fiends," shouted Andy.
a.s.sisted by Terence, Ellerton raised the body of the mulatto on his back, and, covered by Mr. McKay and Andy, continued the retreat.
As they reached the scene of the great explosion, they found that ma.s.ses of dislodged boulders extended almost to the edge of the lower cliff. Slowly Ellerton and Terence bore their burden over the rough, rock-strewn ground, the savages meanwhile gaining upon them rapidly.
"Keep going at any cost," shouted Mr. McKay. "Gain the door of the fence, and look out for us. Andy, we must make a stand here."
"All right, pater," replied his son as he took cover behind a convenient ma.s.s of stones.
The two rifles opened a furious fire upon the advancing natives. Not a shot was thrown away, and although stones and spears whizzed over their heads or shattered themselves against the sheltering rock, father and son continued to blaze away coolly, and deliberately. The savages, now more or less contemptuously familiar with the white men"s weapons, hesitated to close in upon the dauntless twain, and, shouting to their fellows to hasten to help them to wipe out the white men, they contented themselves with rushing to the right and left in the hope of surrounding their foes.
"Stop that chap!" yelled Andy, pointing to a crafty warrior, who was creeping on all fours up the rocks on Mr. McKay"s left.
Barely two inches of the man"s head were visible above the sheltering boulder, but those two inches were sufficient. Mr. McKay"s rifle cracked, and the savage bounded a good three feet in the air to fall upon his face upon the ground.
"They"re safe!" shouted Mr. McKay, giving a rapid glance in the direction of the iron fence. "Now, bolt for it!"
Springing over the remainder of the intervening boulders, father and son ran for shelter. For a brief instant the natives failed to understand that their foes were again in retreat; then, to the accompaniment of a flight of spears, they launched themselves over the latest line of defence and pressed home the pursuit.
Rifle in hand, Terence and Ellerton stood by the open door to aid their comrades" retreat; another five yards, then comparative safely.
Suddenly Andy stumbled and fell headlong on the ground, his rifle flying from his grasp; the next instant half-a-dozen natives were upon him. Without a moment"s hesitation, Mr. McKay faced about, and, drawing his revolver, fired.
At the first report one of the pursuers fell; but the hammer of the weapon clicked harmlessly as Mr. McKay attempted to bring down a second. The weapon was empty.
Throwing the now useless weapon straight into the face of one of the savages, Mr. McKay stooped to pick up his rifle, a spear just grazing his shoulder as he did so.
With the strength and fury of a Berserker, he gripped the rifle by the barrel, and wielding it like a ponderous flail he smote right and left.
At one moment the bra.s.s-bound b.u.t.t crashed with a terrific lunge full in the tattooed face of a native; at the next it descended with relentless force upon the skull of another.
Then Ellerton"s rifle cracked and Terence"s revolver added to the din.
The blacks seemed to melt away; and ere the main body of the pursuers could join in the struggle, the white men were safe within the stockade.
"Don"t trouble about the door," shouted Mr. McKay, as Terence was about to close and barricade the iron-lined aperture.
Breathlessly the harried fugitives entered the cave, and, holding their rifles ready for instant use, awaited the arrival of their triumphant foes.
The door of the fence standing tantalisingly open served a better purpose than if it had been closed and barred. Had it been secured, the savages would soon have battered it in by sheer weight of numbers; but even in the heat of the pursuit the natives paused and looked askance at the mute invitation to enter.
Fears of some other snare, more terrible than those they had already experienced, held them in a spell-bound grip.
The temporary check gave the defenders a chance of much-needed rest.
"Now, lads," exclaimed Mr. McKay, "we are safe enough for the present.
A thousand of the wretches couldn"t rush us in this place. But keep your eyes open, and let rip at the first chap who shows his head inside the door."
There was a touch of irony in Mr. McKay"s advice. Want of sleep threatened to become a more dangerous foe than the savages themselves, and the lads were almost falling asleep as they awaited the next a.s.sault.