Boyle or Gray had never relaxed their vigil by her side. It was Gray

who made the thrilling discovery that the canoes were returning. As

the fleet crossed the bay it could be seen that they were towing the

life-boat. But never a sign of any prisoners could the most careful

scrutiny detect. The boat was empty; it was easy to count every man in

the canoes as they passed into Otter Creek. And there were wounded

Indians on board many of them. That was a significant, a tremendous,

fact. There had been hard fighting, and the boat was captured, but

some, if not all, of the crew must have joined their comrades in the

sanctuary of the haunted cave. The accuracy of this deduction was

proved by the presence of the smoke column on the hill. Indeed, the

opinion was generally held that its spiral clouds were denser than at

any previous hour, thus showing that the defenders were endeavoring to

make known their continued existence.

Elsie awoke from her trance, but, in returning to life, she was

transformed into a stern, resourceful, commanding woman. Her face had

lost its gentleness; the pleasant curves and dimples of mouth and chin

had hardened into a sort of determination; even her slight, graceful

figure seemed to assume a certain squareness which betokened her

resolve to act as her lover would have acted were he the watcher from

the ship and she the prisoner pent behind that screen of rock and wild

forest.

None suspected the mighty force which worked this resolution in her

nature. She conducted herself with a cunning that was wholly foreign

to her character. Her first care was to hoodwink her companions into

the belief that the strain of the day had passed. She accepted a cup

of tea brought by Isobel, expressed her sorrow that if by word or look

she had given cause for offence, and entered eagerly into the pros and

cons of the debate which sprang up as to the best course to pursue on

the following day.

Everyone agreed that nothing could be done that night. If the pillar

of smoke were visible at sunrise, and Walker could possibly manage to

fire the boilers, Boyle suggested that some sailors in the jolly-boat

should sound a channel along which the vessel itself might steam slowly

towards Guanaco Hill. That, in itself, would be a move of considerable

value. If they could lessen the distance between the shore and the

ship, each yard thus gained would help the prisoners and impose a

stronger barrier against the Alaculofs, who would probably be daunted

when they found that the vessel's mobility was restored.

This proposal was deemed so excellent that they all dined in vastly

better spirits than any of them anticipated. Christobal, puzzled out

of his scientific senses by Elsie's change of manner, kept a close eye

on her. He was amazed to see her eat a better meal than she had eaten

for days, and she was normally a quite healthy young person, with a

reasonably good appetite.




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