The Wings of the Morning
Page 17"You are a dear unreasonable little girl," he said. "Have you breath
enough to tell me why you came down the ladder?"
"When I discovered you were gone, I became wild with fright. Don't you
see, I imagined you were wounded and had fallen from the ledge. What
else could I do but follow, either to help you, or, if that were not
possible--"
He found her hand and pressed it to his lips.
"I humbly crave your pardon," he said. "That explanation is more than
ample. It was I who behaved unreasonably. Of course I should have
warned you. Yet, sweetheart, I ran no risk. The real danger passed a
week ago."
"How can that be?"
"I might have been blown to pieces whilst adjusting the heavy stone in
front of the caps. I assure you I was glad to leave the place that day
with a whole skin. If the stone had wobbled, or slipped, well--it was a
case of determined felo-de-se."
"May I ask how many more wild adventures you undertook without my
knowledge?"
"One other, of great magnitude. I fell in love with you."
"Nonsense!" she retorted. "I knew that long before you admitted it to
yourself."
"Date, please?"
"Well, to begin at the very beginning, you thought I was nice on board
the Sirdar. Now, didn't you?"
And they were safely embarked on a conversation of no interest to any
other person in the wide world, but which provided them with the most
delightful topic imaginable.
Thus the time sped until the rising moon silhouetted the cliff on the
white carpet of coral-strewn sand. The black shadow-line traveled
slowly closer to the base of the cliff, and Jenks, guided also by the
stars, told Iris that midnight was at hand.
They knelt on the parapet of the ledge, alert to catch any unusual
sound, and watching for any indication of human movement. But Rainbow
Island was now still as the grave. The wounded Dyaks had seemingly been
removed from hut and beach; the dead lay where they had fallen. The sea
sang a lullaby to the reef, and the fresh breeze whispered among the
palm fronds--that was all.
"Perhaps they have gone!" murmured Iris.
The sailor put his arm round her neck and gently pressed her lips
together. Anything would serve as an excuse for that sort of thing, but
he really did want absolute silence at that moment. If the Mussulman
kept his compact, the hour was at hand.
An unlooked-for intruder disturbed the quietude of the scene. Their old
acquaintance, the singing beetle, chortled his loud way across the
park. Iris was dying--as women say--to remind Jenks of their first
meeting with that blatant insect, but further talk was impossible;
there was too much at stake--water they must have.
Then the light hiss of a snake rose to them from the depths. That is a
sound never forgotten when once heard. It is like unto no other.
Indeed, the term "hiss" is a misnomer for the quick sibilant expulsion
of the breath by an alarmed or angered serpent.
Iris paid no heed to it, but Jenks, who knew there was not a reptile of
the snake variety on the island, leaned over the ledge and emitted a
tolerably good imitation. The native was beneath. Probably the flight
of the beetle had helped his noiseless approach.
"Sahib!"
The girl started at the unexpected call from the depths.
"Yes," said Jenks quietly.
"A rope, sahib."
The sailor lowered a rope. Something was tied to it beneath. The
Mahommedan apparently had little fear of being detected.
"Pull, sahib."
"Usually it is the sahib who says 'pull,' but circumstances alter
cases," communed Jenks. He hauled steadily at a heavy weight--a
goatskin filled with cold water. He emptied the hot and sour wine out
of the tin cup, and was about to hand the thrice-welcome draught to
Iris when a suspicious thought caused him to withhold it.
"Let me taste first," he said.
The Indian might have betrayed them to the Dyaks. More unlikely things
had happened. What if the water were poisoned or drugged?
He placed the tin to his lips. The liquid was musty, having been in the
skin nearly two days. Otherwise it seemed to be all right. With a sigh
of profound relief he gave Iris the cup, and smiled at the most
unladylike haste with which she emptied it.
"Drink yourself, and give me some more," she said.
"No more for you at present, madam. In a few minutes, yes."
"Oh, why not now?"
"Do not fret, dear one. You can have all you want in a little while.
But to drink much now would make you very ill."
Iris waited until he could speak again.
"Why did you----" she began.
But he bent over the parapet--
"Koi hai!"[Footnote: Equivalent to "Hello, there!"]
"Sahib!"
"You have not been followed?"
"I think not, sahib. Do not talk too loud; they are foxes in cunning.
You have a ladder, they say, sahib. Will not your honor descend? I have
much to relate."
Iris made no protest when Jenks explained the man's request. She only
stipulated that he should not leave the ladder, whilst she would remain
within easy earshot. The sailor, of course, carried his revolver. He
also picked up a crowbar, a most useful and silent weapon. Then he went
quietly downwards. Nearing the ground, he saw the native, who salaamed
deeply and was unarmed. The poor fellow seemed to be very anxious to
help them.
"What is your name?" demanded the sailor.
"Mir Jan, sahib, formerly naik[Footnote: Corporal.] in the
Kumaon Rissala."
"When did you leave the regiment?"
"Two years ago, sahib. I killed--"
"What was the name of your Colonel?"
"Kurnal I-shpence-sahib, a brave man, but of no account on a horse."
Jenks well remembered Colonel Spence--a fat, short-legged warrior, who
rolled off his charger if the animal so much as looked sideways. Mir
Jan was telling the truth.
"You are right, Mir Jan. What is Taung S'Ali doing now?"
"Cursing, sahib, for the most part. His men are frightened. He wanted
them to try once more with the tubes that shoot poison, but they
refused. He could not come alone, for he could not use his right hand,
and he was wounded by the blowing up of the rock. You nearly killed me,
too, sahib. I was there with the bazaar-born whelps. By the Prophet's
beard, it was a fine stroke."
"Are they going away, then?"
"No, sahib. The dogs have been whipped so sore that they snarl for
revenge. They say there is no use in firing at you, but they are
resolved to kill you and the miss-sahib, or carry her off if she
escapes the assault."
"What assault?"
"Protector of the poor, they are building scaling-ladders--four in all.
Soon after dawn they intend to rush your position. You may slay some,
they say, but you cannot slay three score. Taung S'Ali has promised a
gold tauk[Footnote: A native ornament.] to every man who
survives if they succeed. They have pulled down your signal on the high
rocks and are using the poles for the ladders. They think you have a
jadu[Footnote: A charm.] sahib, and they want to use your own
work against you."
This was serious news. A combined attack might indeed be dangerous,
though it had the excellent feature that if it failed the Dyaks would
certainly leave the island. But his sky-sign destroyed! That was bad.
Had a vessel chanced to pass, the swinging letters would surely have
attracted attention. Now, even that faint hope was dispelled.
"Sahib, there is a worse thing to tell," said Mir Jan.
"Say on, then."
"Before they place the ladders against the cliff they will build a fire
of green wood so that the smoke will be blown by the wind into your
eyes. This will help to blind your aim. Otherwise, you never miss."
"That will assuredly be awkward, Mir Jan."
"It will, sahib. Soul of my father, if we had but half a troop with
us----"
But they had not, and they were both so intent on the conversation that
they were momentarily off their guard. Iris was more watchful. She
fancied there was a light rustling amidst the undergrowth beneath the
trees on the right. And she could hiss too, if that were the correct
thing to do.
So she hissed.
"Yes, Iris?" he said.
"I am not sure, but I imagine something moved among the bushes behind
the house."
"All right, dear. I will keep a sharp look-out. Can you hear us
talking?"
"Hardly. Will you be long?"
"Another minute."
He descended and told Mir Jan what the miss-sahib said. The native was
about to make a search when Jenks stopped him.
"Here,"--he handed the man his revolver--"I suppose you can use this?"
Mir Jan took it without a word, and Jenks felt that the incident atoned
for previous unworthy doubts of his dark friend's honesty. The
Mahommedan cautiously examined the back of the house, the neighboring
shrubs, and the open beach. After a brief absence he reported all safe,
yet no man has ever been nearer death and escaped it than he during
that reconnaissance. He, too, forgot that the Dyaks were foxes, and
foxes can lie close when hounds are a trifle stale.
Mir Jan returned the revolver.
"Sahib," he said with another salaam, "I am a disgraced man, but if you
will take me up there with you, I will fight by your side until both my
arms are hacked off. I am weary of these thieves. Ill chance threw me
into their company: I will have no more of them. If you will not have
me on the rock, give me a gun. I will hide among the trees, and I
promise that some of them shall die to-night before they find me. For
the honor of the regiment, sahib, do not refuse this thing. All I ask
is, if your honor escapes, that you will write to Kurnal
I-shpence-sahib, and tell him the last act of Mir Jan, naik in B
troop."
There was an intense pathos in the man's words. He made this
self-sacrificing offer with an utter absence of any motive save the old
tradition of duty to the colors. Here was Anstruther-sahib, of the
Belgaum Rissala, in dire peril. Very well, then, Corporal Mir Jan, late
of the 19th Bengal Lancers, must dare all to save him.
Jenks was profoundly moved. He reflected how best to utilize the
services of this willing volunteer without exposing him to certain
death in the manner suggested. The native misinterpreted his silence.
"I am not a budmash,[Footnote: Rascal.] sahib," he exclaimed
proudly. "I only killed a man because--"
"Listen, Mir Jan. You cannot well mend what you have said. The Dyaks,
you are sure, will not come before morning?"
"They have carried the wounded to the boats and are making the ladders.
Such was their talk when I left them."
"Will they not miss you?"
"They will miss the mussak,[Footnote: Goatskin.] sahib. It was
the last full one."
"Mir Jan, do as I bid, and you shall see Delhi again, Have you ever
used a Lee-Metford?"
"I have seen them, sahib; but I better understand the Mahtini."
"I will give you a rifle, with plenty of ammunition, Do you go inside
the cave, there, and----"
Mir Jan was startled.
"Where the ghost is, sahib?" he said.
"Ghost! That is a tale for children. There is no ghost, only a few
bones of a man murdered by these scoundrels long ago. Have you any
food?"
"Some rice, sahib; sufficient for a day, or two at a pinch."
"Good! We will get water from the well. When the fighting begins at
dawn, fire at every man you see from the back of the cave. On no
account come out. Then they can never reach you if you keep a full
magazine. Wait here!"
"I thought you were never coming," protested Iris when Jenks reached
the ledge. "I have been quite creepy. I am sure there is some one down
there. And, please, may I have another drink?"
The sailor had left the crowbar beneath. He secured a rifle, a spare
clip, and a dozen packets of cartridges, meanwhile briefly explaining
to Iris the turn taken by events so far as Mir Jan was concerned. She
was naturally delighted, and forgot her fears in the excitement caused
by the appearance of so useful an ally. She drank his health in a
brimming beaker of water.
She heard her lover rejoin Mir Jan, and saw the two step out into the
moonlight, whilst Jenks explained the action of the Lee-Metford.
Fortunately Iris was now much recovered from the fatigue and privation
of the earlier hours. Her senses were sharpened to a pitch little
dreamed of by stay-at-home young ladies of her age, and she deemed it
her province to act as sentry whilst the two men conferred. Hence, she
was the first to detect, or rather to become conscious of, the stealthy
crawl of several Dyaks along the bottom of the cliff from Turtle Beach.
They advanced in Indian file, moving with the utmost care, and
crouching in the murky shadows like so many wild beasts stalking their
prey.
"Robert!" she screamed. "The Dyaks! On your left!"
But Iris was rapidly gaining some knowledge of strategy. Before she
shrieked her warning she grasped a rifle. Holding it at the
"Ready"--about the level of her waist--and depressing the muzzle
sufficiently, she began firing down the side of the rock as fast as she
could handle lever and trigger. Two of the nickel bullets struck a
projection and splashed the leading savages with molten metal.
Unfortunately the Lee-Metford beneath was unloaded, being in Mir Jan's
possession for purposes of instruction. Jenks whipped out his revolver.
"To the cave!" he roared, and Mir Jan's unwillingness to face a goblin
could not withstand the combined impetus of the sahib's order and the
onward rush of the enemy. He darted headlong for the entrance.
Jenks, shooting blindly as he, too, ran for the ladder, emptied the
revolver just as his left hand clutched a rung. Three Dyaks were so
close that it would be folly to attempt to climb. He threw the weapon
into the face of the foremost man, effectually stopping his onward
progress, for the darkness made it impossible to dodge the missile.
The sailor turned to dive into the cave and secure the rifle from Mir
Jan, when his shin caught the heavy crowbar resting against the rock.
The pain of the blow lent emphasis to the swing with which the
implement descended upon some portion of a Dyak anatomy. Jenks never
knew where he hit the second assailant, but the place cracked like an
eggshell.
He had not time to recover the bar for another blow, so he gave the
point in the gullet of a gentleman who was about to make a vicious
sweep at him with a parang. The downfall of this worthy caused his
immediate successor to stumble, and Jenks saw his opportunity. With the
agility of a cat he jumped up the ladder. Once started, he had to go
on. He afterwards confessed to an unpleasant sensation of pins and
needles along his back during that brief acrobatic display; but he
reached the ledge without further injury, save an agonizing twinge when
the unprotected quick of his damaged finger was smartly rapped against
the rock.
These things happened with the speed of thought. Within forty seconds
of Iris's shrill cry the sailor was breast high with the ledge and
calling to her--
"All right, old girl. Keep it up!"
The cheerful confidence of his words had a wonderful effect on her.
Iris, like every good woman, had the maternal instinct strong within
her--the instinct that inspires alike the mild-eyed Sister of Charity
and the tigress fighting for her cubs. When Jenks was down below there,
in imminent danger of being cut to pieces, the gentle, lovable girl,
who would not willingly hurt the humblest of God's creatures, became
terrible, majestic in her frenzied purpose. Robert must be saved. If a
Maxim were planted on the rock she would unhesitatingly have turned the
lever and sprayed the Dyaks with bullets.
But here he was close to her, unhurt and calmly jubilant, as was his
way when a stiff fight went well. He was by her side now, firing and
aiming too, for the Dyaks broke cover recklessly in running for
shelter, and one may do fair work by moonlight, as many a hunter of
wild duck can testify by the rheumatism in his bones.
She had strength enough left to place the rifle out of harm's way
before she broke down and sobbed, not tearfully, but in a paroxysm of
reaction. Soon all was quiet beneath, save for the labored efforts of
some wounded men to get far away from that accursed rock. Jenks was
able to turn to Iris. He endeavored to allay her agitation, and
succeeded somewhat, for tears came, and she clung to him. It was
useless to reproach him. The whole incident was unforeseen: she was
herself a party to it. But what an escape!
He lifted her in his arms and carried her to a seat where the tarpaulin
rested on a broken water-cask.
"You have been a very good little girl and have earned your supper," he
said.
"Oh, how can you talk so callously after such an awful experience?" she
The Jesuits, say their opponents, teach that at times a "white lie" is
permissible. Surely this was an instance.
"It is a small thing to trouble about, sweetheart," he explained. "You
spotted the enemy so promptly, and blazed away with such ferocity, that
they never got within yards of me."
"Are you sure?"
"I vow and declare that after we have eaten something, and sampled our
remaining bottle of wine, I will tell you exactly what happened."
"Why not now?"
"Because I must first see to Mir Jan. I bundled him neck and crop into
the cave. I hope I did not hurt him."
"You are not going down there again?"
"No need, I trust."
He went to the side of the ledge, recovered the ladder which he had
hastily hauled out of the Dyaks' reach after his climb, and cried--
"Mir Jan."
"Ah, sahib! Praised be the name of the Most High, you are alive. I was
searching among the slain with a sorrowful heart."
The Mahommedan's voice came from some little distance on the left.
"The slain, you say. How many?"
"Five, sahib."
"Impossible! I fired blindly with the revolver, and only hit one man
hard with the iron bar. One other dropped near the wood after I
obtained a rifle."
"Then there be six, sahib, not reckoning the wounded. I have accounted
for one, so the miss-sahib must have--"
"What is he saying about me?" inquired Iris, who had risen and joined
her lover.
"He says you absolutely staggered the Dyaks by opening fire the moment
they appeared."
"How did you come to slay one, Mir Jan?" he continued.
"A son of a black pig followed me into the cave. I waited for him in
the darkness. I have just thrown his body outside."
"Shabash![Footnote: "Well done!"] Is Taung S'Ali dead, by any
lucky chance?"
"No, sahib, if he be not the sixth. I will go and see."
"You may be attacked?"
"I have found a sword, sahib. You left me no cartridges."
Jenks told him that the clip and the twelve packets were lying at the
foot of the rock, where Mir Jan speedily discovered them. The
Mahommedan gave satisfactory assurance that he understood the mechanism
of the rifle by filling and adjusting the magazine. Then he went to
examine the corpse of the man who lay in the open near the quarry path.
The sailor stood in instant readiness to make a counter demonstration
were the native assailed. But there was no sign of the Dyaks. Mir Jan
returned with the news that the sixth victim of the brief yet fierce
encounter was a renegade Malay. He was so confident that the enemy had
had enough of it for the night that, after recovering Jenks's revolver,
he boldly went to the well and drew himself a supply of water.
During supper, a feast graced by a quart of champagne worthy of the
Carlton, Jenks told Iris so much of the story as was good for her: that
is to say, he cut down the casualty list.
It was easy to see what had happened. The Dyaks, having missed the
Mahommedan and their water-bag, searched for him and heard the
conversation at the foot of the rock. Knowing that their presence was
suspected, they went back for reinforcements, and returned by the
shorter and more advantageous route along Turtle Beach.
Iris would have talked all night, but Jenks made her go to sleep, by
pillowing her head against his shoulder and smoothing her tangled
tresses with his hand. The wine, too, was helpful. In a few minutes her
voice became dreamy: soon she was sleeping like a tired child.
He managed to lay her on a comfortable pile of ragged clothing and then
resumed his vigil. Mir Jan offered to mount guard beneath, but Jenks
bade him go within the cave and remain there, for the dawn would soon
be upon them.
Left alone with his thoughts, he wondered what the rising sun would
bring in its train. He reviewed the events of the last twenty-four
hours. Iris and he--Miss Deane, Mr. Jenks, to each other--were then
undiscovered in their refuge, the Dyaks were gathered around a roaring
fire in the valley, and Mir Jan was keen in the hunt as the keenest
among them. Now, Iris was his affianced bride, over twenty of the enemy
were killed and many wounded, and Mir Jan, a devoted adherent, was
seated beside the skeleton in the gloom of the cavern.
What a topsy-turvy world it was, to be sure! What alternations between
despair and hope! What rebound from the gates of Death to the threshold
of Eden! How untrue, after all, was the nebulous philosophy of Omar,
the Tentmaker. Surely in the happenings of the bygone day there was
more than the purposeless
"Magic Shadow-show,
Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun,
Round which we Phantom Figures come and go."
He had, indeed, cause to be humbly thankful. Was there not One who
marked the fall of a sparrow, who clothed the lilies, who knew the
needs of His creatures? There, in the solemn temple of the night, he
gave thanks for the protection vouchsafed to Iris and himself, and
prayed that it might be continued. He deplored the useless bloodshed,
the horror of mangled limbs and festering bodies, that converted this
fair island into a reeking slaughter-house. Were it possible, by any
personal sacrifice, to divert the untutored savages from their deadly
quest, he would gladly condone their misdeeds and endeavor to assuage
the torments of the wounded.
But he was utterly helpless, a pawn on that tiny chessboard where the
game was being played between Civilization and Barbarism. The fight
must go on to the bitter end: he must either vanquish or be vanquished.
There were other threads being woven into the garment of his life at
that moment, but he knew not of them. Sufficient for the day was the
evil, and the good thereof. Of both he had received full measure.
A period of such reflection could hardly pass without a speculative
dive into the future. If Iris and he were rescued, what would happen
when they went forth once more into the busy world? Not for one instant
did he doubt her faith. She was true as steel, knit to him now by bonds
of triple brass. But, what would Sir Arthur Deane think of his
daughter's marriage to a discredited and cashiered officer? What was it
that poor Mir Jan called himself?--"a disgraced man." Yes, that was it.
Could that stain be removed? Mir Jan was doing it. Why not he?--by
other means, for his good name rested on the word of a perjured woman.
Wealth was potent, but not all-powerful. He would ask Iris to wait
until he came to her unsoiled by slander, purged of this odium cast
upon him unmerited.
And all this goes to show that he, a man wise beyond his fellows, had
not yet learned the unwisdom of striving to lift the veil of tomorrow,
behind whose mystic curtain what is to be ever jostles out of place
what is hoped for.
Iris, smiling in her dreams, was assailed by no torturing doubts.
Robert loved her--that was enough. Love suffices for a woman; a man
asks for honor, reputation, an unblemished record.
To awake her he kissed her; he knew not, perchance it might be their
last kiss on earth. Not yet dawn, there was morning in the air, for the
first faint shafts of light were not visible from their eyrie owing to
its position. But there was much to be done. If the Dyaks carried out
the plan described by Mir Jan, he had a good many preparations to make.
The canvas awning was rolled back and the stores built into a barricade
intended to shelter Iris.
"What is that for?" she asked, when she discovered its nature. He told
her. She definitely refused to avail herself of any such protection.
"Robert dear," she said, "if the attack comes to our very door, so to
speak, surely I must help you. Even my slight aid may stem a rush in
one place whilst you are busy in another."
He explained to her that if hand-to-hand fighting were necessary he
would depend more upon a crowbar than a rifle to sweep the ledge clear.
She might be in the way.
"Very well. The moment you tell me to get behind that fence I will do
so. Even there I can use a revolver."
That reminded him. His own pistol was unloaded. He possessed only five
more cartridges of small caliber. He placed them in the weapon and gave
it to her.
"Now you have eleven men's lives in your hands," he said. "Try not to
miss if you must shoot."
In the dim light he could not see the spasm of pain that clouded her
face. No Dyak would reach her whilst he lived. If he fell, there was
another use for one of those cartridges.
The sailor had cleared the main floor of the rock and was placing his
four rifles and other implements within easy reach when a hiss came
from beneath.
"What now?" demanded Jenks over the side.
"Sahib, they come!"
"I am prepared. Let that snake get back to his hole in the rock, lest a
mongoose seize him by the head."
Mir Jan, engaged in a scouting expedition on his own account,
understood that the officer-sahib's orders must be obeyed. He vanished.
Soon they heard a great crackling among the bushes on the right, but
Jenks knew even before he looked that the Dyaks had correctly estimated
the extent of his fire zone and would keep out of it.
The first physical intimation of the enemy's design they received was a
pungent but pleasant smell of burning pine, borne to them by the
northerly breeze and filling the air with its aroma. The Dyaks kindled
a huge fire. The heat was perceptible even on the ledge, but the
minutes passed, and the dawn broadened into day without any other
result being achieved.
Iris, a little drawn and pale with suspense, said with a timid giggle--
"This does not seem to be so very serious. It reminds me of my efforts
to cook."
"There is more to follow, I fear, dear one. But the Dyaks are fools.
They should have waited until night fell again, after wearing us out by
constant vigilance all day. If they intend to employ smoke it would be
far worse for us at night."
Phew! A volume of murky vapor arose that nearly suffocated them by the
first whiff of its noisome fumes. It curled like a black pall over the
face of the rock and blotted out sea and sky. They coughed incessantly,
and nearly choked, for the Dyaks had thrown wet seaweed on top of the
burning pile of dry wood. Mir Jan, born in interior India, knew little
about the sea or its products, and when the savages talked of seaweed
he thought they meant green wood. Fortunately for him, the ascending
clouds of smoke missed the cave, or infallibly he must have been
stifled.
"Lie flat on the rock!" gasped Jenks. Careless of waste, he poured
water over a coat and made Iris bury her mouth and nose in the wet
cloth. This gave her immediate relief, and she showed her woman's wit
by tying the sleeves of the garment behind her neck. Jenks nodded
comprehension and followed her example, for by this means their hands
were left free.
The black cloud grew more dense each few seconds. Nevertheless, owing
to the slope of the ledge, and the tendency of the smoke to rise, the
south side was far more tenable than the north. Quick to note this
favorable circumstance, the sailor deduced a further fact from it. A
barrier erected on the extreme right of the ledge would be a material
gain. He sprang up, dragged the huge tarpaulin from its former
location, and propped it on the handle of the pickaxe, driven by one
mighty stroke deep into a crevice of the rock.
It was no mean feat of strength that he performed. He swung the heavy
and cumbrous canvas into position as if it were a dust cloth. He
emerged from the gloom of the driven cloud red-eyed but triumphant.
Instantly the vapor on the ledge lessened, and they could breathe, even
talk. Overhead and in front the smoke swept in ever-increasing density,
but once again the sailor had outwitted the Dyaks' manoeuvres.
"We have won the first rubber," he whispered to Iris.
Above, beneath, beyond, they could see nothing. The air they breathed
was hot and foetid. It was like being immured in a foul tunnel and
almost as dark. Jenks looked over the parapet. He thought he could
distinguish some vague figures on the sands, so he fired at them. A
volley of answering bullets crashed into the rock on all sides. The
Dyaks had laid their plans well this time. A firing squad stationed
beyond the smoke area, and supplied with all the available guns,
commenced and kept up a smart fusillade in the direction of the ledge
in order to cover the operations of the scaling party.
Jenks realized that to expose himself was to court a serious wound and
achieve no useful purpose. He fell back out of range, laid down his
rifle and grabbed the crowbar. At brief intervals a deep hollow boom
came up from the valley. At first it puzzled them until the sailor hit
upon an explanation. Mir Jan was busy.
The end of a strong roughly made ladder swung through the smoke and
banged against the ledge. Before Jenks could reach it those hoisting it
into position hastily retreated. They were standing in front of the
cave and the Mahommedan made play on them with a Lee-Metford at thirty
feet.
Jenks, using his crowbar as a lever, toppled the ladder clean over. It
fell outwards and disconcerted a section of the musketeers.
"Well done," cried Iris.
The sailor, astounded by her tone, gave her a fleeting glance. She was
very pale now, but not with fear. Her eyes were slightly contracted,
her nostrils quivering, her lips set tight and her chin dimpled. She
had gone back thirty generations in as many seconds. Thus might one of
the daughters of Boadicea have looked whilst guiding her mother's
chariot against the Roman phalanx. Resting on one knee, with a revolver
in each hand, she seemed no puling mate for the gallant man who fought
for her.
She caught his look.
"We will beat them yet!" she cried again, and she smiled, not as a
woman smiles, but with the joy of a warrior when the fray is toward.
There was no time for further speech. Three ladders were reared against
the rock. They were so poised and held below that Jenks could not force
them backwards. A fourth appeared, its coarse shafts looming into sight
like the horns of some gigantic animal. The four covered practically
the whole front of the ledge save where Mir Jan cleared a little space
on the level.
The sailor was standing now, with the crowbar clenched in both hands.
The firing in the valley slackened and died away. A Dyak face, grinning
like a Japanese demon, appeared at the top of the ladder nearest to
Iris.
"Don't fire!" shouted Jenks, and the iron bar crushed downwards. Two
others pitched themselves half on to the ledge. Now both crowbar and
revolver were needed. Three ladders were thus cumbered somewhat for
those beneath, and Jenks sprang towards the fourth and most distant.
Men were crowding it like ants. Close to his feet lay an empty
water-cask. It was a crude weapon, but effective when well pitched, and
the sailor had never made a better shot for a goal in the midst of a
hard-fought scrimmage than he made with that tub for the head of the
uppermost pirate.
Another volley came from the sands. A bullet ploughed through his hair,
and sent his sou'wester flying. Again the besiegers swarmed to the
attack. One way or the other, they must succeed. A man and a
woman--even such a man and such a woman--could not keep at bay an
infuriated horde of fifty savages fighting at close quarters and under
these grievous conditions.
Jenks knew what would happen. He would be shot in the head or breast
whilst repelling the scaling party. And Iris! Dear heart! She was
thinking of him.
"Keep back! They can never gain the ledge!" she shrieked.
And then, above the din of the fusillade, the yells of the assailants
and the bawling of the wounded, there came through the air a screaming,
tearing, ripping sound which drowned all others. It traveled with
incredible speed, and before the sailor could believe his ears--for he
well knew what it meant--a shrapnel shell burst in front of the ledge
and drenched the valley with flying lead.
Jenks was just able to drag Iris flat against the rock ere the time
fuse operated and the bullets flew. He could form no theory, hazard no
conjecture. All he knew was that a 12-pounder shell had flown towards
them through space, scattering red ruin among the amazed scoundrels
beneath. Instantly he rose again, lest perchance any of the Dyaks
should have gained a foothold on the ledge.
The ladders were empty. He could hear a good deal of groaning, the
footsteps of running men, and some distant shouting.
"Sahib!" yelled Mir Jan, drawn from his retreat by the commotion
without.
"Yes," shouted Jenks.
The native, in a voice cracked with excitement, told him something. The
sailor asked a few rapid questions to make quite sure that Mir Jan was
not mistaken.
Then he threw his arms round Iris, drew her close and whispered--
"My darling, we are saved! A warship has anchored just beyond the south
reef, and two boats filled with armed sailors are now pulling ashore."
And she answered proudly--
"The Dyaks could never have conquered us, Robert. We were manifestly
under God's protection. Oh, my love, my love, I am so happy and
thankful!"