Chapter Twenty.

Chapter Twenty.How Jimmy turned up a Trump.Even then I could not shoot, but remained staring, helplessly fascinated for a few minutes by the coming danger. At last, though, I turned to Ti-hi, leaning back and touching him where he crouched, busily seizing upon the arrows that came in his way and sending them back.He crept up to me directly and I pointed to the bush.His eyes glistened, and bending forward he drew an arrow to the head, and was about to send it winging into the very centre of the bush when we suddenly became aware of some strange excitement amongst the savages, who undoubtedly now caught sight of the bush for the first time and sent a flight of arrows at it.The effect of this was that he who had been making use of it for a shield suddenly darted from behind it and made for our shelter.“Aroo, Aroo!” exclaimed the men with us, yelling with delight, while to cover his escape we all fired at the savages, who had come out of their concealment, but only to dart back again, for one after the other three large stones came bounding down the mountain side, scattering the enemy to cover, and the duel once more began, with our side strengthened by the presence of a brave fighting man, and refreshed, for Aroo had his water calabash slung from his shoulders, containing quite a couple of quarts, which were like nectar to us, parched and half-dying with thirst.Its effects were wonderful. The heat was still intense; but after the refreshing draught, small as it was, that we had imbibed, I seemed to see clearly, the giddy sensation passed off, and we were ready to meet the attack with something like fortitude.We could think now, too, of some plans for the future, whereas a quarter of an hour before there had seemed to be no future for us, nothing but a horrible death at our enemies’ hands.Ti-hi contrived to make us understand now that as soon as the sun had gone down, and it was dark, he would lead us away to the river side and then along the gorge, so that by the next morning we could be far out of our enemies’ reach, when they came expecting to find us in the cave.His communication was not easy to comprehend, but that this was what he meant there could be no doubt, for we all three read it in the same way.Encouraged then by this hope we waited impatiently for the going down of the sun, which was now slowly nearing the broad shoulder of a great hill. Another half-hour and it would have disappeared, when the valley would begin to fill with shadows, darkness—the tropic darkness—would set in at once, and then I knew we should have to lose no time in trying to escape.But we were not to get away without an attack from the enemy of a bolder nature than any they had yet ventured upon.For some little time the arrow shooting had slackened and we watched anxiously to see what it meant, for there was evidently a good deal of excitement amongst the enemy, who were running from bush to stone, and had we been so disposed we could easily have brought three or four down.But of course all we wished for was freedom from attack, and in the hope that they were somewhat disheartened, and were perhaps meditating retreat, we waited and withheld our fire.Our hopes were short-lived though, for it proved that they were only preparing for a more fierce onslaught, which was delivered at the end of a few minutes, some twenty savages bounding along the slope war-club in hand, two to fall disabled by a mass of stone that thundered down from above.We fired at the same moment and the advance was checked, the savages gathering together in a hesitating fashion, whencrash,crash, another mass of rock which had been set at liberty far up the hillside came bounding down, gathering impetus and setting at liberty an avalanche of great stones, from which the savages now turned and fled for their lives, leaving the valley free to a single black figure, which came climbing down from far up the steep slope, waddy in hand; and on reaching the level advanced towards us in the fast darkening eve, looking coolly to right and left to see if any enemy was left, but without a single arrow being discharged.A minute later he was looking over our breastwork into the shallow cave, showing his teeth, which shone in the gloom as he exclaimed:“Black fellow dreffle hungry. Give Jimmy somefin eat. All gone now.”

Even then I could not shoot, but remained staring, helplessly fascinated for a few minutes by the coming danger. At last, though, I turned to Ti-hi, leaning back and touching him where he crouched, busily seizing upon the arrows that came in his way and sending them back.

He crept up to me directly and I pointed to the bush.

His eyes glistened, and bending forward he drew an arrow to the head, and was about to send it winging into the very centre of the bush when we suddenly became aware of some strange excitement amongst the savages, who undoubtedly now caught sight of the bush for the first time and sent a flight of arrows at it.

The effect of this was that he who had been making use of it for a shield suddenly darted from behind it and made for our shelter.

“Aroo, Aroo!” exclaimed the men with us, yelling with delight, while to cover his escape we all fired at the savages, who had come out of their concealment, but only to dart back again, for one after the other three large stones came bounding down the mountain side, scattering the enemy to cover, and the duel once more began, with our side strengthened by the presence of a brave fighting man, and refreshed, for Aroo had his water calabash slung from his shoulders, containing quite a couple of quarts, which were like nectar to us, parched and half-dying with thirst.

Its effects were wonderful. The heat was still intense; but after the refreshing draught, small as it was, that we had imbibed, I seemed to see clearly, the giddy sensation passed off, and we were ready to meet the attack with something like fortitude.

We could think now, too, of some plans for the future, whereas a quarter of an hour before there had seemed to be no future for us, nothing but a horrible death at our enemies’ hands.

Ti-hi contrived to make us understand now that as soon as the sun had gone down, and it was dark, he would lead us away to the river side and then along the gorge, so that by the next morning we could be far out of our enemies’ reach, when they came expecting to find us in the cave.

His communication was not easy to comprehend, but that this was what he meant there could be no doubt, for we all three read it in the same way.

Encouraged then by this hope we waited impatiently for the going down of the sun, which was now slowly nearing the broad shoulder of a great hill. Another half-hour and it would have disappeared, when the valley would begin to fill with shadows, darkness—the tropic darkness—would set in at once, and then I knew we should have to lose no time in trying to escape.

But we were not to get away without an attack from the enemy of a bolder nature than any they had yet ventured upon.

For some little time the arrow shooting had slackened and we watched anxiously to see what it meant, for there was evidently a good deal of excitement amongst the enemy, who were running from bush to stone, and had we been so disposed we could easily have brought three or four down.

But of course all we wished for was freedom from attack, and in the hope that they were somewhat disheartened, and were perhaps meditating retreat, we waited and withheld our fire.

Our hopes were short-lived though, for it proved that they were only preparing for a more fierce onslaught, which was delivered at the end of a few minutes, some twenty savages bounding along the slope war-club in hand, two to fall disabled by a mass of stone that thundered down from above.

We fired at the same moment and the advance was checked, the savages gathering together in a hesitating fashion, whencrash,crash, another mass of rock which had been set at liberty far up the hillside came bounding down, gathering impetus and setting at liberty an avalanche of great stones, from which the savages now turned and fled for their lives, leaving the valley free to a single black figure, which came climbing down from far up the steep slope, waddy in hand; and on reaching the level advanced towards us in the fast darkening eve, looking coolly to right and left to see if any enemy was left, but without a single arrow being discharged.

A minute later he was looking over our breastwork into the shallow cave, showing his teeth, which shone in the gloom as he exclaimed:

“Black fellow dreffle hungry. Give Jimmy somefin eat. All gone now.”

Chapter Twenty One.How we retreated and were caught in a Tropic Storm.Our black companion was quite right. The enemy had indeed gone, and the time had come for us to get beyond their reach, for all at once it seemed to grow dark, and we stood farther out of our shelter, glad to free our limbs from the cramping positions in which they had been for so long.The doctor handed to each of us some chips of dried meat, bidding us eat as we walked. The bearers were well provided, and starting at once, with Ti-hi to lead and Aroo to cover our retreat, we stepped lightly off.Our blacks knew well enough what was required of them now as to our baggage, and every package was taken from the breastwork, shouldered or placed upon the head, and, watchful and ready to use our arms, we soon left the scene of the fight behind.The New Guinea savage Ti-hi as we called him, that being the nearest approach I can get to his name, followed very much the course we had taken early in the day when we sought the waterfall, but left it a little to our left and struck the river some few hundred yards above, pausing for a few minutes for his men to take breath, and then pointing out the course he meant to take.It was a perilous-looking place, enough to make anyone shiver, and there was a murmur amongst the blacks as they looked down at what seemed to be a mere shelf or ledge of rock low down near the black hurrying water of the river, which seemed to be covered with flowing specks of gold as the brilliant stars were reflected from the smooth rushing stream.Where we were to descend the water seemed to be about thirty feet below, but the rocky side of the river bed ran sheer up quite fifty feet as far as we could make out in the darkness, and I did not wonder at the murmur we heard.But Ti-hi’s voice rose directly, now pleading softly in his own tongue, now in tones of command, and the murmur trailed off into a few mutterings which resulted in the men beginning to descend.“They were grumbling about having to go down there, weren’t they, Joe Carstairs,” said Jack Penny in a whisper.“Yes,” I said.“And ’nough to make ’em,” he said. “I don’t like it; even Gyp don’t like it. Look at him, how he’s got his tail between his legs. I say, can’t we wait till daylight?”“And be shot by poisoned arrows, Penny?” said the doctor quietly. “Come: on with you! I’m sure you’re not afraid?”“Afraid! What! of walking along there?” said Jack, contemptuously. “Not likely. Was I afraid when I hung over the waterfall?”“Not a bit, my lad; nor yet when you so bravely helped us to defend ourselves against the savages,” said the doctor quietly. “Come along. I’ll go first.”The blacks were all on ahead save Aroo and Jimmy, who followed last, I being next to the doctor, and JackPenny and his dog close behind me. We had to go in single file, for the ledge was not above a yard wide in places, and it was impossible to avoid a shiver of dread as we walked slowly along, assuming a confidence that we did not feel.The path rose and fell—rose and fell slightly in an undulating fashion, but it did not alter much in its width as we journeyed on for what must have been quite a mile, when we had to halt for a few minutes while the bearers readjusted their loads. And a weird party we looked as we stood upon that shelf of rock, with the perpendicular side of the gorge towering straight up black towards the sky, the summit showing plainly against the starry arch that spanned the river, and seemed to rest upon the other side of the rocky gorge fifty yards away. And there now, close to our feet, so close that we could have lain down and drunk had we been so disposed, rushed on towards the great fall the glassy gold-speckled water.I was thinking what an awful looking place it was, and wondering whether my father had ever passed this way, when Jack Penny made me jump by giving me a poke with the barrel of his gun.“Don’t do that,” I said angrily, for I felt that I might have slipped, and to have fallen into that swiftly gliding water meant being borne at headlong speed to the awful plunge down into the basin of foam into which I had looked that day.“Oh, all right!” whispered Jack. “I only wanted to tell you that it must be cramp.”“What must be cramp?” I replied.“Don’t speak so loud, and don’t let the doctor hear you,” whispered Jack. “I mean in one of my legs: it will keep waggling so and giving way at the knee.”“Why, Jack!” I said.“No, no,” he whispered hastily, “it ain’t that. I ain’t a bit afraid. It’s cramp.”“Well, if you are not afraid,” I whispered back, “I am. I hope, Jack, I may never live to be in such an awful place again.”“I say, Joe Carstairs, say that once more,” whispered Jack excitedly.“I hope I may never be—”“No, no, I don’t mean that. I mean the other,” whispered Jack.“What, about being afraid?” I said. “Well, I’m not ashamed to own it. It may be cramp, Jack Penny, but I feel as if it is sheer fright.”“Then that’s what must be the matter with my leg,” said Jack eagerly, “only don’t let’s tell the doctor.”“Ready behind there?” said the latter just then.“Yes,” I said, “quite ready;” and I passed the word to Jimmy and Aroo, who were close to me.“Let’s get on then,” said the doctor in a low voice. “I want to get out of this awful gorge.”“Hooray!” whispered Jack Penny, giving me such a dig with his elbow that for the second time he nearly sent me off the rocky shelf. “Hooray! the doctor’s frightened too, Joe Carstairs. I ain’t ashamed to own it now.”“Hist!” whispered the doctor then, and slightly raised as was his voice it seemed strangely loud, and went echoing along the side of the chasm.Going steadily on at once we found the shelf kept wonderfully the same in width, the only variation being that it dipped down close to the rushing water at times, and then curved up till we were fifteen or twenty feet above the stream. With the walls on either side of the river, though, it was different, for they gradually rose higher and higher till there was but a strip of starry sky above our heads, and our path then became so dark that but for the leading of the sure-footed blacks we could not have progressed, but must have come to a halt.I was wondering whether this gorge would end by opening out upon some plain, through its being but a gap or pass through a range of hills, but concluded that it would grow deeper and darker, and bring us face to face with a second waterfall, and I whispered to the doctor my opinion; but he did not agree with me.“No,” he said, “the gorge is rising, of course, from the way in which the river rushes on, but there can be no waterfall this way or we should hear it. The noise of the one behind us comes humming along this rocky passage so plainly that we should hear another in the same way. But don’t talk, my lad. Look to your footsteps and mind that we have no accident. Stop!” he exclaimed, then, “Halt!”I did not know why he called a halt just then in that narrow dangerous place, but it seemed that he heard a peculiar sound from behind, and directly after Aroo closed up, to say that the enemy were following us, for he had heard them talking as they came, the smooth walls of the rocks acting as a great speaking-tube and bearing the sounds along.“That’s bad news, my lad,” said the doctor, “but matters might be worse. This is a dangerous place, but it is likely to be far more dangerous for an attacking party than for the defenders. Our guns could keep any number of enemies at a distance, I should say. Better that they should attack us here than out in the open, where we should be easy marks for their arrows.”“I do wish they’d leave us alone,” said Jack Penny in an ill-used tone. “Nobody said anything to them; why can’t they leave off?”“We’ll argue out that point another time, Jack Penny,” said the doctor. “Only let’s get on now.”“Oh, all right! I’m ready,” he said, and once more our little party set forward, the doctor and I now taking the extreme rear, with the exception that we let Aroo act as a scout behind, to give warning of the enemy’s near approach.And so we went on in the comparative darkness, the only sounds heard being the hissing of the swiftly rushing water as it swept on towards the fall, and the dull deep roar that came booming now loudly, now faintly, from where the river made its plunge.Twice over we made a halt and stood with levelled pieces ready to meet an attack, but they only proved to be false alarms, caused by our friends dislodging stones in the path, which fell with a hollow sullen plunge into the rushing water, producing a strange succession of sounds, as of footsteps beating the path behind us, so curiously were these repeated from the smooth face of the rock.Hiss-hiss,rush-rushwent the water, and when we paused again and again, so utterly solemn and distinct were the sounds made by the waterfall and the river that I fancied that our friend Aroo must have been deceived.“If the savages were pursuing us,” I said, “we should have heard them by now.”“Don’t be too satisfied, my dear boy,” said the doctor. “These people have a great deal of the animal in them, and when they have marked down their prey they are not likely to leave the track till the end.”I did not like the sound of that word, “end.” It was ominous, but I held my tongue.“As likely as not,” continued the doctor, “the enemy are creeping cautiously along within a couple of hundred yards of where we stand, and—”“I say,” cried Jack Penny eagerly, “it’s rather cold standing about here; hadn’t we better make haste on?”“Decidedly, Penny,” said the doctor. “Forward!”“Yes, let’s get forward,” I said, and the doctor suddenly clapped his hand over my mouth and whispered:“Hush! Look there!”“I can’t see anything,” I said, after a long gaze in the direction by which we had come.“Can you see just dimly, close to where that big star makes the blur in the water, a light-coloured stone?”“Yes.”“Watch it for a minute.”I fixed my eyes upon the dimly-seen rock, just where quite a blaze of stars flecked the black water with their reflections, but for a time I saw nothing. I only made my eyes ache, and a strong desire came upon me to blink them very rapidly. Then all at once the stone seemed darker for a moment, and then darker again, as if a cloud had come between the glinting stars and the earth.It was so plain that a couple of the savages had glided by that stone that we felt it would be best to remain where we were for the present, awaiting the attack that we knew must follow.“We are prepared now,” whispered the doctor, “and if we must fight it would be better to fight now than have to turn suddenly and meet an attack on our rear.”The result was that we remained watching through the next painful hour, guns and bows ready for the first oncoming of the savages; but with terrible distinctness there was the washing sound of the river hissing past the rocks, and the rising and falling musical roar of the distant cascade—nothing more!Then another hour of silence in that awful chasm passed away, with the expectation of being attacked every moment keeping our nerves upon the stretch.How different it all seemed, what a change from the peaceful life at home! There I had led a happy boyish life, with the black for my companion; sometimes he would disappear to live amongst his tribe for a few weeks, but he always returned, and just after breakfast there would be his merry black face eagerly watching for my coming to go with him to “kedge fis” in some fresh creek or water-hole that he had discovered; to hunt out wallabies or some other of the hopping kangaroo family peculiar to the land. Jimmy had always some fresh expedition on the way, upon which we started with boy-like eagerness. But now all at once, consequent upon my determination, my course of life had been changed, and it seemed that, young as I was, all the work that fell to my hand was man’s work. Yesterday I was a boy, now I was a man.That was my rather conceited way of looking upon matters then, and there was some ground for my assumption of manliness; but if excuse be needed let me say in my defence that I was suddenly cast into this career of dangerous adventure, and I was very young.Some such musings as the above, mixed up with recollections of my peaceful bed-room at home, and the gentle face that bent over me to kiss me when I was half asleep, were busy in my brain, when the doctor said softly:“This seems to be such a strong place, Joe, my lad, that I hardly like leaving it; but we must get on. Go forward and start them. Tell them to be as quiet as possible.”His words seemed full of relief, and I started round to obey him, glad to have an end to the terrible inaction, when, to my utter astonishment, I found Jack Penny, who was behind me, sitting with his legs dangling over the edge of the rocky shelf, and apparently within an inch or two of the water, while his shoulders were propped against the side of the chasm; his rifle was in his lap and his chin buried in his breast—fast asleep!“Jack!” I whispered softly, utterly astounded that any one could sleep at a time like that; but he did not hear me.“Jack!” I said again, and laid my hand upon his shoulder, but without result.“Jack!” I said, giving him an impatient shove.“Get out!” he mumbled softly; and Gyp, whom I had not seen before, resented this interference with his master by uttering a low growl.“Down, Gyp!” I said. “Here, Jack; wake up!” I whispered, and this time I gave him a kick in the leg.“I’ll give you such a wunner, if you don’t be quiet!” he growled. “Let me alone, will yer!”“Jack! be quiet!” I whispered, with my lips to his ear. “The savages are close at hand!”“Who cares for the savages?” he grumbled, yawning fearfully. “Oh! I am so sleepy. I say, I wish you’d be quiet!”“Wake up!” I said, shaking him; and Gyp growled again.“Shan’t!” very decidedly.“Wake up directly, Jack! Jack Penny, wake up!”“Shan’t! Get out!”“Hist!” whispered the doctor from behind me.“Wake up!” I said again, going down on one knee so that I could whisper to him.Snore!It was a very decided one, and when I laid my gun down and gave a tug at him, it was like pulling at something long and limp, say a big bolster, that gave way everywhere, till in my impatience I doubled my fist and, quite in a rage, gave him, as his head fell back, a smart rap on the nose.I had previously held him by the ears and tapped the back of his head against the rock without the slightest effect; but this tap on the nose was electric in its way, for Jack sprang up, letting his gun fall, threw himself into a fighting attitude, and struck out at me.But he missed me, for when his gun fell it would have glided over the edge of the rocky shelf into the stream if I had not suddenly stooped down and caught it, the result being that Jack’s fierce blow went right over my head, while when I rose upright he was wide awake.“I say,” he said coolly, “have I been asleep?”“Asleep! yes,” I whispered hastily. “Here, come along; we are to get forward. How could you sleep?”“Oh, I don’t know!” he said. “I only just closed my eyes. Why, here’s somebody else asleep!”Sure enough Jimmy was curled up close to the rock, with his hands tucked under his arms, his waddy in one fist, a hatchet in the other.Jack Penny was in so sour a temper at having been awakened from sleep, and in so rude a way, that he swung one of his long legs back, and then sent it forward.“Don’t kick him!” I said hastily; but I was too late, for the black received the blow from Jack’s foot right in the ribs, and starting up with his teeth grinding together, he struck a tremendous blow with his waddy, fortunately at the rock, which sent forth such an echoing report through the gully that the doctor came hurriedly to our side.“What is it?” he said in an anxious whisper.“Big bunyip hit Jimmy rib; kick, bangum, bangum!” cried the black furiously. “Who kick black fellow? Bash um head um! Yah!”He finished his rapidly uttered address by striking a warlike attitude.“It’s all right now,” I whispered to the doctor. “Come along, Jimmy;” and taking the black’s arm I pushed him on before me, growling like an angry dog.“All right!” the doctor said. “Yes, for our pursuers! Get on as quickly as you can.”I hurried on now to the front, giving Ti-hi his order to proceed, and then signing to the bearers to go on, I was getting back past them along the narrow path, and had just got by Jimmy and reached Jack Penny, when there was a flash, and a rattling echoing report as of twenty rifles from where the doctor was keeping guard.I knew that the danger must be imminent or he would not have fired, and passing Jack Penny, who was standing ready, rifle in hand, I reached the doctor just as there was another flash and roar echoing along the gully.“That’s right, my lad!” he whispered; “be ready to fire if you see them coming while I reload.”I knelt down, resting my elbow on my knee, and found it hard work to keep the piece steady as I waited to see if the savages were coming on.I had not long to wait before I distinctly saw a couple of dimly-seen figures against the surface of the starlit water. I fired directly, and then again, rising afterwards to my feet to reload.“Now, back as you load, quickly!” whispered the doctor, and he caught Aroo by the shoulder and drew him back as half a dozen arrows came pattering against the rock over our head and fell at our feet.“Back!” whispered the doctor quietly; “we must keep up a running fight.”“Here, hold hard a minute!” said Jack Penny aloud; “I must have a shot at ’em first.”“No: wait!” cried the doctor. “Your turn will come.”Jack Penny uttered a low growl in his deep bass voice, which was answered by Gyp, who was getting much excited, and had to be patted and restrained by angry orders to lie down before he would consent to follow his master in the hurried retreat we made to where Ti-hi and his men were waiting for us. Here we found the shelf had widened somewhat, and some pieces of rock that had fallen offered shelter from an attack.As we joined them the men, who had laid down their loads, prepared to discharge a volley of arrows, but they were stopped, as it would have been so much waste.For the next six hours, till the stars began to pale, ours was one continuous retreat before the enemy, who seemed to grow bolder each time we gave way and hurried along the edge of the river to a fresh halting-place.We fired very seldom, for it was only waste of ammunition, and the darkness was so great that though they often sent a volley of arrows amongst us, not one of our party was hurt.It was a fevered and exciting time, but fortunately we were not called upon to suffer as we had during the attack upon the cave. Then we were maddened almost by the heat and thirst. Now we had ample draughts of cool refreshing water to fly to from time to time, or to bathe our temples where the shelf was low.The savages made no attempts at concealing their presence now, and we could hear a loud buzz of excited voices constantly in our rear, but still they did not pursue us right home, but made rushes that kept us in a constant state of excitement and, I may say, dread.“Do you think they will get tired of this soon, doctor?”I said, just at daybreak, when I found the doctor looking at me in a strange and haggard way.“I can’t say, my lad,” he whispered back. “We must hope for the best.”Just then Ti-hi came from the front to sign to us to hurry on, and following him we found that he had hit upon a place where there was some hope of our being able to hold our own for a time.It was extremely fortunate, for the coming day would make us an easy mark, the pale-grey light that was stealing down having resulted in several arrows coming dangerously near; and though there were equal advantages for us in the bodies of our enemies becoming easier to see, we were not eager to destroy life, our object, as I have before said, being to escape.We followed Ti-hi, to find that the narrow shelf slowly rose now higher and higher, till at the end of a couple of hundred yards it gained its highest point of some five-and-twenty feet above the river; while to add to the advantage of our position, the rock above the path stretched over it like the commencement of some Titan’s arch, that had been intended to bridge the stream, one that had either never been finished, or had crumbled and fallen away.In support of this last fanciful idea there were plenty of loose rocks and splinters of stones that had fallen from above, mingled with others whose rounded shapes showed that they must have been ground together by the action of water.I did not think of that at the time, though I had good reason to understand it later on.The position was admirable, the ledge widening out considerably; we were safe from dropping arrows, and we had only to construct a strong breastwork, some five feet long, to protect us from attack by the enemy. In fact in five minutes or so we were comparatively safe; in ten minutes or a quarter of an hour our breastwork was so strengthened that we began to breathe freely.By this time it was morning, but instead of its continuing to grow light down in the ravine, whose walls towered up on either side, the gathering light seemed suddenly to begin to fade away. It grew more obscure. The soft cool refreshing morning breeze died away, to give place to a curious sultry heat. The silence, save the rushing of the river, was profound, and it seemed at last as if it was to be totally dark.“What does this mean, doctor?” I said, as I glanced round and noted that the sombre reflection from the walls of the chasm gave the faces of my companions a ghastly and peculiar look.“A storm, my lad,” he said quietly. “Look how discoloured the water seems. There has been a storm somewhere up in the mountains, I suppose, and now it is coming here.”“Well, we are in shelter,” I said, “and better off than our enemies.”“What difference does that make?” grumbled Jack Penny in ill-used tones. “They can’t get wet through, for they don’t wear hardly any clothes. But, I say, ain’t it time we had our breakfast? I’ve given up my night’s rest, but I must have something to eat.”“Quick! look out, my lads! look out!” cried the doctor, as there was a loud yelling noise from the savages, whom we could plainly see now coming along the narrow path, while almost simultaneously there was a vivid flash of lightning that seemed to blind us for the time, and then a deafening roar of thunder, followed so closely by others that it was like one rolling, incessant peal.

Our black companion was quite right. The enemy had indeed gone, and the time had come for us to get beyond their reach, for all at once it seemed to grow dark, and we stood farther out of our shelter, glad to free our limbs from the cramping positions in which they had been for so long.

The doctor handed to each of us some chips of dried meat, bidding us eat as we walked. The bearers were well provided, and starting at once, with Ti-hi to lead and Aroo to cover our retreat, we stepped lightly off.

Our blacks knew well enough what was required of them now as to our baggage, and every package was taken from the breastwork, shouldered or placed upon the head, and, watchful and ready to use our arms, we soon left the scene of the fight behind.

The New Guinea savage Ti-hi as we called him, that being the nearest approach I can get to his name, followed very much the course we had taken early in the day when we sought the waterfall, but left it a little to our left and struck the river some few hundred yards above, pausing for a few minutes for his men to take breath, and then pointing out the course he meant to take.

It was a perilous-looking place, enough to make anyone shiver, and there was a murmur amongst the blacks as they looked down at what seemed to be a mere shelf or ledge of rock low down near the black hurrying water of the river, which seemed to be covered with flowing specks of gold as the brilliant stars were reflected from the smooth rushing stream.

Where we were to descend the water seemed to be about thirty feet below, but the rocky side of the river bed ran sheer up quite fifty feet as far as we could make out in the darkness, and I did not wonder at the murmur we heard.

But Ti-hi’s voice rose directly, now pleading softly in his own tongue, now in tones of command, and the murmur trailed off into a few mutterings which resulted in the men beginning to descend.

“They were grumbling about having to go down there, weren’t they, Joe Carstairs,” said Jack Penny in a whisper.

“Yes,” I said.

“And ’nough to make ’em,” he said. “I don’t like it; even Gyp don’t like it. Look at him, how he’s got his tail between his legs. I say, can’t we wait till daylight?”

“And be shot by poisoned arrows, Penny?” said the doctor quietly. “Come: on with you! I’m sure you’re not afraid?”

“Afraid! What! of walking along there?” said Jack, contemptuously. “Not likely. Was I afraid when I hung over the waterfall?”

“Not a bit, my lad; nor yet when you so bravely helped us to defend ourselves against the savages,” said the doctor quietly. “Come along. I’ll go first.”

The blacks were all on ahead save Aroo and Jimmy, who followed last, I being next to the doctor, and JackPenny and his dog close behind me. We had to go in single file, for the ledge was not above a yard wide in places, and it was impossible to avoid a shiver of dread as we walked slowly along, assuming a confidence that we did not feel.

The path rose and fell—rose and fell slightly in an undulating fashion, but it did not alter much in its width as we journeyed on for what must have been quite a mile, when we had to halt for a few minutes while the bearers readjusted their loads. And a weird party we looked as we stood upon that shelf of rock, with the perpendicular side of the gorge towering straight up black towards the sky, the summit showing plainly against the starry arch that spanned the river, and seemed to rest upon the other side of the rocky gorge fifty yards away. And there now, close to our feet, so close that we could have lain down and drunk had we been so disposed, rushed on towards the great fall the glassy gold-speckled water.

I was thinking what an awful looking place it was, and wondering whether my father had ever passed this way, when Jack Penny made me jump by giving me a poke with the barrel of his gun.

“Don’t do that,” I said angrily, for I felt that I might have slipped, and to have fallen into that swiftly gliding water meant being borne at headlong speed to the awful plunge down into the basin of foam into which I had looked that day.

“Oh, all right!” whispered Jack. “I only wanted to tell you that it must be cramp.”

“What must be cramp?” I replied.

“Don’t speak so loud, and don’t let the doctor hear you,” whispered Jack. “I mean in one of my legs: it will keep waggling so and giving way at the knee.”

“Why, Jack!” I said.

“No, no,” he whispered hastily, “it ain’t that. I ain’t a bit afraid. It’s cramp.”

“Well, if you are not afraid,” I whispered back, “I am. I hope, Jack, I may never live to be in such an awful place again.”

“I say, Joe Carstairs, say that once more,” whispered Jack excitedly.

“I hope I may never be—”

“No, no, I don’t mean that. I mean the other,” whispered Jack.

“What, about being afraid?” I said. “Well, I’m not ashamed to own it. It may be cramp, Jack Penny, but I feel as if it is sheer fright.”

“Then that’s what must be the matter with my leg,” said Jack eagerly, “only don’t let’s tell the doctor.”

“Ready behind there?” said the latter just then.

“Yes,” I said, “quite ready;” and I passed the word to Jimmy and Aroo, who were close to me.

“Let’s get on then,” said the doctor in a low voice. “I want to get out of this awful gorge.”

“Hooray!” whispered Jack Penny, giving me such a dig with his elbow that for the second time he nearly sent me off the rocky shelf. “Hooray! the doctor’s frightened too, Joe Carstairs. I ain’t ashamed to own it now.”

“Hist!” whispered the doctor then, and slightly raised as was his voice it seemed strangely loud, and went echoing along the side of the chasm.

Going steadily on at once we found the shelf kept wonderfully the same in width, the only variation being that it dipped down close to the rushing water at times, and then curved up till we were fifteen or twenty feet above the stream. With the walls on either side of the river, though, it was different, for they gradually rose higher and higher till there was but a strip of starry sky above our heads, and our path then became so dark that but for the leading of the sure-footed blacks we could not have progressed, but must have come to a halt.

I was wondering whether this gorge would end by opening out upon some plain, through its being but a gap or pass through a range of hills, but concluded that it would grow deeper and darker, and bring us face to face with a second waterfall, and I whispered to the doctor my opinion; but he did not agree with me.

“No,” he said, “the gorge is rising, of course, from the way in which the river rushes on, but there can be no waterfall this way or we should hear it. The noise of the one behind us comes humming along this rocky passage so plainly that we should hear another in the same way. But don’t talk, my lad. Look to your footsteps and mind that we have no accident. Stop!” he exclaimed, then, “Halt!”

I did not know why he called a halt just then in that narrow dangerous place, but it seemed that he heard a peculiar sound from behind, and directly after Aroo closed up, to say that the enemy were following us, for he had heard them talking as they came, the smooth walls of the rocks acting as a great speaking-tube and bearing the sounds along.

“That’s bad news, my lad,” said the doctor, “but matters might be worse. This is a dangerous place, but it is likely to be far more dangerous for an attacking party than for the defenders. Our guns could keep any number of enemies at a distance, I should say. Better that they should attack us here than out in the open, where we should be easy marks for their arrows.”

“I do wish they’d leave us alone,” said Jack Penny in an ill-used tone. “Nobody said anything to them; why can’t they leave off?”

“We’ll argue out that point another time, Jack Penny,” said the doctor. “Only let’s get on now.”

“Oh, all right! I’m ready,” he said, and once more our little party set forward, the doctor and I now taking the extreme rear, with the exception that we let Aroo act as a scout behind, to give warning of the enemy’s near approach.

And so we went on in the comparative darkness, the only sounds heard being the hissing of the swiftly rushing water as it swept on towards the fall, and the dull deep roar that came booming now loudly, now faintly, from where the river made its plunge.

Twice over we made a halt and stood with levelled pieces ready to meet an attack, but they only proved to be false alarms, caused by our friends dislodging stones in the path, which fell with a hollow sullen plunge into the rushing water, producing a strange succession of sounds, as of footsteps beating the path behind us, so curiously were these repeated from the smooth face of the rock.

Hiss-hiss,rush-rushwent the water, and when we paused again and again, so utterly solemn and distinct were the sounds made by the waterfall and the river that I fancied that our friend Aroo must have been deceived.

“If the savages were pursuing us,” I said, “we should have heard them by now.”

“Don’t be too satisfied, my dear boy,” said the doctor. “These people have a great deal of the animal in them, and when they have marked down their prey they are not likely to leave the track till the end.”

I did not like the sound of that word, “end.” It was ominous, but I held my tongue.

“As likely as not,” continued the doctor, “the enemy are creeping cautiously along within a couple of hundred yards of where we stand, and—”

“I say,” cried Jack Penny eagerly, “it’s rather cold standing about here; hadn’t we better make haste on?”

“Decidedly, Penny,” said the doctor. “Forward!”

“Yes, let’s get forward,” I said, and the doctor suddenly clapped his hand over my mouth and whispered:

“Hush! Look there!”

“I can’t see anything,” I said, after a long gaze in the direction by which we had come.

“Can you see just dimly, close to where that big star makes the blur in the water, a light-coloured stone?”

“Yes.”

“Watch it for a minute.”

I fixed my eyes upon the dimly-seen rock, just where quite a blaze of stars flecked the black water with their reflections, but for a time I saw nothing. I only made my eyes ache, and a strong desire came upon me to blink them very rapidly. Then all at once the stone seemed darker for a moment, and then darker again, as if a cloud had come between the glinting stars and the earth.

It was so plain that a couple of the savages had glided by that stone that we felt it would be best to remain where we were for the present, awaiting the attack that we knew must follow.

“We are prepared now,” whispered the doctor, “and if we must fight it would be better to fight now than have to turn suddenly and meet an attack on our rear.”

The result was that we remained watching through the next painful hour, guns and bows ready for the first oncoming of the savages; but with terrible distinctness there was the washing sound of the river hissing past the rocks, and the rising and falling musical roar of the distant cascade—nothing more!

Then another hour of silence in that awful chasm passed away, with the expectation of being attacked every moment keeping our nerves upon the stretch.

How different it all seemed, what a change from the peaceful life at home! There I had led a happy boyish life, with the black for my companion; sometimes he would disappear to live amongst his tribe for a few weeks, but he always returned, and just after breakfast there would be his merry black face eagerly watching for my coming to go with him to “kedge fis” in some fresh creek or water-hole that he had discovered; to hunt out wallabies or some other of the hopping kangaroo family peculiar to the land. Jimmy had always some fresh expedition on the way, upon which we started with boy-like eagerness. But now all at once, consequent upon my determination, my course of life had been changed, and it seemed that, young as I was, all the work that fell to my hand was man’s work. Yesterday I was a boy, now I was a man.

That was my rather conceited way of looking upon matters then, and there was some ground for my assumption of manliness; but if excuse be needed let me say in my defence that I was suddenly cast into this career of dangerous adventure, and I was very young.

Some such musings as the above, mixed up with recollections of my peaceful bed-room at home, and the gentle face that bent over me to kiss me when I was half asleep, were busy in my brain, when the doctor said softly:

“This seems to be such a strong place, Joe, my lad, that I hardly like leaving it; but we must get on. Go forward and start them. Tell them to be as quiet as possible.”

His words seemed full of relief, and I started round to obey him, glad to have an end to the terrible inaction, when, to my utter astonishment, I found Jack Penny, who was behind me, sitting with his legs dangling over the edge of the rocky shelf, and apparently within an inch or two of the water, while his shoulders were propped against the side of the chasm; his rifle was in his lap and his chin buried in his breast—fast asleep!

“Jack!” I whispered softly, utterly astounded that any one could sleep at a time like that; but he did not hear me.

“Jack!” I said again, and laid my hand upon his shoulder, but without result.

“Jack!” I said, giving him an impatient shove.

“Get out!” he mumbled softly; and Gyp, whom I had not seen before, resented this interference with his master by uttering a low growl.

“Down, Gyp!” I said. “Here, Jack; wake up!” I whispered, and this time I gave him a kick in the leg.

“I’ll give you such a wunner, if you don’t be quiet!” he growled. “Let me alone, will yer!”

“Jack! be quiet!” I whispered, with my lips to his ear. “The savages are close at hand!”

“Who cares for the savages?” he grumbled, yawning fearfully. “Oh! I am so sleepy. I say, I wish you’d be quiet!”

“Wake up!” I said, shaking him; and Gyp growled again.

“Shan’t!” very decidedly.

“Wake up directly, Jack! Jack Penny, wake up!”

“Shan’t! Get out!”

“Hist!” whispered the doctor from behind me.

“Wake up!” I said again, going down on one knee so that I could whisper to him.

Snore!

It was a very decided one, and when I laid my gun down and gave a tug at him, it was like pulling at something long and limp, say a big bolster, that gave way everywhere, till in my impatience I doubled my fist and, quite in a rage, gave him, as his head fell back, a smart rap on the nose.

I had previously held him by the ears and tapped the back of his head against the rock without the slightest effect; but this tap on the nose was electric in its way, for Jack sprang up, letting his gun fall, threw himself into a fighting attitude, and struck out at me.

But he missed me, for when his gun fell it would have glided over the edge of the rocky shelf into the stream if I had not suddenly stooped down and caught it, the result being that Jack’s fierce blow went right over my head, while when I rose upright he was wide awake.

“I say,” he said coolly, “have I been asleep?”

“Asleep! yes,” I whispered hastily. “Here, come along; we are to get forward. How could you sleep?”

“Oh, I don’t know!” he said. “I only just closed my eyes. Why, here’s somebody else asleep!”

Sure enough Jimmy was curled up close to the rock, with his hands tucked under his arms, his waddy in one fist, a hatchet in the other.

Jack Penny was in so sour a temper at having been awakened from sleep, and in so rude a way, that he swung one of his long legs back, and then sent it forward.

“Don’t kick him!” I said hastily; but I was too late, for the black received the blow from Jack’s foot right in the ribs, and starting up with his teeth grinding together, he struck a tremendous blow with his waddy, fortunately at the rock, which sent forth such an echoing report through the gully that the doctor came hurriedly to our side.

“What is it?” he said in an anxious whisper.

“Big bunyip hit Jimmy rib; kick, bangum, bangum!” cried the black furiously. “Who kick black fellow? Bash um head um! Yah!”

He finished his rapidly uttered address by striking a warlike attitude.

“It’s all right now,” I whispered to the doctor. “Come along, Jimmy;” and taking the black’s arm I pushed him on before me, growling like an angry dog.

“All right!” the doctor said. “Yes, for our pursuers! Get on as quickly as you can.”

I hurried on now to the front, giving Ti-hi his order to proceed, and then signing to the bearers to go on, I was getting back past them along the narrow path, and had just got by Jimmy and reached Jack Penny, when there was a flash, and a rattling echoing report as of twenty rifles from where the doctor was keeping guard.

I knew that the danger must be imminent or he would not have fired, and passing Jack Penny, who was standing ready, rifle in hand, I reached the doctor just as there was another flash and roar echoing along the gully.

“That’s right, my lad!” he whispered; “be ready to fire if you see them coming while I reload.”

I knelt down, resting my elbow on my knee, and found it hard work to keep the piece steady as I waited to see if the savages were coming on.

I had not long to wait before I distinctly saw a couple of dimly-seen figures against the surface of the starlit water. I fired directly, and then again, rising afterwards to my feet to reload.

“Now, back as you load, quickly!” whispered the doctor, and he caught Aroo by the shoulder and drew him back as half a dozen arrows came pattering against the rock over our head and fell at our feet.

“Back!” whispered the doctor quietly; “we must keep up a running fight.”

“Here, hold hard a minute!” said Jack Penny aloud; “I must have a shot at ’em first.”

“No: wait!” cried the doctor. “Your turn will come.”

Jack Penny uttered a low growl in his deep bass voice, which was answered by Gyp, who was getting much excited, and had to be patted and restrained by angry orders to lie down before he would consent to follow his master in the hurried retreat we made to where Ti-hi and his men were waiting for us. Here we found the shelf had widened somewhat, and some pieces of rock that had fallen offered shelter from an attack.

As we joined them the men, who had laid down their loads, prepared to discharge a volley of arrows, but they were stopped, as it would have been so much waste.

For the next six hours, till the stars began to pale, ours was one continuous retreat before the enemy, who seemed to grow bolder each time we gave way and hurried along the edge of the river to a fresh halting-place.

We fired very seldom, for it was only waste of ammunition, and the darkness was so great that though they often sent a volley of arrows amongst us, not one of our party was hurt.

It was a fevered and exciting time, but fortunately we were not called upon to suffer as we had during the attack upon the cave. Then we were maddened almost by the heat and thirst. Now we had ample draughts of cool refreshing water to fly to from time to time, or to bathe our temples where the shelf was low.

The savages made no attempts at concealing their presence now, and we could hear a loud buzz of excited voices constantly in our rear, but still they did not pursue us right home, but made rushes that kept us in a constant state of excitement and, I may say, dread.

“Do you think they will get tired of this soon, doctor?”

I said, just at daybreak, when I found the doctor looking at me in a strange and haggard way.

“I can’t say, my lad,” he whispered back. “We must hope for the best.”

Just then Ti-hi came from the front to sign to us to hurry on, and following him we found that he had hit upon a place where there was some hope of our being able to hold our own for a time.

It was extremely fortunate, for the coming day would make us an easy mark, the pale-grey light that was stealing down having resulted in several arrows coming dangerously near; and though there were equal advantages for us in the bodies of our enemies becoming easier to see, we were not eager to destroy life, our object, as I have before said, being to escape.

We followed Ti-hi, to find that the narrow shelf slowly rose now higher and higher, till at the end of a couple of hundred yards it gained its highest point of some five-and-twenty feet above the river; while to add to the advantage of our position, the rock above the path stretched over it like the commencement of some Titan’s arch, that had been intended to bridge the stream, one that had either never been finished, or had crumbled and fallen away.

In support of this last fanciful idea there were plenty of loose rocks and splinters of stones that had fallen from above, mingled with others whose rounded shapes showed that they must have been ground together by the action of water.

I did not think of that at the time, though I had good reason to understand it later on.

The position was admirable, the ledge widening out considerably; we were safe from dropping arrows, and we had only to construct a strong breastwork, some five feet long, to protect us from attack by the enemy. In fact in five minutes or so we were comparatively safe; in ten minutes or a quarter of an hour our breastwork was so strengthened that we began to breathe freely.

By this time it was morning, but instead of its continuing to grow light down in the ravine, whose walls towered up on either side, the gathering light seemed suddenly to begin to fade away. It grew more obscure. The soft cool refreshing morning breeze died away, to give place to a curious sultry heat. The silence, save the rushing of the river, was profound, and it seemed at last as if it was to be totally dark.

“What does this mean, doctor?” I said, as I glanced round and noted that the sombre reflection from the walls of the chasm gave the faces of my companions a ghastly and peculiar look.

“A storm, my lad,” he said quietly. “Look how discoloured the water seems. There has been a storm somewhere up in the mountains, I suppose, and now it is coming here.”

“Well, we are in shelter,” I said, “and better off than our enemies.”

“What difference does that make?” grumbled Jack Penny in ill-used tones. “They can’t get wet through, for they don’t wear hardly any clothes. But, I say, ain’t it time we had our breakfast? I’ve given up my night’s rest, but I must have something to eat.”

“Quick! look out, my lads! look out!” cried the doctor, as there was a loud yelling noise from the savages, whom we could plainly see now coming along the narrow path, while almost simultaneously there was a vivid flash of lightning that seemed to blind us for the time, and then a deafening roar of thunder, followed so closely by others that it was like one rolling, incessant peal.

Chapter Twenty Two.How high the Water came.The coming of the storm checked the furious onslaught of our black enemies, but it was only for the moment. Setting thunder, lightning, and the deluging rain at defiance, they came rushing on, shouting and yelling furiously, and we were about to draw trigger, reluctantly enough, but in sheer desperation, when a volley of arrows checked them for a time, while, resuming what seemed to be a favourite means of warring upon his enemies, Jimmy commenced hurling masses of stone at the coming foes.Checked as they were, though, it was only for a while; and we were compelled to fire again and again, with fresh assailants taking the places of those who fell. The thunder pealed so that the reports of our pieces seemed feeble, more like the crack of a cart-whip, and their flashes were as sparks compared with the blinding lightning, which darted and quivered in the gorge, at times seeming to lick the walls, at others plunging into the rushing, seething stream, into which the rain poured in very cataracts down the rocky sides.We should have ceased in very awe of the terrible battle of the elements, but in self-defence we were driven to fight hard and repel the continued attacks of the enemy, who, growing more enraged at our resistance, came on once more in a determined fashion, as if meaning this time to sweep us before them into the rushing stream.But for the bravery of our black companions our efforts would have been useless, and we should certainly have been driven back by the fierce savages, who advanced up the path, sprang upon the stone breastwork, and would have dashed down upon us regardless of our firearms, but Ti-hi and Aroo cast aside their bows at this final onslaught, and used their war-clubs in the most gallant manner. Jimmy, too, seemed to be transformed into as brave a black warrior as ever fought; and it was the gallant resistance offered that checked the enemy and made them recoil.The falling back of the foremost men, who were beaten and stunned by the blows they had received, drove their companions to make a temporary retreat, and enabled us to reload; but ere we could seem to get breath, one who appeared to be a chief rallied them, and two abreast, all that the path would allow, they came charging up towards us once again.Then there was a dead pause as the thunder crashed overhead once more, and then seemed to be continued in a strange rushing sound, which apparently paralysed the attacking party, who hesitated, stopped short about a third of the way up the narrow slope that led to our little fort, and then with a shriek of dismay turned and began to retreat.I stared after them, wondering that they should give way just at a time when a bold attack would probably have ended in our destruction; but I could make out nothing, only that the noise of the thunder still seemed to continue and grow into a sound like a fierce rush. But this was nothing new: the thunder had been going on before, and that and the blinding lightning the enemy had braved. Our defence had had no effect upon them, save to make them attack more fiercely. And yet they were now in full retreat, falling over each other in their haste, and we saw two thrust into the swift river.“Yah, ah!—big bunyip water, water!” roared Jimmy just then, clapping me on the shoulder; and, turning sharply, I saw the meaning of the prolongation of the thunder, for a great wave, at least ten feet high, ruddy, foaming, and full of tossing branches, came rushing down the gorge, as if in chase of our enemies, and before I had more than time to realise the danger, the water had leaped by us, swelling almost to our place of refuge, and where, a minute before, there had been a rocky shelf—the path along which we had come—there was now the furious torrent tearing along at racing speed.I turned aghast to the doctor, and then made as if to run, expecting that the next moment we should be swept away; but he caught me by the arm with a grip like iron.“Stand still,” he roared, with his lips to my ear. “The storm—high up the mountains—flood—the gorge.”Just then there was another crashing peal of thunder, close upon a flash of lightning, and the hissing rain ceased as if by magic, while the sky began to grow lighter. The dull boom of the tremendous wave had passed too, but the river hissed and roared as it tore along beneath our feet, and it was plain to see that it was rising higher still.The noise was not so great though, now, that we could not talk, and after recovering from the appalling shock of the new danger we had time to look around.Our first thought was of our enemies, and we gazed excitedly down the gorge and then at each other, Jack Penny shuddering and turning away his head, while I felt a cold chill of horror as I fully realised the fact that they had been completely swept away.There could not be a moment’s doubt of that, for the ware spread from rocky wall to rocky wall, and dashed along at frightful speed.We had only escaped a similar fate through being on the summit, so to speak, of the rocky path; but though for the moment safe, we could not tell for how long; while on taking a hasty glance at our position it was this: overhead the shelving rock quite impassable; to left, to right, and in front, the swollen, rushing torrent.The doctor stood looking down at the water for a few moments, and then turned to me.“How high above the surface of the water were we, do you think, when we came here?”“I should say about twenty-five feet?”“Why, we ain’t four foot above it now; and—look there! it’s a rising fast. I say, Joe Carstairs, if I’d known we were going to be drowned I wouldn’t have come.”“Are you sure it is rising?” said the doctor, bending down to examine the level—an example I followed—to see crack and crevice gradually fill and point after point covered by the seething water, which crept up slowly and insidiously higher and higher even as we watched.“Yes,” said the doctor, rising to his feet and gazing calmly round, as if to see whether there was any loophole left for escape; “yes, the water is rising fast; there can be no doubt of that.”Just then Gyp, who had been fierce and angry, snapping and barking furiously at the savages each time they charged, suddenly threw up his head and uttered a dismal howl.“Here, you hold your noise,” cried Jack Penny. “You don’t hear us holler, do you? Lie down!”The dog howled softly and crouched at his master’s feet, while Jack began to take off his clothes in a very slow and leisurely way. First he pulled off his boots, then his stockings, which he tucked methodically, along with his garters, inside his boots. This done he took off his jacket, folded it carefully, and his shirt followed, to be smoothed and folded and laid upon the jacket.And now, for the first time I thoroughly realised how excessively thin poor Jack Penny was, and the reason why he so often had a pain in his back.It seemed a strange time: after passing through such a series of dangers, after escaping by so little from being swept away, and while in terrible danger from the swiftly-rising waters, but I could not help it—Jack’s aspect as he sat there coolly, very coolly, clothed in his trousers alone, was so ludicrous that I burst out laughing, when Jimmy joined in, and began to dance with delight.“What are you larfin at?” said Jack, half vexed at my mirth.“At you,” I said. “Why, what are you going to do?”“Do!” he said. “Why, swim for it. You don’t suppose I’m going to try in my clothes?”My mirth died out as swiftly as it came, for the doctor laid his hand upon my arm and pressed it silently, to call my attention to our black followers, who were laying their bows and arrows regularly in company with their waddies, each man looking very stern and grave.They showed no fear, they raised no wild cry; they only seemed to be preparing for what was inevitable; and as I saw Ti-hi bend over and touch the water easily with his hand, and then rise up and look round at his companions, saying a few words in their tongue, the chill of horror came back once more, for I knew that the group of savages felt that their time had come, and that they were sitting there patiently waiting for the end.

The coming of the storm checked the furious onslaught of our black enemies, but it was only for the moment. Setting thunder, lightning, and the deluging rain at defiance, they came rushing on, shouting and yelling furiously, and we were about to draw trigger, reluctantly enough, but in sheer desperation, when a volley of arrows checked them for a time, while, resuming what seemed to be a favourite means of warring upon his enemies, Jimmy commenced hurling masses of stone at the coming foes.

Checked as they were, though, it was only for a while; and we were compelled to fire again and again, with fresh assailants taking the places of those who fell. The thunder pealed so that the reports of our pieces seemed feeble, more like the crack of a cart-whip, and their flashes were as sparks compared with the blinding lightning, which darted and quivered in the gorge, at times seeming to lick the walls, at others plunging into the rushing, seething stream, into which the rain poured in very cataracts down the rocky sides.

We should have ceased in very awe of the terrible battle of the elements, but in self-defence we were driven to fight hard and repel the continued attacks of the enemy, who, growing more enraged at our resistance, came on once more in a determined fashion, as if meaning this time to sweep us before them into the rushing stream.

But for the bravery of our black companions our efforts would have been useless, and we should certainly have been driven back by the fierce savages, who advanced up the path, sprang upon the stone breastwork, and would have dashed down upon us regardless of our firearms, but Ti-hi and Aroo cast aside their bows at this final onslaught, and used their war-clubs in the most gallant manner. Jimmy, too, seemed to be transformed into as brave a black warrior as ever fought; and it was the gallant resistance offered that checked the enemy and made them recoil.

The falling back of the foremost men, who were beaten and stunned by the blows they had received, drove their companions to make a temporary retreat, and enabled us to reload; but ere we could seem to get breath, one who appeared to be a chief rallied them, and two abreast, all that the path would allow, they came charging up towards us once again.

Then there was a dead pause as the thunder crashed overhead once more, and then seemed to be continued in a strange rushing sound, which apparently paralysed the attacking party, who hesitated, stopped short about a third of the way up the narrow slope that led to our little fort, and then with a shriek of dismay turned and began to retreat.

I stared after them, wondering that they should give way just at a time when a bold attack would probably have ended in our destruction; but I could make out nothing, only that the noise of the thunder still seemed to continue and grow into a sound like a fierce rush. But this was nothing new: the thunder had been going on before, and that and the blinding lightning the enemy had braved. Our defence had had no effect upon them, save to make them attack more fiercely. And yet they were now in full retreat, falling over each other in their haste, and we saw two thrust into the swift river.

“Yah, ah!—big bunyip water, water!” roared Jimmy just then, clapping me on the shoulder; and, turning sharply, I saw the meaning of the prolongation of the thunder, for a great wave, at least ten feet high, ruddy, foaming, and full of tossing branches, came rushing down the gorge, as if in chase of our enemies, and before I had more than time to realise the danger, the water had leaped by us, swelling almost to our place of refuge, and where, a minute before, there had been a rocky shelf—the path along which we had come—there was now the furious torrent tearing along at racing speed.

I turned aghast to the doctor, and then made as if to run, expecting that the next moment we should be swept away; but he caught me by the arm with a grip like iron.

“Stand still,” he roared, with his lips to my ear. “The storm—high up the mountains—flood—the gorge.”

Just then there was another crashing peal of thunder, close upon a flash of lightning, and the hissing rain ceased as if by magic, while the sky began to grow lighter. The dull boom of the tremendous wave had passed too, but the river hissed and roared as it tore along beneath our feet, and it was plain to see that it was rising higher still.

The noise was not so great though, now, that we could not talk, and after recovering from the appalling shock of the new danger we had time to look around.

Our first thought was of our enemies, and we gazed excitedly down the gorge and then at each other, Jack Penny shuddering and turning away his head, while I felt a cold chill of horror as I fully realised the fact that they had been completely swept away.

There could not be a moment’s doubt of that, for the ware spread from rocky wall to rocky wall, and dashed along at frightful speed.

We had only escaped a similar fate through being on the summit, so to speak, of the rocky path; but though for the moment safe, we could not tell for how long; while on taking a hasty glance at our position it was this: overhead the shelving rock quite impassable; to left, to right, and in front, the swollen, rushing torrent.

The doctor stood looking down at the water for a few moments, and then turned to me.

“How high above the surface of the water were we, do you think, when we came here?”

“I should say about twenty-five feet?”

“Why, we ain’t four foot above it now; and—look there! it’s a rising fast. I say, Joe Carstairs, if I’d known we were going to be drowned I wouldn’t have come.”

“Are you sure it is rising?” said the doctor, bending down to examine the level—an example I followed—to see crack and crevice gradually fill and point after point covered by the seething water, which crept up slowly and insidiously higher and higher even as we watched.

“Yes,” said the doctor, rising to his feet and gazing calmly round, as if to see whether there was any loophole left for escape; “yes, the water is rising fast; there can be no doubt of that.”

Just then Gyp, who had been fierce and angry, snapping and barking furiously at the savages each time they charged, suddenly threw up his head and uttered a dismal howl.

“Here, you hold your noise,” cried Jack Penny. “You don’t hear us holler, do you? Lie down!”

The dog howled softly and crouched at his master’s feet, while Jack began to take off his clothes in a very slow and leisurely way. First he pulled off his boots, then his stockings, which he tucked methodically, along with his garters, inside his boots. This done he took off his jacket, folded it carefully, and his shirt followed, to be smoothed and folded and laid upon the jacket.

And now, for the first time I thoroughly realised how excessively thin poor Jack Penny was, and the reason why he so often had a pain in his back.

It seemed a strange time: after passing through such a series of dangers, after escaping by so little from being swept away, and while in terrible danger from the swiftly-rising waters, but I could not help it—Jack’s aspect as he sat there coolly, very coolly, clothed in his trousers alone, was so ludicrous that I burst out laughing, when Jimmy joined in, and began to dance with delight.

“What are you larfin at?” said Jack, half vexed at my mirth.

“At you,” I said. “Why, what are you going to do?”

“Do!” he said. “Why, swim for it. You don’t suppose I’m going to try in my clothes?”

My mirth died out as swiftly as it came, for the doctor laid his hand upon my arm and pressed it silently, to call my attention to our black followers, who were laying their bows and arrows regularly in company with their waddies, each man looking very stern and grave.

They showed no fear, they raised no wild cry; they only seemed to be preparing for what was inevitable; and as I saw Ti-hi bend over and touch the water easily with his hand, and then rise up and look round at his companions, saying a few words in their tongue, the chill of horror came back once more, for I knew that the group of savages felt that their time had come, and that they were sitting there patiently waiting for the end.

Chapter Twenty Three.We await our Fate.I glanced from the blacks to the doctor, to see that he was intently gazing up the gorge where the rushing water came seething down, and I read in his face that he could not see the slightest hope.I looked at Jack Penny, who was deeply intent upon a little blue anchor that some bush shepherd had tattooed upon his thin white arm.Then I turned to Jimmy, whose quick dark eyes were busy inspecting his toes, those on the right foot having hold of his war-club, which he was holding out for Gyp to smell.He alone of the party did not seem to realise the fact that the end was so near.“Can we do anything, doctor?” I said at last in a low awe-stricken voice.He gazed at me tenderly and held out his hand to press mine, when I laid it in his grasp.“No, my lad,” he said, “nothing. I have tried mentally to see a way out of our peril, but I can see none. Unless the water sinks we are lost! Joe, my lad, you must act like a man!”“I’ll try, doctor,” I said in a choking voice; and as I spoke, once more there seemed to rise up before me our quiet peaceful home near Sydney, with its verandah and flowers and the simply furnished pretty rooms, in one of which sat my mother, waiting for tidings of her husband and son.I could not help it, but clasped my hands together uttering a despairing cry. For it seemed so hard to give up hope when so young and full of health and strength. Even if it had been amidst the roar and turmoil of the storm it would not have seemed so bad, or when the great flood wave came down; but now, in these calm cool moments, when there was nothing to excite, nothing to stir the blood, and, above all, just when the sky was of a dazzling blue, with a few silvery clouds floating away in the rear of the storm, while the sun shone down gloriously, it seemed too hard to bear.I gazed eagerly at the water, to see that it was nearly a foot higher, and then I joined the doctor in searching the rock with my eyes for a place where we might find foothold and clamber beyond the reach of the rushing torrent; but no, there seemed no spot where even a bird could climb, and in despair I too began to strip off some of my clothes.“Are you going to try to swim?” said the doctor gravely.I nodded.“That’s right,” he said. “I shall do the same. We might reach some ledge lower down.”He said that wordmightwith a slow solemn emphasis that made me shudder, for I knew he felt that it was hopeless; but all the same he granted that it was our duty to try.The doctor now bent down over the water, and I could see that it was rising faster than ever.All at once Jimmy seemed to rouse himself, throwing up his waddy with his foot and catching it in his hand.“No water go down,” he said. “Mass Joe, Mass Jack, doctor, an all a let get up higher; no get wet. Top along get drown, die, and bunyip pull um down an eat um!”“I’m afraid escape is impossible, Jimmy,” I said sadly.“No know what um say!” cried the black impatiently.“Can’t get away,” I said.“No get way! Waitum, waitum! Jimmy—Jimmy see!”He went to the edge of the shelf and dipped one foot in the water, then the other, worked his toes about, and then, after a contemptuous look at the blacks, who were calmly awaiting their fate, he looked up at the face of the rock beyond the curving over abutment, and, reaching up as high as he could, began to climb.It did not seem to occur to him at first that if he were able to escape no one else would be, and he tried twice with a wonderful display of activity, which resulted merely in his slipping back.Then he tried elsewhere in two places, but with the same result, and after a few more trials he came to me and stood rubbing the back of his head, as if puzzled at his being so helpless and beaten at every turn.“Get much, too much water, Mass Joe!” he said. “What um going to do?”I shook my head sadly, and went to where the doctor was watching the progress of the rushing river as it rose inch by inch—cracks and points of rock that we had before noticed disappearing entirely, till the flowing earth-stained surface was but a few inches below the ledge where we were grouped, waiting for the time when we should be swept away.In spite of the knowledge that at most in an hour the ledge would be covered I could not help watching the rushing stream as it dashed along. It was plain enough to me now why the sides of the gorge were so smooth and regular, for the action of the water must have been going on like this for many ages after every storm, and, laden as the waters were with masses of wood and stone, with pebbles and sand, the scouring of the rocks must have been incessant.Then my thoughts came back to our horrible position, and I looked round in despair, but only to be shamed out of any frantic display of grief by the stoical calmness with which all seemed to be preparing to meet their fate.Still the water rose steadily higher and higher inch by inch, and I could see that in a very few minutes it would be over the ledge.I was noting, too, that now it was so near the end, my companions seemed averse to speaking to me or each other, but were evidently moody and thoughtful; all but Jimmy, who seemed to be getting excited, and yet not much alarmed.I had gone to the extreme edge of the ledge, where the water nearly lapped my feet, and gazing straight up the gorge at the sunlit waters, kept backing slowly up the slope, driven away as the river rose, when the black came to me and touched my shoulder.“Poor black fellow there going die, Mass Joe. Not die yet while: Jimmy not go die till fin’ um fader. Lot o’ time; Jimmy not ready die—lot o’ time!”“But how are we to get away, Jimmy? How are we to escape?”“Black fellow hab big tink,” he replied. “Much big tink and find um way. Great tupid go die when quite well, tank you, Mass Joe. Jimmy black fellow won’t die yet? Mass Joe hab big swim ’long o’ Jimmy. Swim much fass all down a water. Won’t die, oh no! Oh no!”There was so much hope and confidence in the black’s manner and his broken English that I felt my heart give a great throb; but a sight of the calm resignation of my companions damped me again, till Jimmy once more spoke:“Mass Joe take off closums. Put long gun up in corner; come and fetch um when no water. Big swim!”Many had been the times when Jimmy and I had dashed into the river and swum about by the hour together; why not then now try to save our lives in spite of the roughness of the torrent and the horrors of the great fall I knew, too, that the fall must be at least two or three miles away, and there was always the possibility of our getting into some eddy and struggling out.My spirits rose then at these thoughts, and I rapidly threw off part of my clothes, placing my gun and hatchet with the big knife, all tied together, in a niche of the rock, where their weight and the shelter might save them from being washed away.As I did all this I saw the doctor look up sadly, but only to lower his head again till his chin rested upon his breast; while Jack Penny stared, and drew his knees up to his chin, embracing his legs and nodding his head sagely, as if he quite approved of what I was doing.The only individual who made any active demonstration was Gyp, who jumped up and came to me wagging his tail and uttering a sharp bark or two. Then he ran to the water, snuffed at it, lapped a little, and threw up his head again, barking and splashing in it a little as he ran in breast-high and came back, as if intimating that he was ready at any moment for a swim.The doctor looked up now, and a change seemed to have come over him, for he rose from where he had been seated and took my hand.“Quite right, my lad,” he said; “one must never say despair. There’s a ledge there higher up where we will place the ammunition. Let’s keep that dry if we can. It may not be touched by the water; even if we have to swim for our lives the guns won’t hurt—that is, if they are not washed away.”It was as if he had prepared himself for the worst, and was now going to make strenuous efforts to save himself and his friends, after we had taken such precautions as we could about our stores.Jimmy grinned and helped readily to place the various articles likely to be damaged by water as high as we could on ledges and blocks of stone, though as I did all this it was with the feeling that we were never likely to see the things again.Still it was like doing one’s duty, and I felt that then, of all times, was the hour for that.So we worked on, with many a furtive glance at the water, which kept on encroaching till it began to lap the feet of our black companions.But they did not stir; they remained with their positions unaltered, and still the water advanced, till the highest point of the ledge was covered, and Gyp began whining and paddling about, asking us, as it were, with his intelligent eyes, whether we did not mean to start.“Hi! Gyp, Gyp!” shouted Jimmy just then; “up along, boy; up along!” and he patted the top of one of the stones that we had used for a breastwork.The dog leaped up directly, placing himself three feet above the flood, and stood barking loudly.“Yes, we can stand up there for a while,” said the doctor, “and that will prolong the struggle a bit. Here, come up higher!” he cried, making signs to our black companions, who after a time came unwillingly from their lower position, splashing mournfully through the water, but evidently unwilling even then to disobey their white leader.They grouped themselves with us close up to the breastwork, where we stood with the water rising still higher, and then all at once I felt that we must swim, for a fresh wave, the result probably of some portion of the flood that had been dammed up higher on the river course, swept upon us right to our lips, and but for the strength of our stone breastwork we must have been borne away.As it was, we were standing by it, some on either side, and all clinging together. We withstood the heavy wrench that the water seemed to give, and held on, the only one who lost his footing being Jack Penny, who was dragged back by the doctor as the wave passed on.“Enough to pull your arms out of the socket,” whined Jack dolefully. “I say, please don’t do it again. I’d rather have to swim.”Higher and higher came the water, icily cold and numbing. The wave that passed was succeeded by another, but that only reached to our waists, and when this had gone by there was the old slow rising of the flood as before till it was as high as our knees. Then by degrees it crept on and on till I was standing with it reaching my hips.A fearful silence now ensued, and the thought came upon me that when the final struggle was at hand we should be so clasped together that swimming would be impossible and we must all be drowned.And now, once more, with the water rising steadily, the old stunned helpless feeling began to creep over me, and I began to think of home in a dull heavy manner, of the happy days when I had hardly a care, and perhaps a few regrets were mixed with it all; but somehow I did not feel as if I repented of coming, save when I thought that my mother would have two sorrows now when she came to know of her loss.Then everything seemed to be numbed; my limbs began to feel helpless, and my thoughts moved sluggishly, and in a half dreamy fashion I stood there pressed against, the rock holding tightly by the doctor on one side, by Jimmy on the other, and in another minute I knew that the rising water would be at my lips.I remember giving a curious gasp as if my breath was going, and in imagination I recalled my sensations when, during a bathing expedition, I went down twice before Jimmy swam to my help and held me up. The water had not touched my lips—it was only at my chest, but I fancied I felt it bubbling in my nostrils and strangling me; I seemed to hear it thundering in my ears; there was the old pain at the back of my neck, and I struggled to get my hands free to beat the water like a drowning dog, but they were tightly held by my companions, how tightly probably they never knew. Then I remember that my head suddenly seemed to grow clear, and I was repeating to myself the words of a familiar old prayer when my eyes fell upon the surface of the water, and I felt as if I could not breathe.The next minute Gyp was barking furiously, as he stood upon his hind legs resting his paws upon his master’s shoulders, and Jimmy gave a loud shout.“All a water run away, juss fass now,” and as he spoke it fell a couple of inches, then a couple more, so swiftly, indeed, that the terrible pressure that held us tightly against the stones was taken off pound by pound, and before we could realise the truth the water was at my knees.Ten minutes later it was at my feet, and before half an hour had passed we were standing in the glorious sunshine with the rocky ledge drying fast, while the river, minute by minute, was going down, so that we felt sure if no storm came to renew the flood it would be at its old level in a couple of hours’ time.We were dripping and numbed by the icy water; but in that fierce sunshine it was wonderful how soon our wrung-out garments dried; and warmth was rapidly restored to our limbs by rocks that soon grew heated in the torrid rays.“Big bunyip got no more water. All gone dis time,” said Jimmy calmly. “Poor black fellows tink go die. No die Jimmy. Lots a do find um fader all over big country. Water all gone, Jimmy cunning—artful, not mean die dis time. Bunyip not got ’nuff water. Give Jimmy something eat. Ready eat half sheep and damper. Give Jimmy some eat.”We all wanted something to eat, and eagerly set to work, but soaking damper was not a very sumptuous repast; still we feasted as eagerly as if it had been the most delicious food, and all the time the water kept going down.

I glanced from the blacks to the doctor, to see that he was intently gazing up the gorge where the rushing water came seething down, and I read in his face that he could not see the slightest hope.

I looked at Jack Penny, who was deeply intent upon a little blue anchor that some bush shepherd had tattooed upon his thin white arm.

Then I turned to Jimmy, whose quick dark eyes were busy inspecting his toes, those on the right foot having hold of his war-club, which he was holding out for Gyp to smell.

He alone of the party did not seem to realise the fact that the end was so near.

“Can we do anything, doctor?” I said at last in a low awe-stricken voice.

He gazed at me tenderly and held out his hand to press mine, when I laid it in his grasp.

“No, my lad,” he said, “nothing. I have tried mentally to see a way out of our peril, but I can see none. Unless the water sinks we are lost! Joe, my lad, you must act like a man!”

“I’ll try, doctor,” I said in a choking voice; and as I spoke, once more there seemed to rise up before me our quiet peaceful home near Sydney, with its verandah and flowers and the simply furnished pretty rooms, in one of which sat my mother, waiting for tidings of her husband and son.

I could not help it, but clasped my hands together uttering a despairing cry. For it seemed so hard to give up hope when so young and full of health and strength. Even if it had been amidst the roar and turmoil of the storm it would not have seemed so bad, or when the great flood wave came down; but now, in these calm cool moments, when there was nothing to excite, nothing to stir the blood, and, above all, just when the sky was of a dazzling blue, with a few silvery clouds floating away in the rear of the storm, while the sun shone down gloriously, it seemed too hard to bear.

I gazed eagerly at the water, to see that it was nearly a foot higher, and then I joined the doctor in searching the rock with my eyes for a place where we might find foothold and clamber beyond the reach of the rushing torrent; but no, there seemed no spot where even a bird could climb, and in despair I too began to strip off some of my clothes.

“Are you going to try to swim?” said the doctor gravely.

I nodded.

“That’s right,” he said. “I shall do the same. We might reach some ledge lower down.”

He said that wordmightwith a slow solemn emphasis that made me shudder, for I knew he felt that it was hopeless; but all the same he granted that it was our duty to try.

The doctor now bent down over the water, and I could see that it was rising faster than ever.

All at once Jimmy seemed to rouse himself, throwing up his waddy with his foot and catching it in his hand.

“No water go down,” he said. “Mass Joe, Mass Jack, doctor, an all a let get up higher; no get wet. Top along get drown, die, and bunyip pull um down an eat um!”

“I’m afraid escape is impossible, Jimmy,” I said sadly.

“No know what um say!” cried the black impatiently.

“Can’t get away,” I said.

“No get way! Waitum, waitum! Jimmy—Jimmy see!”

He went to the edge of the shelf and dipped one foot in the water, then the other, worked his toes about, and then, after a contemptuous look at the blacks, who were calmly awaiting their fate, he looked up at the face of the rock beyond the curving over abutment, and, reaching up as high as he could, began to climb.

It did not seem to occur to him at first that if he were able to escape no one else would be, and he tried twice with a wonderful display of activity, which resulted merely in his slipping back.

Then he tried elsewhere in two places, but with the same result, and after a few more trials he came to me and stood rubbing the back of his head, as if puzzled at his being so helpless and beaten at every turn.

“Get much, too much water, Mass Joe!” he said. “What um going to do?”

I shook my head sadly, and went to where the doctor was watching the progress of the rushing river as it rose inch by inch—cracks and points of rock that we had before noticed disappearing entirely, till the flowing earth-stained surface was but a few inches below the ledge where we were grouped, waiting for the time when we should be swept away.

In spite of the knowledge that at most in an hour the ledge would be covered I could not help watching the rushing stream as it dashed along. It was plain enough to me now why the sides of the gorge were so smooth and regular, for the action of the water must have been going on like this for many ages after every storm, and, laden as the waters were with masses of wood and stone, with pebbles and sand, the scouring of the rocks must have been incessant.

Then my thoughts came back to our horrible position, and I looked round in despair, but only to be shamed out of any frantic display of grief by the stoical calmness with which all seemed to be preparing to meet their fate.

Still the water rose steadily higher and higher inch by inch, and I could see that in a very few minutes it would be over the ledge.

I was noting, too, that now it was so near the end, my companions seemed averse to speaking to me or each other, but were evidently moody and thoughtful; all but Jimmy, who seemed to be getting excited, and yet not much alarmed.

I had gone to the extreme edge of the ledge, where the water nearly lapped my feet, and gazing straight up the gorge at the sunlit waters, kept backing slowly up the slope, driven away as the river rose, when the black came to me and touched my shoulder.

“Poor black fellow there going die, Mass Joe. Not die yet while: Jimmy not go die till fin’ um fader. Lot o’ time; Jimmy not ready die—lot o’ time!”

“But how are we to get away, Jimmy? How are we to escape?”

“Black fellow hab big tink,” he replied. “Much big tink and find um way. Great tupid go die when quite well, tank you, Mass Joe. Jimmy black fellow won’t die yet? Mass Joe hab big swim ’long o’ Jimmy. Swim much fass all down a water. Won’t die, oh no! Oh no!”

There was so much hope and confidence in the black’s manner and his broken English that I felt my heart give a great throb; but a sight of the calm resignation of my companions damped me again, till Jimmy once more spoke:

“Mass Joe take off closums. Put long gun up in corner; come and fetch um when no water. Big swim!”

Many had been the times when Jimmy and I had dashed into the river and swum about by the hour together; why not then now try to save our lives in spite of the roughness of the torrent and the horrors of the great fall I knew, too, that the fall must be at least two or three miles away, and there was always the possibility of our getting into some eddy and struggling out.

My spirits rose then at these thoughts, and I rapidly threw off part of my clothes, placing my gun and hatchet with the big knife, all tied together, in a niche of the rock, where their weight and the shelter might save them from being washed away.

As I did all this I saw the doctor look up sadly, but only to lower his head again till his chin rested upon his breast; while Jack Penny stared, and drew his knees up to his chin, embracing his legs and nodding his head sagely, as if he quite approved of what I was doing.

The only individual who made any active demonstration was Gyp, who jumped up and came to me wagging his tail and uttering a sharp bark or two. Then he ran to the water, snuffed at it, lapped a little, and threw up his head again, barking and splashing in it a little as he ran in breast-high and came back, as if intimating that he was ready at any moment for a swim.

The doctor looked up now, and a change seemed to have come over him, for he rose from where he had been seated and took my hand.

“Quite right, my lad,” he said; “one must never say despair. There’s a ledge there higher up where we will place the ammunition. Let’s keep that dry if we can. It may not be touched by the water; even if we have to swim for our lives the guns won’t hurt—that is, if they are not washed away.”

It was as if he had prepared himself for the worst, and was now going to make strenuous efforts to save himself and his friends, after we had taken such precautions as we could about our stores.

Jimmy grinned and helped readily to place the various articles likely to be damaged by water as high as we could on ledges and blocks of stone, though as I did all this it was with the feeling that we were never likely to see the things again.

Still it was like doing one’s duty, and I felt that then, of all times, was the hour for that.

So we worked on, with many a furtive glance at the water, which kept on encroaching till it began to lap the feet of our black companions.

But they did not stir; they remained with their positions unaltered, and still the water advanced, till the highest point of the ledge was covered, and Gyp began whining and paddling about, asking us, as it were, with his intelligent eyes, whether we did not mean to start.

“Hi! Gyp, Gyp!” shouted Jimmy just then; “up along, boy; up along!” and he patted the top of one of the stones that we had used for a breastwork.

The dog leaped up directly, placing himself three feet above the flood, and stood barking loudly.

“Yes, we can stand up there for a while,” said the doctor, “and that will prolong the struggle a bit. Here, come up higher!” he cried, making signs to our black companions, who after a time came unwillingly from their lower position, splashing mournfully through the water, but evidently unwilling even then to disobey their white leader.

They grouped themselves with us close up to the breastwork, where we stood with the water rising still higher, and then all at once I felt that we must swim, for a fresh wave, the result probably of some portion of the flood that had been dammed up higher on the river course, swept upon us right to our lips, and but for the strength of our stone breastwork we must have been borne away.

As it was, we were standing by it, some on either side, and all clinging together. We withstood the heavy wrench that the water seemed to give, and held on, the only one who lost his footing being Jack Penny, who was dragged back by the doctor as the wave passed on.

“Enough to pull your arms out of the socket,” whined Jack dolefully. “I say, please don’t do it again. I’d rather have to swim.”

Higher and higher came the water, icily cold and numbing. The wave that passed was succeeded by another, but that only reached to our waists, and when this had gone by there was the old slow rising of the flood as before till it was as high as our knees. Then by degrees it crept on and on till I was standing with it reaching my hips.

A fearful silence now ensued, and the thought came upon me that when the final struggle was at hand we should be so clasped together that swimming would be impossible and we must all be drowned.

And now, once more, with the water rising steadily, the old stunned helpless feeling began to creep over me, and I began to think of home in a dull heavy manner, of the happy days when I had hardly a care, and perhaps a few regrets were mixed with it all; but somehow I did not feel as if I repented of coming, save when I thought that my mother would have two sorrows now when she came to know of her loss.

Then everything seemed to be numbed; my limbs began to feel helpless, and my thoughts moved sluggishly, and in a half dreamy fashion I stood there pressed against, the rock holding tightly by the doctor on one side, by Jimmy on the other, and in another minute I knew that the rising water would be at my lips.

I remember giving a curious gasp as if my breath was going, and in imagination I recalled my sensations when, during a bathing expedition, I went down twice before Jimmy swam to my help and held me up. The water had not touched my lips—it was only at my chest, but I fancied I felt it bubbling in my nostrils and strangling me; I seemed to hear it thundering in my ears; there was the old pain at the back of my neck, and I struggled to get my hands free to beat the water like a drowning dog, but they were tightly held by my companions, how tightly probably they never knew. Then I remember that my head suddenly seemed to grow clear, and I was repeating to myself the words of a familiar old prayer when my eyes fell upon the surface of the water, and I felt as if I could not breathe.

The next minute Gyp was barking furiously, as he stood upon his hind legs resting his paws upon his master’s shoulders, and Jimmy gave a loud shout.

“All a water run away, juss fass now,” and as he spoke it fell a couple of inches, then a couple more, so swiftly, indeed, that the terrible pressure that held us tightly against the stones was taken off pound by pound, and before we could realise the truth the water was at my knees.

Ten minutes later it was at my feet, and before half an hour had passed we were standing in the glorious sunshine with the rocky ledge drying fast, while the river, minute by minute, was going down, so that we felt sure if no storm came to renew the flood it would be at its old level in a couple of hours’ time.

We were dripping and numbed by the icy water; but in that fierce sunshine it was wonderful how soon our wrung-out garments dried; and warmth was rapidly restored to our limbs by rocks that soon grew heated in the torrid rays.

“Big bunyip got no more water. All gone dis time,” said Jimmy calmly. “Poor black fellows tink go die. No die Jimmy. Lots a do find um fader all over big country. Water all gone, Jimmy cunning—artful, not mean die dis time. Bunyip not got ’nuff water. Give Jimmy something eat. Ready eat half sheep and damper. Give Jimmy some eat.”

We all wanted something to eat, and eagerly set to work, but soaking damper was not a very sumptuous repast; still we feasted as eagerly as if it had been the most delicious food, and all the time the water kept going down.

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