Part 20 (2/2)

The youth tacked once more, and steered eastward along the beach.

Again the long silence filled him with a nameless anxiety. He regretted the evil day when Blight and the natives came to McKay's Island; but in the circ.u.mstances nothing else could be done. They had put their hand to the plough; there was no turning back.

Then, gradually but surely, came the sound of the natives still engaged in conflict, unaccompanied by the report of firearms. There was no mistaking it. Their allies were being driven back; but where were the white men?

Nearer and nearer came the sounds of the retreating natives and their pursuers, till the foremost of the fugitives gained the sh.o.r.e. Jumping into their canoes they pushed off, panic-stricken and utterly fatigued.

Then came the main body, a sorry remnant at most, grimly fighting their foes at almost every step.

Waist deep in water they fought, till the survivors contrived to escape in their boats. Two canoes were left unmanned, their solitary occupants paddling laboriously out of the reach of their foes.

Nor did the pursuit cease at the water's edge, for several of the enemy dashed boldly into the waves and swam after the retreating craft.

One of the latter was, indeed, overtaken, and a desperate struggle ensued between the rival natives, till the crew of another canoe, seeing their companions' plight, returned and saved them from being wiped out.

Then the flotilla moved well out into the lagoon, and took up a position beyond the yawl, the natives, many of them badly wounded, being too exhausted to paddle another stroke.

Ellerton was now confronted with a real peril. His friends, if alive, were cut off; he was unable to gather any tidings from the natives, who replied to his gestures by grunts and meaningless exclamations.

Just then came the rattle of musketry. At all events, Mr. McKay and his party were still in a position to offer resistance, but against what odds?

Just then the wind, hitherto light, died utterly away. Ellerton knew nothing about the motor, and he himself was now in a position of peril.

Unable to move, save by using a sweep, which was hard work, he was at the mercy of the savages, who, lining the sh.o.r.e, had realised his predicament, and were preparing to swim off and carry the yawl by storm.

Ellerton had plenty of rifles and revolvers, but even then he could not hope to keep the mob of foes at bay.

Seizing a rifle, he sprang upon the cabin-top and opened fire. It was a fairly long range--some six hundred yards--but Ellerton gauged the distance to a nicety; with the correct elevation, missing a man in that throng was about an impossibility. A commotion showed that the shot had taken effect. Another with equally good result! Ellerton again felt the l.u.s.t of battle.

Suddenly, in the midst of his cool and deliberate firing, a blow from the boom nearly knocked the youth overboard. The breeze had again sprung up.

Recovering himself by grasping the main shrouds, Ellerton laid his rifle on the deck and jumped into the c.o.c.kpit. He meant to steer along the coast towards the village, and, if possible, aid his friends by a long, dropping fire.

His progress was slow, the wind being still light, and ere the yawl had travelled a hundred yards the firing on sh.o.r.e died away.

What did it mean? He thought. Were his companions at length overwhelmed by dint of numbers? If so he would take revenge; he would cruise up and down the sh.o.r.e and blaze away so long as a savage remained on the beach, or a cartridge remained on board.

And after? He gave but a brief thought to that--a solitary existence on a boat far from the little island he regarded as his home--but the thought filled him with the rage of despair.

Steering by means of the tiller between his knees, Ellerton headed diagonally towards the sh.o.r.e, at the same time charging the magazines of half-a-dozen rifles.

While thus engaged, to his astonishment and delight the sound of firing was resumed, the scene of action being nearly abreast of where the yawl was steering. He immediately hove-to, and again ascending the cabin-top, looked ash.o.r.e. The scrub and several small groves of cocoanut palms prevented him from seeing the combatants, and on this account he refrained from opening a dropping fire, for fear of harming his friends.

He was in a helpless state of perplexity till all at once a thought struck him which gave him new-born hope.

The night he and Andy kept watch on board, in the lagoon of McKay's Island, they had taken some rockets to use should they require a.s.sistance. These rockets were of the ordinary sea-pattern, making a loud explosion by means of a small charge of gun-cotton.

Hurriedly Ellerton fixed one of the rockets so that it would a.s.sume a curved flight instead of soaring upwards, then turning the vessel's course till the direction of the projectile would be as near as possible towards the scene of action, he discharged the novel weapon.

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