Part 31 (1/2)
Barely a le which proedy The shi+p was then over-run by a horde of howling savages, maddened by the desperate resistance offered by the defenders, and ruthless as wolves in their lust for destruction Now, the _Kansas_ was clear of every bedaubed Alaculof, save the many who cumbered the decks, either dead or so seriously wounded that they could not move These men were so near akin to animals, that this condition implied ultimate collapse save in a few instances of fractured skulls and broken lie of a hopeless butchery the survivors of the shi+p's company were suddenly transferred to a position of reasonable security It was not that the arrival of the shi+p's boats th that the Alaculofs could not have made sure of victory Gray and his co in the canoes could have pelted them to shreds in a few minutes Even those on the shi+p had the power to resist any atteain the decks But the superstitious savages had already screwed theht attack, and the appearance of boats filled withqualities they had already such a lively experience quite de a counter assault
Just as negroes conjure up white deard with awe men ore clothes They were ready to kill and eat the strange beings of another race who, few in numbers and ill armed, wandered into their rock-pent fastness, but it was quite a different thing to face them in equal combat
At last the sounds of conflict died away The black waters closed over the dead; the last swi of the dog, the groaning of ed between Courtenay and Gray for the guidance of the boats, were the only re symbols of the fiercest crisis which had yet befallen the _Kansas_
Elsie, wandering through a trance-like maze of vivid impressions, aith a start to the fact that Courtenay was giving directions for the lowering of the shi+p's gangway,information as to the identity of the boats beneath
”Mr Malcol ”Miss Baring and Mr and Mrs So's maid is dead Senor Jerrera is in my boat, Number 2 We have been on White Horse Island all this ti of the other life-boat”
That meant that two boats out of those which quitted the shi+p had arrived thus opportunely Senor Jerrera was the Spanish ineer who had been hustled into one of the craftdown there in the darkness a few feet away Hoonderful it all was! Elsie thought her heart would never cease its labored throbbing Even yet her breath caasps How could the captain and Gray talk so coolly, as if so on board the shi+p after an evening ashore? It was the bedizened savages who now assu of the falls and the lowering of a ladder beca:
”Well, Miss Maxwell, you and I can look forward to a busy night The shi+p is littered ounded ue”
His smooth, even sentences helped to dispel the stupor of aht which came to her was that the Spanish doctor had treated her with the kindness of an indulgent parent, for Elsie was far too unselfish not to be alive to the unselfishness of others
”How good you have been to me!” she murmured ”I can never repay you
I res to you in the saloon But you did not knohat it ht be falling even then beneath the blows of those es I have not had a chance to tell you that he has asked me to be his wife, and I have consented I love him more than all the world And you, Dr Christobal, you who knew hters of your own, you ish me happiness?”
It was not easy to bear when it cauessed the truth already But he choked back the wrath and despair which surged up in him, and said with his stately courtesy:
”I do wish you well, Elsie No man can hope more earnestly than I that you have made the better choice”
Then he turned, with a certain abruptness which ree in hisrecent days, and quitted the bridge She sighed, and was sorry for hi that he loved her
Courtenay, who had been far too busy to pay heed to anything beyond the brief fight between the boats and the canoes, perceived now that the gangas in position; lights were shi+ning on both the upper and lower platforms
He stretched out his hand, and drew Elsie to him
”Are you alone, sweetheart?” he asked
”Yes”
”Kiss o to meet your friends They will be aboard in less than a ht I had seen the last of you”
”Was it so bad as that?” sheher heart and brain at her lover's adony of the fray He gave her a reassuring hug
”You will never kno bad it was,” he said ”I cannot understand hoe escaped One oing on my knees in thankfulness for the direct intervention of Providence Those brutes ought to have mastered us a dozen times
I almost lost faith when I heard Tolleer, but I could not leave the after deck, where four of us were keeping fifty in check The least sign of yielding would have caused an overwhel rush Well, all's well that ends well And not a sailor living can squeeze his best girl and do his work at the sae ina canticle of joy she passed fro there, holding a lantern
”Huh!” he growled, when he saw her, ”p'raps you'll believe what I tell you before your hair turns gray, if not sooner Luck! Did any man ever have such luck as the skipper? Why, if he fell off Mong Blong he'd find a circus net rigged up to catch hiree with you so fully, Mr Boyle,” she whispered, ”that I auessed as much,” he answered ”At any rate I fancied it wouldn't be for want of axing on his part” He whirled off into a teuide-rope taut