CHAPTER XVIII
A SURPRISE FOR THE INVADERS
Hastily throwing on portions of their clothing and seizing their riflesand revolvers, which, by a general custom, were in variably keptloaded, the four white men prepared to dash out of the house.
"Don't show a light on any account," cautioned Mr. McKay. "We must letthe storehouses go and hold this terrace."
It was a complete surprise. The natives, who had wrested Ahii from itsformer owners, had followed up their success in driving off theinvaders by paying a return visit to Ni Atong. The population of thatisland had either been killed or reserved for a more lingering death,and from one of the latter their captors learnt of the existence ofMcKay's Island and its wealth of metal goods so prized by the South SeaIslanders.
Accordingly ten large canoes set out on an expedition to raid the whitemen's dwelling.
Arriving within sight of the peak of the island, they kept in theoffing till night, then with torches blazing aloft they found thepassage into the lagoon, and, paddling rapidly, landed on the beachbelow the settlement.
Thereupon three hundred powerful savages, armed with club, bow, spear,and knife, and bearing torches, began the ascent of the path that ledto the three terraces.
The lower storehouse was their first discovery. Quickly finding thatno white men were within, the host of warriors resumed their advance.Some, however, tempted by the various articles stored in the building,began to help themselves.
Then it was that a savage laid hold of the concertina that Ellerton hadbrought from the wreck and had hitherto been left neglected in thestore. The native was examining his prize in the torchlight, when,happening to come into collision with another plunderer, the concertinagave out a startling screech as if to atone for its days of idleness.
Dropping the musical instrument of torture like a live coal, the savagerushed from the building, his yells of terror being taken up by hiscompanions. This diversion was the cause of alarming Ellerton, andconsequently saving the inhabitants of McKay's Island from a massacre.
"Aim low, lads!" shouted Mr. McKay. "Let 'em have it!"
The conflict was short and sharp. Although many of the attackers gotwithin throwing distance, not a single native succeeded in gaining thetop of the steep and narrow path.
They fled hurriedly to the shore, where they rallied to await the dawn.
"Anyone hurt?" inquired Mr. McKay.
There was a general reply in the negative, though in the heat of thefiring there had been several narrow escapes, for the ground wasbristling with spears and littered with stones, which, had they struckanyone, would have caused serious if not fatal wounds.
In the excitement Ellerton had forgotten his crippled arm, and had useda rifle equally as well as his comrades; but the exertion had causedthe blood to flow afresh.
"Rotten luck, I call it," he grumbled as Andy readjusted the bandage."You must load at least a dozen revolvers for me. Thank goodness it'smy left arm."
"It's a fair surprise," remarked Mr. McKay. "We've our work cut out todrive them off. Won't they play old Harry with the storehouse--and theyawl."
"Oh!" exclaimed Andy in dismay, at the thought of his particulartreasure being in the hands of the savages. "Whatever can be done tosave it?"
"Nothing, I'm afraid," replied his father. "Perhaps if the mischief isnot already done and the vessel holed, we can keep them off with a longrange fire, though I can hold out no strong hopes in that direction.The plain truth is, that we are in a tight corner, and we must make thebest of it."
For some minutes the defenders kept silence, listening to the subduedsounds of their foes.
"Look here," said Mr. McKay, "it's no use sitting here and doingnothing. Terence, will you go back to the house and bring three orfour spades? We'll dig a shelter trench along the edge of the cliff soas to be able to command the path without unduly exposing ourselves tothe rascals. Andy, you had better go with him and bring some morerifles and some ammunition."
Upon the lads' return, the little band set to work to throw up theirdefences, and barely had the work been completed ere the day broke.
"There are not so many of them after all," remarked Andy, when the fullstrength of the attacking party was revealed. "We had greater odds atAhii."
"And a worse position," added his father. "We can hold out here, Ifancy, but we cannot prevent the damage to our stores and gear. See,they've begun again."
Numbers of the savages were engaged in looting the store, while others,to Andy's great disgust especially, had paddled off to where the yawllay at her moorings.
"Now," exclaimed Andy, setting the backsight of his rifle. "Eighthundred yards!"
"That's about the range," assented his father, and four rifles openedfire upon the daring natives, Ellerton contriving to rest the barrel ofhis weapon upon the ridge of the earthwork, so as to avoid using hisdamaged arm.
The bullets all fell close to the yawl, several of the natives beinghit; but possibly in their hour of triumph the savages scorned thewhite men's weapons. Casting off the moorings, they leisurely towedthe yawl out towards the reef and plundered her.
Great was the defenders' rage to see the blacks hacking at the rigging,sails, and cordage, throwing the contents of the cabin-lockers into thebottom of their canoe, and wrenching the metal cleats, hinges, andshroud-plates from her hull. This done, a powerful savage stove a holein the craft, and slowly sinking by the stern, she at length plunged tothe bottom of the lagoon.
"It's hard lines, Andy," exclaimed his father as he paused to rechargehis magazine. "But I'm afraid we shall have to make greater sacrificesbefore this affair is over."
"We seem to have horrible bad luck," replied Andy savagely. "First atAhii, and now here."
"Remember we were saved by the merciful intervention of One above,"added Mr. McKay. "And if it please Him, we'll come out of this insafety. We've had a lot to be thankful for."
"I know, but all the same it's hard lines. Take that, you brute!" Andyadded, pressing the trigger.
It was a splendid shot. A group of natives had begun to batter theyawl's tender to splinters. They were a good four hundred yards away,but Andy's shot struck a tall savage, clad in a gorgeous cloak of whiteand red feathers, fairly between the shoulder-blades.
Andy had laid aside his rifle immediately after discharging it, and hadsnatched up a pair of field-glasses. The effect of the chief'sdeath--for a chief he evidently was--caused the wreckers to abandontheir task, and they fled to join their fellows under the shelter ofthe lowermost cliff.
"They are preparing for another rush," observed Terence.
"Yes. I wish we had a Maxim or two," replied Andy. "That would stopthem."
"I have an idea," exclaimed Ellerton. "I can best be spared, so I'llrun over to the caves and bring back a few sticks of dynamite and somedetonators."
"Good! Good!" replied Mr. McKay. "You're a wonder, Hoppy. Mind howyou come back, and don't stumble, or we won't be able to find even yourfragments."
Ellerton set off on his self-imposed mission, and presently returnedwith about fourteen pounds of dynamite and half a dozen time-fuses.
"What do you propose to do?" asked Terence. "Make a bomb and roll itover the cliff?"
"No!" replied the youth. "We can load up one of those trucks, set thetime-fuse, and turn the thing adrift."
"It will mean good-bye to our storehouse," observed Mr. McKay. "Butthat cannot be helped, so let's to work; they'll be rushing us in a fewminutes."
At the top of the cable-railway stood three empty trucks. In ordinarycircumstances these would be filled with water, and their increasedweight would cause them to descend and, at the same time, bring up theloaded trucks from the shore or the storehouse. Half-way down theline, and almost abreast of the building, were three other trucks,waiting to be loaded should occasion require. Around these trucks,which were invisible from the upper terrace, were most of the savages,who were massing for the attack at the base of the sec
ond terrace.
"You are quite sure you can unshackle the thing easily?" asked Mr.McKay. "If there's a hitch we shall be the ones to be blown tosmithereens."
"I'll make sure of it," replied Ellerton, and securing the lowermost ofthe three trucks to the second one by means of a piece of rope, heunfastened the proper connecting shackles.
Then placing the explosive in the truck he asked Mr. McKay to take thetime.
"It's set for four minutes," he announced. "Half-a-minute will bequite enough, so at three and a half minutes from the time the fuse islit I'll cut the rope and off she'll go."
"Stand back, you fellows! If it goes wrong we need not all be blownsky-high. Are you ready? Stand by!"
The fuse began to hiss and splutter. Ellerton, knife in hand, kept hiseyes fixed on Mr. McKay, who, standing fifty yards off, held his watchbefore him.
"Precious long three and a half minutes," thought the lad.
It was not a pleasant task standing within two yards of ahighly-charged explosive. More than once he felt tempted to cut therope and let the truck go.
"Time?" he shouted huskily, for his heart seemed literally in histhroat.
"No, not yet," replied Mr. McKay.
Realising the strain on the plucky youth, he began to walk slowly inthe direction of the truck.
"Stand back, sir!"
Mr. McKay stopped and slowly raised his hand.
"Stand by! Let go!"
One swift sweep of the sharp blade and the cord was severed. Slowlythe truck began to gather way, then moving with increased speed itplunged on its headlong course.
Ten seconds later--before the fuse had time to complete its work--thedescending truck crashed into the stationary ones. There was adeafening roar, a cloud of dust, in which was mingled a number ofheavy, shapeless objects, and then an ominous silence, broken only bythe crash of some fragments of wood and metal hurled high in the air bythe explosive.
Rushing to the edge of the cliff the four defenders gazed upon theresult of their stratagem.
Where the trucks had stood gaped a pit six feet in depth, for one ofthe peculiarities of dynamite is that it shows its power mainly whereit meets resistance. Of the storehouse scarce a vestige remained,while the double line of rails had been uprooted for a distance ofnearly twenty yards.
The havoc wrought amongst the savages was appalling. So many werekilled that had the white men so wished it they could have fallen uponthe survivors and exterminated them; but such was not their intention.
"We must act with prudence or we shall be left with fifty woundedsavages on our hands," said Mr. McKay. "Those who are unhurt will taketo their canoes, and leave the others to their fate, and that won't do!"
"How can we stop them taking to their canoes?" asked Andy.
"By taking advantage of their cowed condition and disarming them.Come, let's to work."
Fearlessly the four defenders descended the path to the lower terrace.
"We'll begin with those fellows first!" exclaimed Mr. McKay, pointingto a group of natives cowering, with their hands over their eyes,against a spur of the cliff. "Stand by with your revolvers in casethey resist."
There was no resistance. Passively the savages allowed Mr. McKay toremove their weapons, which had fallen from their nerveless grasp.
Seizing one man firmly but gently, Mr. McKay dragged him from hiscompanions. The native's face bore a strong resemblance to that of asheep led to the slaughtering-block; no doubt he thought he was to beslain.
Escorted by the three lads the prisoner was taken to the fringe of thecocoa-nut grove, where Mr. McKay presented him with a branch of apalm--the almost universal emblem of peace.
At this the native began to see a chance of having his life spared, andMr. McKay, pointing to the canoes and then to the wounded savages, madesigns to the man that they desired their crippled enemies to be placedin the native craft.
This experiment was tried upon some of the other unharmed savages, withequally good results, and quickly recovering their senses the nativesset to work with a will.
One powerful-looking savage, however, refused to deliver up his club,but instead made a sudden rush at Mr. McKay with the evident intentionof knocking him over the head.
Mr. McKay had discarded his rifle, and his revolver was in the sidepocket of his pyjama coat. Coolly his hand sought his pocket, andwithout attempting to withdraw the weapon he discharged it at hisassailant, who was barely five yards off.
The heavy bullet, striking the man full in the chest, laid him dead onthe ground, while the other savages, awestruck at the sight of one oftheir number being killed by no visible agency, were again thrown intoa state of panic.
At length all the wounded were distributed between five of the canoes.Then Mr. McKay made signs for the rest of the natives to embark,keeping the other five canoes on the beach, and within an hour of theexplosion the sorry remnant of the invaders was paddling back towardsthe island of Ahii.