rotect.

There before him was his eldest son, carrying his gun at the trail, and
running swiftly in the direction of the black, who from running boldly
from tree to tree was now seen to be growing very cautious, and suddenly
to drop down and disappear.

The captain drew a long deep breath.

"We may trust him," he said softly; "he is evidently our friend. Now
for Norman's news."

Yet, though he was at rest on this point, he was uneasy about an attack
on their right flank or rear, but that could not come from the rear, he
knew, without some panic on the part of the cattle; while he was hopeful
about the right flank, for the ground was precipitous in the extreme,
and from what they had seen so far, it was hardly possible for any one
to approach.

But though Shanter had dropped quite out of sight of those behind the
little barricade, he was still visible to Norman, who ran on and was
getting near to where the black was creeping from bush to bush on all
fours, looking in the dim evening light like a black dog carrying his
master's stick, for Norman in one glimpse saw that he was drawing his
spear as he crawled, his boomerang was stuck behind him in his
waistband, and his nulla-nulla was across his mouth tightly held by his
teeth.

When about some twenty yards away, and approaching in perfect silence as
he thought, the black looked sharply round, rose to his knees, and
signed to the boy to go down on all fours.

Norman obeyed, and Shanter waited till he had crawled up. Then making a
gesture that could only mean, "Be silent and cautious," he crawled on,
with the boy following him, till, after what seemed quite a long painful
piece of toil, they reached the foot of a steep rocky slope whose
tree-fringed summit was some fifty feet above their heads.

Shanter pointed to the top, and began to climb, mounting easily for some
distance, and then stopping by a small tree, whose gnarled roots were
fixed in the crevices of the rock. Here he held on, and reached down
with his spear, by whose help Norman soon climbed to his side, where he
paused to sling his gun by its strap, so as to leave his bands at
liberty.

The rest of the ascent was made with more ease; and when Shanter reached
the top, he raised his eyes above the level with the greatest caution,
and then seemed to Norman to crawl over like some huge black slug and
disappear.

The boy prepared to follow, when Shanter's head reappeared over the
sharp ridge and his