Behind, in the wood, lay the dancing death; before us these
madmen with their gleaming knives, their unearthly yells, their reeling
gait and fearful gesticulations. We had to choose between them, the
sleep in the lonely glen, or the race downward to the shore; and we
chose the latter, believing, I think, that the end must be the same,
turn where we would.

"Keep your course, keep your course!" I cried to the captain as we ran
on. "Hold to it, for your life--it's our only chance!"

He set one of the children on the sand, and, bidding the little one run
on ahead, he drew his revolver and stood shoulder to shoulder with me.

"A straight barrel and mark your men," cried he, very quietly; "it's a
cool head that wins this game. We have ten shots and the butts will do
for two. You will make that twelve if you add it up, captain."

His coolness surprised me, but it was not to be wondered at. Never from
the first had I heard this man utter one word which complained of our
situation or of its difficulty. To Captain James Nepeen a tight corner
was a pleasure-ground; and now with these yelling devils all round him,
and the vapour steaming in the woods behind, and the sea shimmering
like a haven that would beckon us to salvation, he could yet wear that
cynical smile of his, and go with lighter step, and bear himself like
the true seaman that he was. Of all that I have ever sailed with I
would name him first as a true comrade in peril or adversity. To his
skill I owed my life that night.

"One," said he, suddenly, when a great head showed itself on the cliff
above us and was instantly drawn back. So quick had he been, so wild
did the aim appear, that when a body rolled presently down the grassy
bank and lay stark before us I could not believe that a bullet had done
its work.

"One," cried he again, triumphantly--"and one from twelve leaves
eleven. Ha, that's your bird, captain, and a big one!"

[Illustration: Another man fell with a loud cry.]

I had pulled my trigger, prompted by his example, and another man from
the cliff above lifted his arms and fell with a loud cry. And this was
the astonishing thing, that though we two were caged in a ravine like
rats in a trap, and had shot two of the devils stone-dead, no answering
shot was fired from above, no rifle levelled at us.

"No arms," cries the captain, presently; "and most of them half drunk.
We're going through this, Mister Begg, right through, I assure you!"

Well