re an' let
one o' the men take your gun," for Ward knew so well the mettle of his
superior that he much preferred his absence to his presence in the face
of real fighting, and with the gun in the hands of a braver man it would
be vastly more effective.

Ward himself was no lover of a fight, but he saw now that starvation
might stare them in the face with their food gone, and everything be
lost with the loss of the girl. For food and money a much more cowardly
man than Bender Ward would fight to the death.

Up the face of the cliff they hurried, expecting momentarily to be
either challenged or fired upon by those above them. Divine and his
party looked down with mixed emotions upon those who were ascending in
so threatening a manner. They found themselves truly between the devil
and the deep sea.

Ward and his men were halfway up the cliff, yet Divine had made no move
to repel them. He glanced timorously toward the dark forest behind from
which he momentarily expected to see the savage, snarling faces of the
head-hunters appear.

"Surrender! You swabs," called Ward from below, "or we'll string the
last mother's son of you to the yardarm."

For reply Blanco hurled a heavy fragment of rock at the assaulters. It
grazed perilously close to Ward, against whom Blanco cherished a keen
hatred. Instantly Ward's revolver barked, the bullet whistling close
by Divine's head. L. Cortwrite Divine, cotillion leader, ducked behind
Theriere's breastwork, where he lay sprawled upon his belly, trembling
in terror.

Bony Sawyer and Red Sanders followed the example of their commander.
Blanco and Wison alone made any attempt to repel the assault. The
big Negro ran to Divine's side and snatched the terror-stricken man's
revolver from his belt. Then turning he fired at Ward. The bullet,
missing its intended victim, pierced the heart of a sailor directly
behind him, and as the man crumpled to the ground, rolling down the
steep declivity, his fellows sought cover.

Wison followed up the advantage with a shower of well-aimed missiles,
and then hostilities ceased temporarily.

"Have they gone?" queried Divine, with trembling lips, noticing the
quiet that followed the shot.

"Gone nothin', yo big cowahd," replied Blanco. "Do yo done suppose dat
two men is a-gwine to stan' off five? Ef yo white-livered skunks 'ud
git up an' fight we might have a chanct. I'se a good min' to cut out yo
cowahdly heart fer yo, das wot I has--a-lyin' der on yo