belly settin'
dat kin' o' example to yo men!"

Divine's terror had placed him beyond the reach of contumely or
reproach.

"What's the use of fighting them?" he whimpered. "We should never have
left them. It's all the fault of that fool Theriere. What can we do
against the savages of this awful island if we divide our forces? They
will pick us off a few at a time just as they picked off Miller and
Swenson, Theriere and Byrne. We ought to tell Ward about it, and call
this foolish battle off."

"Now you're talkin'," cried Bony Sawyer. "I'm not a-goin' to squat up
here any longer with my friends a-shootin' at me from below an' a lot
of wild heathen creeping down on me from above to cut off my bloomin'
head."

"Same here!" chimed in Red Sanders.

Blanco looked toward Wison. For his own part the Negro would not have
been averse to returning to the fold could the thing be accomplished
without danger of reprisal on the part of Skipper Simms and Ward; but
he knew the men so well that he feared to trust them even should
they seemingly acquiesce to any such proposal. On the other hand, he
reasoned, it would be as much to their advantage to have the deserters
return to them as it would to the deserters themselves, for when they
had heard the story told by Red Sanders and Wison of the murder of the
others of the party they too would realize the necessity for maintaining
the strength of the little company to its fullest.

"I don't see that we're goin' to gain nothin' by fightin' 'em," said
Wison. "There ain't nothin' in it any more nohow for nobody since the
girl's gorn. Let's chuck it, an' see wot terms we can make with Squint
Eye."

"Well," grumbled the Negro, "I can't fight 'em alone; What yo doin'
dere, Bony?"

During the conversation Bony Sawyer had been busy with a stick and a
piece of rag, and now as he turned toward his companions once more they
saw that he had rigged a white flag of surrender. None interfered as he
raised it above the edge of the breastwork.

Immediately there was a hail from below. It was Ward's voice.

"Surrenderin', eh? Comin' to your senses, are you?" he shouted.

Divine, feeling that immediate danger from bullets was past, raised his
head above the edge of the earthwork.

"We have something to communicate, Mr. Ward," he called.

"Spit it out, then; I'm a-listenin'," called back the mate.

"Miss Harding, Mr. Theriere, Byrne, Miller, and Swenson have been
captured and killed by native