hard with us then. When you
have sent the fighting-men up, see that the teamsters move all the
waggons to the highest piece of ground you can find in the valley. Let
them arrange the waggons there as closely as they will pack, and keep
the animals well round them. A flood will destroy our enemy, but I am
not sure that it may not destroy us too. Now hurry away, and tell the
fighting-men to run up as quick as they can. When you have seen
everything in readiness, join Tom, and warn him to be ready to fall back
to the waggons as soon as the flood comes."

Dick ran down the ravine. It was not until he issued from it that he
was aware how tremendously the rain was pouring down. In the defile he
had been conscious only of a slight mist, with an occasional drop of
heavy rain, for very few of the rain-drops which entered the gap far
above descended to the bottom, almost all striking against the sides.
In the comparatively open valley, however, the rain was coming down in a
perfect cataract Dick at once sent all the fighting-men to the front,
and three minutes later the report of musketry told that they were
engaged with the enemy.

Dick now set to work with ten of the natives to select the spot on which
to place the waggons. The bottom of the valley was very flat, and the
sand between the boulders showed that when the water was high the whole
was covered. He, however, found a spot on the left-hand side, about
midway between the two defiles, which was some feet higher than the
rest.

The hill-side behind at this point rose somewhat less abruptly than
elsewhere, and it was probable that the rise in the bottom was formed by
a slip which had taken place at some past period. Here the waggons were
arranged side by side in two rows, the wheels of the three inner waggons
close against the slope above them. The cattle were gathered closely
round.

Dick then joined Tom, whom he found in high spirits, the hunters having
already told him that the flood would very soon come to their relief.
The party was hotly engaged. About thirty or forty yards intervened
between them and their enemy, who, crouching behind rocks, were shooting
their arrows high into the air, so that they came down almost
perpendicularly upon the defenders. One of these had been killed and
three severely wounded by the missiles; while they themselves could only
get an occasional shot at a limb exposed beyond the shelter of the
boulders.

Not having rece