d been
killed.

It was now that I saw why Ebo had held back behind my uncle, and it was
fortunate that the faithful fellow had followed the guidance of his own
reason. For as, in the midst of a tremendous shouting and yelling, the
tall savage bent forward to again strike my uncle I saw Ebo's lance
point strike him in the throat, and he went down.

This checked the savages for an instant, long enough to enable the black
to stoop down and get a good grip of Uncle Dick's collar with his left
hand, while with his right he kept making darts with his spear at the
yelling savages who kept striking at him with their clubs.

So tremendous and so true were Ebo's thrusts that I saw another great
black go down, and a couple more run yelling back towards the dense
cover from which they had come; but Ebo was in a very critical position.
My uncle was heavy, and the black had hard work to drag him over the
sand towards the boat, and keep his enemies at bay.

It was now that I saw what a brave warrior and chief our follower must
be; but I also saw how his enemies had formed a half circle and were
trying to get behind him and cut him off from the boat.

For the first few moments I had felt helpless; then I had determined to
leap over and go to their help; then I saw that I was best where I was,
and took aim, ready to fire at the first chance, for I could do nothing
at first for fear of injuring my friends. And besides, a horrible
feeling of compunction had come upon me at the thought of having to fire
at men--fellow creatures--and I shrank from drawing trigger.

At last, though, I saw that further hesitation would be fatal. Ebo was
making a brave defence, and had wounded several of his assailants as he
dragged my uncle to the water's edge. Another step and he could have
waded, easily dragging my uncle over the water, but his enemies had made
a savage dash, and one of the boldest had got hold of his spear.

Another moment and he would have been struck down, when, hesitating no
longer, I took quick aim and fired right into the thick of the black
group as far on one side of my uncle as I could.

As the report rang out, and the stinging shot hissed and scattered,
injuring several, they uttered fierce yells and separated for a moment,
giving me a better chance to fire again, and I did with such effect that
the savage who was dragging at Ebo's spear loosed his hold, turned, and
ran for his life.

It was a golden moment for our bl