g through the sugar-cane
a bit for'ard here to the left, and Duncombe says he can see 'bout a
dozen on 'em out at the back looking as if they meant a rush."

"Hah! That is fresh," said the lieutenant. "Mr Roberts here made out
those amongst the canes. I'll come and look. You, Mr Roberts have the
goodness to keep your eye on them and hold your fire until they show a
determination to come on. Then you must fire; but fire low. We must
cripple and not kill."

"Yes, sir," said Roberts, and he sheltered himself behind one of the
curtains of the well-furnished English-looking bedroom where he and the
officer had been watching. And then, as the latter walked quickly out,
followed by the sailor who had made his report, a terrible sense of
loneliness fell upon the youth, accompanied by a shortness of breath, as
his heart began to beat with a heavy dull throb that sounded loud and
strange.

He was gazing out at a scene of tropical beauty, the wild and the
cultivated blending so that at another time he could have stood in the
perfect silence dwelling upon the loveliness of the place. But now
there was a feeling of awe that seemed to over-master everything, while
the very fact that where he had plainly made out the movement of figures
as they evidently sought concealment, all was now motionless, and not a
leaf waved or was pressed aside, added to the weirdness of his position,
and made him draw farther back in the full expectation that the next
moment the vivid green of the surroundings would be cut by a flash of
light and then turn dim as it was deadened by the rising smoke of a
shot.

"I wish I wasn't such a coward," he muttered. "I do try hard to stand
it all, and get on beautifully when the firing and spear-throwing are
going on, but now, when the enemy may be going to throw a spear or fire
a shot at one, it does seem so hard to bear. No worse for me than for
other fellows," he muttered bitterly, "but I am myself and they are
other fellows. Ugh! I suppose it's a very beautiful place, but it
seems very horrible, and it makes a fellow wish that if he is to be
wounded it would come off at once so that one could get it over.
There's some one creeping along there now," he muttered. "I'll shout a
warning to Mr Anderson. No, whoever it is doesn't seem to be coming
on, and it looks so stupid to shout for help when there's no need."

For all was perfectly motionless amongst the vivid green leaves, save
where from time