to
their feet.

"Can you walk?" he whispered to Mrs. Llyn. She nodded assent, and braced
herself. "Then here," he said, "is a pistol. Come quickly. We may have
to fight our way out. Don't be afraid to fire, but take good aim first.
I have some men in the wood beyond where you shot the native," he added
to Sheila. "They'll come at once if I call, or a shot is fired. Keep
your heads, and we shall be all right. They're a dangerous crew, but
we'll beat them this time. Come quickly."

Presently they were in the refectory, and a moment after that they were
over the stones, and near the entrance, and then a native appeared,
armed. Without an instant's hesitation Dyck ran forward, and as he
entered, put his sword into the man's vitals, and he fell, calling out
as he fell.

"The rest will be on us now," said Dyck, "and we must keep going."

Three more natives appeared, and he shot two.

Catching a pistol from Sheila he aimed at the third native and wounded
him, but did not kill him. The man ran into the wood. Presently more
Maroons came--a dozen or more, and rushed for the entrance. They were
met by Dyck's fire, and now also Sheila fired and brought down her
man. Dyck wounded another, and in great skill loaded again, but at that
moment three of the Maroons rushed down into the ruins.

They were astonished to see Dyck there, and more astonished to
receive--first one and then another--his iron in their bowels. The third
man made a stroke at Dyck with his lance, and only gashed Dyck's
left arm. Then he turned and fled out into the open, and was met by
a half-dozen others. They all were about to rush the entrance when
suddenly four shots behind them brought three of them down, and the rest
fled into the wood shouting. In another moment Dyck and the ladies
were in the open, and making for the woods, the women in front, the men
behind, loading their muskets as they ran, and alive to the risks of the
moment.

The dresses of the ladies were stained and soiled with dust and damp,
but otherwise they seemed little the worse for the adventure, save that
Mrs. Llyn was shaken, and her face was pale.

"How did you know where we were, and why did you come?" she said, after
they had got under way, having secured the horses which Sheila and her
mother had ridden.

Briefly Dyck explained how as soon as he had dealt with the revolt of
the Maroons at his own place he came straight to Salem.

"I knew you were unused to the ways of the c