nder the light of the
furnace, and had made his arrangements for defence. He had posted his
men a little distance away, under the trees, just where they could cover
the enemy with their rifles. They were lying in the boat selected for
their transport, and in the bows one of their number cowered over the
small brass cannon. He had seen a gun before, that was evident, and his
eyes gleamed with excitement. He put an arm out, clutched a bough, and
moved the position of the boat ever so little. Then came Johnnie's
excited shout, a spout of flame burst from nine or ten rifles, and then
there was a short pause, followed by a flash, by the splutter of powder
at the vent, and then by an appalling crash as the gun went off.

"Put um helm ober, boy! Now give um little steam. Gently! Backum!"

Above the screams of the enemy, the hoarse bellows of those who had
escaped the rifle bullets and the buckshot with which the gun had been
loaded, for bags of these had been brought as likely to be the proper
form of missile, the voice of Johnnie could be heard.

"Back um! Now, yo black debil in bow, hook um on. Throw de painter!
Make up fast as wax. Now gib um steam. Go 'head. Gib um all she
know!"

It might have been rehearsed. It was marvellous to think that all this
had been arranged by a little fellow from Sierra Leone, employed as the
stoker and driver of a steam launch. Dick was dumbfounded. But by now
he was past expressing his feelings, and besides, he was so exhausted
that he could hardly speak. He saw, however, that the chief command was
in excellent hands for the moment, and, like a sensible fellow, he left
Johnnie to conduct the flight till he had his strength again. And so he
lay flat on the deck, listening to the shouts of the pursuers, getting
now farther and farther away, to the husky voice of James Langdon, as he
raced through the trees, and to the mutterings of the native at the
engine of the launch. Then he smiled, a grim smile of amusement and of
exultation, for he had conquered. He had won the fight, an unequal one,
to say the least of it, and here he was, thanks to the splendid fellows
who supported him, steaming away from the mine without the loss of a
single worker, with little to mourn for, and with sufficient gold aboard
to pay all wages, and leave a very handsome margin with which to
reimburse his employers for the burning of their few spare stores and
their stockade. In addition, there woul