ts pattered against the rocks. They came from several directions.
Ditty had arranged his men in the form of a semicircle. They had ample
cover, and the only chance for the besieged lay in the chance that one
of the enemy should protrude his head or shoulder too far from behind
his tree.

Many times in the next hour the fusilade was repeated. It was plain
that the mutineers were armed only with pistols.

"Probably Ditty laid in a stock before he left New York," the captain
muttered to Tyke. "Automatics, too."

"His ammunition won't last long if he keeps wasting it this way,"
replied Tyke. "An' an automatic ain't always a sure shot."

Just then a cry from Olsen showed that the mutineers' cartridges had
not been wholly wasted. A bullet had caught the Swede in the shoulder.
He dropped, groaning.

Ruth was by his side in an instant. She bound up his wound as best she
could, and, putting a coat beneath his head, made him as comfortable as
possible.

"One knocked out," muttered the captain. "I wonder who'll be the----
Ah! Good boy, Allen!" he cried delightedly.

One of the enemy had thrown up his hands and, with a yell, had crashed
heavily to the ground. He lay there without motion.

"Leaned his head out a little too far," remarked Drew composedly.
"That was the cockney, Bingo."

"An' a dirty rat," Tyke said grimly. "That evens up the score."

"Not exactly," replied Drew. "We'll have to pot two of them to every
one they get, to keep the score straight. And they'll be more careful
now about exposing themselves."

He was right; for in the short moments of daylight that remained they
lessened no further the number of their foes. Nor did any bullet find
its billet in the body of any of the besieged. But one ball knocked a
splinter from a rock and drove it against the knuckles of Binney's
right hand, making it difficult for him to use his rifle.

Now darkness fell, and the enemy seemed to have withdrawn.

"The real fight will come to-morrow," prophesied Captain Hamilton.
"This was only a skirmish to feel us out."

"Do you think they'll try to do anything to-night?" asked Drew
thoughtfully.

"I don't believe so," was the reply; "but we'll post sentinels, and if
they come they won't take us by surprise."

"As a matter of fact," the captain went on, "I wish they would adopt
rushing tactics. Then they'd be out in the open and we could get a
good crack at them. As it is, we're concentrated and they'r