were
kindly assisting her up themselves. Little did Mrs. Hargrave dream that
they were making a convenient shield of her most precious self and that
if we hoped to execute our former man[oe]uvre we should have to send our
bullets through her first. She thought of nothing but being again
amongst us, and scrambled and struggled towards us, screaming the whole
time.

_Oscar._--"Mother, I must shoot her, there is no help for it. If one of
those fellows gets footing on here, we may as well give ourselves up.
You see he is close behind her."

_Mother._--"We will just make one effort. Wait till she is so near that
I can grasp hold of her, and then shoot; she must take her chance."

With the greatest coolness the brave boy did as he was bid; and I had no
sooner grasped the woman than he fired. With a squall that no one could
think proceeded out of human lips, she lost her footing and held on by
me, and if Schillie had not had firm hold of me, Serena and Sybil of
her, I must have gone over with Hargrave and the pirate. As it was, he
fell dead, and we dragged her up, and, pulling her to some distance, we
never stayed to enquire if she was wounded or not, but ran back to our
posts. They were swarming up, just under a ledge, ready to make a bolt
out upon us if we looked off one moment. "Get stones, little ones,"
whispered Serena, "they will help us, perhaps." Now they bolt. We all
fire simultaneously. They retreat again, some wounded, but none dead.
We took up the second relay of guns, Schillie carrying off the others to
reload.

"In the name of all that's horrible," we heard her say, in a loud angry
voice, "what are you doing here?"

_Hargrave._--"I am not going to be shot at and killed by those dreadful
guns any more, and, besides, the pirates gave me to understand down
there as the sun would soon set the powder in a blaze, and we should all
be blown up. Look at me, bleeding like a pig, and half my ear and one of
my best ear-rings gone. No, no, though I was dead, as I thought, I was
determined to throw the powder and shot over the rock, that you might be
safe, if I died the next minute."

"Bring me that rope, Lilly," said Schillie, in a voice of concentrated
rage. Gatty sprung to help her, and in two minutes the foolish woman was
tied, with her hands behind her back, to one of the palm trees, and they
returned to help us, as best we could be helped. We trusted that Smart
would hear the firing, and come to our assistance be