Jove! there's another of them!"

Cunningham's shot took that fellow in the leg, for we saw him clap his
hand to his right one, just above the knee, and go limping away out of
sight. Apparently the savages believed that the discharge of the weapon
left us temporarily harmless, for another man instantly sprang into view
and hurriedly poised his spear; but Cunningham was too quick for him,
for he, too, dropped and lay still. Then they lay _perdu_ for a few
minutes, during which we, at work upon the cradle, put in some splendid
work.

Suddenly, with a final tap of his hammer, Chips sprang back and tossed
the tool in the air, cleverly catching it by the handle as it fell.
"Finished!" he yelled, on a note of exultation. "Now, Mr Temple and
Simpson, get the mauls, and let's wedge up. It'll have to be a rather
rough-and-ready job, I'm afraid; but once the weight of her is off the
blocks and on to the ways we needn't trouble much. And now, if Mr
Cunnin'ham can spare the bo'sun, he'll be useful to us. Come along,
Sails, you and I'll take the starboard side, while Mr Temple and
Murdock takes the port, and we'll see which gets finished first."

I hailed Cunningham, asking if he could spare Murdock, and he replied
that they were at that moment reloading the whole battery of guns, after
which he would send him down. And presently Murdock came.

"Now then, boatswain," said I, "`wedge up' is the word, so take that
maul and strike with me. Chips and his mate think they can beat us; but
we'll show them a thing or two. Now then, strike!"

Forthwith the air began to resound with the blows of iron on wood, as,
with more or less dexterous strokes, we drove the wedges home, one pair
after another; and in about ten minutes we all met under the little
vessel's counter, our work completed. But the savages evidently
suspected that matters were approaching a crisis; possibly the idea was
suggested to them by the carpenter's triumphant yell of "Finished!" upon
the completion of the cradle, for during that momentous ten minutes
several of them had made desperate efforts to transfix us with their
spears, and as they had now adopted the plan of making the attempt in
groups of half a dozen or more--to all of whom it was manifestly
impossible for Cunningham to attend at the same moment--we four at work
under the schooner's bottom had had two or three exceedingly narrow
escapes.

"Now, Mr Temple," exclaimed the carpenter excitedly, "I'll