n, but if there are any more of their people
within reasonable distance I fancy they will be more likely to send for
them and keep a sharp watch round us until they come up. Now I will go
to my post."

For a quarter of an hour the two watchers at the back of the house saw
no signs of life. Then Mr. Atherton said: "There is a movement among
that corn, Jim. Do you see, there--just in a line with that big tree at
the other end of the clearing? It is moving in several places. Call your
brother and young Grimstone to this side of the house, and do you all
take steady aim at these moving patches. I will fire first. I think I
can pretty well mark the spot where one of the fellows is making his way
down. If I hit him the others are likely enough to start up. Then will
be your time for taking a shot at them."

As soon as the others were in position and ready Mr. Atherton fired.
There was a yell. A dark figure sprang up, stood for an instant, and
then fell back. Almost at the same instant half a dozen others leapt to
their feet and dashed away. Three rifles were fired. Two of the natives
fell, but one almost immediately rose again and followed the others.

"You ought to have done better than that at a hundred yards," Mr.
Atherton said. "You two lads ought to have practised a little more
steadily than you have. It was Grimstone brought down that man. His
rifle went off a second before yours, and the man was falling when you
fired. The great thing in firing at natives is that every shot should
tell. It is the certainty of the thing that scares them. If they hear
bullets singing about with only occasionally a man dropping they gain
confidence, but a slow, steady fire with every shot telling shakes their
nerves, and makes them very careful of showing themselves."

Half an hour later Jack reported he could see figures moving in the bush
on his side, and soon afterwards a fire was opened on the hut from that
direction.

"They have worked round the end of the clearing," Mr. Atherton said.
"Now it is our turn to begin to fire. We have let them have their own
way long enough, and there is plenty of light now, and I think we shall
soon be able to put a stop to this game. Now, Wilfrid, do you with one
of the Grimstones take up your place at the loopholes at that end of the
house, and I with the other will take up mine on the right. Keep a sharp
look-out, and do not throw away a shot if you can help it. As we have
not answered their fir