en arrows, and each arrow is a man's life.
It will be doubtful whether the Matabili will continue the attack when
their first rush fails, and they lose several men. They dread fire-arms
now, though they have gained victories against those who use them. Let
us now prepare our defences; if we only hold out three days we ought to
obtain help, if Bernhard has been lucky."

The two men sat to work to remove the bodies of the Matabili who were
shot, and having secured their weapons, they used these to dig up the
ground and undermine large stones, which they carried to the plateau,
and thus formed a breastwork, whilst the removal of these stones and the
earth rendered access to the flat rock impossible except by climbing.
In two hours the rock was therefore rendered almost impregnable, and it
would have been quite so had a dozen men occupied it who were well
provided with guns and ammunition.

"Victor," exclaimed Hans, "I can make a good weapon for the defence of
this place, which may save us ammunition. I will cut some of those long
bamboos near the stream below, then the broad, sharp blade of an assagy
fastened to the end of this will make a lance twelve feet long; we can
thus stab the Matabili as they attempt to climb up, and can reach them,
whilst their short assagies cannot come near us. They have no guns; so
that we have no fear of being hit by them if we stand on our
breastwork."

"That is a good thought, Hans," replied Victor; "we will have four of
these, then if we break one we can each have another. Oh! if we had
only a hundred bullets each, and enough powder for them, we would fight
a hundred of these treacherous rascals."

"We must do what we can with the means we have," answered Hans. "Now I
will go and cut the bamboo, then we shall be all ready."

It was only with great difficulty that Hans descended from the block on
which he had taken up his position, he then cut some straight, strong
canes which grew to a great height near the marshy bottom of the ravine;
and returning with these, he found that to ascend the perpendicular face
of the rock was exceedingly difficult, and whilst thus climbing with
both hands occupied, he knew that a determined man above with a long
lance, such as he could construct from the bamboo and blades of the
assagies, could defy a dozen men at a time, and stab them as they
ascended. This conviction gave him additional hope that he might either
destroy his enemy, or be able to h