of rock that I thought I could loosen. Putting down my food, I foolishly picked
up a piece of timber which I used as a lever, when, without warning, the mass
broke away, and with a tremendous bound went crashing down into the very
midst of the pirates, scattering them right and left, and ended by crushing one of
the praus that was drawn up on the sand.
In an instant the quiet beach was a scene of the wildest confusion. A surging,
crowding mass of pirates with their krises between their teeth dashed up the
cañon, intent on avenging their loss. I dropped my lever and rushed back to the
men, nearly frightened to death at the result of my temerity. There was no time
for boulders; the men reached the brink of the defile just in time to welcome the
assailants with a broadside. Their lines wavered, but fresh men took the places of
the fallen, and they pushed on. Another volley from our guns, and the dead and
wounded encumbered the progress of the living. A shower of stones and timbers
gave us the light, and they withdrew with savage yells to open the siege once
more. Only one of our men had been wounded,—he by an arrow from a
blowpipe.
V
All that night we kept watch. The next morning we were once more attacked, but
successfully defended ourselves with boulders and our cutlasses. Yet one
swarthy pirate succeeded in catching the leg of the remaining native soldier and
bearing him away with them. With cessation of hostilities, we searched the top
of the island for food and water. At one side of the tableland there was a break in
its surface and a bench of some dozen acres lay perhaps twenty feet below our
retreat. We cautiously worked our way down to this portion and there to our
delight found a number of fan-shaped traveller’s palms and monkey-cups full of
sweet water, which with two wild sago palms we calculated would keep us alive
a few days at all events.
We were much encouraged at this discovery, and that night collected a lot of
brush from the lower plain and lit a big fire on the most exposed part of the
rocks. We did not care if it brought a thousand more pirates as long as it