en into; and
to such a state of despair had he now been brought that he would have
been positively happy could he have been assured that his darling boy
was dead and beyond the reach of further suffering. For as he now had
leisure to reflect, the future, so far as they two were concerned, was
without a single ray of hope to brighten it. He knew, of course, that
those staunch comrades of his at the fort would not abandon him and his
child to the mercy of the Malays without making some attempt at a
rescue; but there were only three of them, and what could three men,
however brave, do against such overwhelming odds unless acting upon the
defensive and behind stone walls? _There_, indeed, but not in the open
field, he had some hopes for them, and there he fully expected they
would all very shortly have their hands full, for he momentarily
expected to see the whole body of the Malays--except, of course, a man
or two to guard himself and his boy--move off to the attack of the fort.
And if the attack failed, as he hoped and believed it would, the Malay
loss would doubtless be very heavy; and he had heard quite enough of
their vindictive nature to feel assured they would take their revenge
upon him and Percy. Yes, the more he thought about it the more
convinced did he become that it was their doom to die. "Well," he
murmured, "God's will be done!" It was best, perhaps, that his child
should die now, young and innocent as he was; and as for himself, if he
could but be satisfied that the little fellow's death was quick and
easy, he cared not how soon he followed him.

But if this was to be the end of the matter so far as they two were
concerned, there was a task before him to which he must at once give his
best attention--the task of preparing his little son for the awful
ordeal before him. To paint Death in colours so attractive as that they
should rob the grim king of his terrors and make him welcome, was, he
felt, a task of no ordinary difficulty; and coupled with this was the
fact that the poor child had been dreadfully terrified already. How was
this task to be accomplished--how even begun?

As he cogitated painfully over this problem he saw a party of twelve
Malays detach themselves from the rest and move off in the direction of
the fort. Then after a considerable interval came the sounds of firing,
followed some twenty minutes later by the return of four only out of the
twelve. A sickening fear came over him at