tand
against the foe.

On came the Arabs, shouting and waving their long guns above their
heads. Past the veranda they raced, pouring a deadly fire into the
kneeling Waziri who discharged their volley of arrows from behind their
long, oval shields--shields well adapted, perhaps, to stop a hostile
arrow, or deflect a spear; but futile, quite, before the leaden
missiles of the riflemen.

From beneath the half-raised shutters of the bungalow other bowmen did
effective service in greater security, and after the first assault,
Mugambi withdrew his entire force within the building.

Again and again the Arabs charged, at last forming a stationary circle
about the little fortress, and outside the effective range of the
defenders' arrows. From their new position they fired at will at the
windows. One by one the Waziri fell. Fewer and fewer were the arrows
that replied to the guns of the raiders, and at last Achmet Zek felt
safe in ordering an assault.

Firing as they ran, the bloodthirsty horde raced for the veranda. A
dozen of them fell to the arrows of the defenders; but the majority
reached the door. Heavy gun butts fell upon it. The crash of
splintered wood mingled with the report of a rifle as Jane Clayton
fired through the panels upon the relentless foe.

Upon both sides of the door men fell; but at last the frail barrier
gave to the vicious assaults of the maddened attackers; it crumpled
inward and a dozen swarthy murderers leaped into the living-room. At
the far end stood Jane Clayton surrounded by the remnant of her devoted
guardians. The floor was covered by the bodies of those who already
had given up their lives in her defense. In the forefront of her
protectors stood the giant Mugambi. The Arabs raised their rifles to
pour in the last volley that would effectually end all resistance; but
Achmet Zek roared out a warning order that stayed their trigger fingers.

"Fire not upon the woman!" he cried. "Who harms her, dies. Take the
woman alive!"

The Arabs rushed across the room; the Waziri met them with their heavy
spears. Swords flashed, long-barreled pistols roared out their sullen
death dooms. Mugambi launched his spear at the nearest of the enemy
with a force that drove the heavy shaft completely through the Arab's
body, then he seized a pistol from another, and grasping it by the
barrel brained all who forced their way too near his mistress.

Emulating his example the few warriors who remai