ered to fight him. He would dance round you
like a cooper round a cask; then, first of all, he would flatten your
nose--which is flat enough already, whatever--wi' wan hand, an' he'd
drive in your stummick wi' the other. Then he would give you one
between the two eyes an' raise a bridge there to make up for the wan
he'd destroyed on your nose, an' before you had time to sneeze he would
put a rainbow under your left eye. Or ever you had time to wink he
would put another under your right eye, and if that didn't settle you he
would give you a finishin' dig in the ribs, Shames, trip up your heels,
an' lay you on the ground, where I make no doubt you would lie an'
meditate whether it wass worth while to rise up for more."

"All that would be verra unpleasant, Tonald," said Dougall, with a
humorous glance from the corners of his small grey eyes, "but I duffer
with ye in opeenion."

"You would duffer in opeenion with the Apostle Paul if he wass here,"
said the other, rising, as his pipe was by that time well alight, and
resuming his work, "but we'll better obey Muster Lumley's orders than
argufy about him."

"I'll agree with you there, Tonald, just to convince you that I don't
always duffer," said the argumentative Highlander, rising to assist his
not less argumentative friend.

The two men pursued their labour in silence, and in the course of an
hour or so had piled all the baggage in a circle in the middle of the
open lawn, so as to form a little fortress, into which they might spring
and keep almost any number of savages at bay for some time; because
savages, unlike most white men, have no belief in that "glory" which
consists in rushing on certain death, in order to form a bridge of dead
bodies over which comrades may march to victory. Each savage is, for
the most part, keenly alive to the importance of guarding his own life,
so that a band of savages seldom makes a rush where certain death awaits
the leaders. Hence our two Highlanders felt quite confident of being
able to hold their little fort with two guns each and a large supply of
ammunition.

Meanwhile Mozwa continued his rapid trot through wood and brake; over
swamp, and plain, and grassy mound. Being all of us by that time strong
in wind and limb, we followed him without difficulty.

"Lads, be careful," said Lumley, as we went along, "that no shot is
fired, whatever happens, until I give the word. You see, Max," he
continued in a lower tone, "nothing