e than
once, the same peculiar sibilant sound, as of something flying past them
with great velocity; but they saw nothing, and could not account for the
occurrence at all.

Suddenly Harry, who was behind, whispered to Roger: "Do not appear to
take any notice, Roger, at present; but I distinctly saw the head of a
savage peering at us from behind a tree when I turned my head just now,
and I believe that what we heard was the sound of arrows flying past us.
I should not be greatly surprised to find that there is quite a crowd
of natives round us, and the only wonder to me is that we have not yet
been hit. Now, we must press on and endeavour to reach the shelter of
the caves, and there defend ourselves, if necessary, until assistance
comes. It is useless to think of retreating by the way we have come; we
should only be ambushed. Ah! I see two more faces looking at us over
there in the bush. We had better make haste; but we only need walk a
little faster. It will never do to run, or they will see that we have
discovered them, and in that case they will attack us at once, and we
shall have no chance here. By the way, is that musket loaded?"

"Yes," replied Roger. "It was loaded when Leigh handed it to me; for I
remember that, after the discharge we heard which led us to him, he was
loading as we came up, and he did not fire again."

"Very well," said Harry, "we had better for the present trust to our
swords; we must reserve the musket until the last. And you had better
drop a few more bullets in, so that it will do as much execution as
possible when we fire. And I trust to Heaven that the report may bring
some of our men up. But it will not do that if we fire now, as they
will merely think we are shooting game. If we fire from the caves they
will know there is no game there to shoot at, and it may attract their
attention."

The two lads now moved as fast as they thought consistent with safety,
and, to their great relief, at length perceived an opening in the trees,
and got a glimpse of the sea beyond. A few minutes later they emerged
on the beach, and found themselves quite close to the caves.

Then, having a clear ground, they took to their heels and ran as hard as
they could for the nearest cave.

As they started to run, a chorus of savage yells broke on their ears,
and what they had quite anticipated happened. The natives had at last
left cover and were pursuing them at the top of their speed.

Roger