t
was maddening. The fact that the pursuers had the advantage put a raw
edge upon our tempers, and after an hour spent upon hands and knees
Holman resolutely refused to shift his ground in response to Kaipi's
signals. I was just as tired of the wormlike attitude that we were
compelled to adopt, and I waited beside Holman while the Fijian slipped
away through the creepers after warning us by many eloquent signals that
one of the search party was creeping toward us.

Holman had a "let-'em-all-come" expression upon his face that would have
been amusing at any other time, and kneeling with our backs to each
other we endeavoured to peer through the leafage to get a glimpse of the
foe.

We remained like that for about ten minutes; then our attention was
attracted to a point about eighteen inches to the right. The dry leaves
were pushed quietly aside, but instead of a head appearing, as we
expected, a bare brown leg was thrust through the creepers and remained
stationary.

The leg fascinated us. Kaipi had moved in the opposite direction, and we
were certain that the limb belonged to one of our enemies. The naked
savage was worming his way upon his stomach, and the position
immediately brought to our minds a picture of the scene in the long
gallery. When it came to a game of this sort we would be hopelessly
outclassed by a batch that, through assiduous training, slipped along
with the ease of serpents.

Holman held his revolver in readiness and watched the leg. It was
difficult to judge the position of the native's body, and the scarcity
of ammunition made us hesitate before firing a shot. The leg was pushed
farther out of the leafy tangle, and as it came toward him a change
passed over Holman's face. He handed his revolver to me, crouched on his
thighs and sprang!

There was something primitive about the action, something which caused
my heart to throb as I watched him take the pantherlike spring. On the
previous evening the youngster had expressed a desire to throttle Leith,
and the same desire had gripped him when he watched the leg come through
the vines. The devilishness of the batch made shooting a tame way of
obtaining revenge, and I possessed the same itchiness of the fingers
which had prompted Holman to take the wild leap. There was a joy in
throttling such a brute, and I delighted in the grit of the boy.

The affair was dramatic in its swift and silent ending. The native,
taken entirely unawares, had no chance