Dick with a laugh, which was not lessened when he saw the
serious expression on his master's face. For Dick had his own ideas as
to how an enemy should be treated, whether dead or alive, and had the
task been his he would have endeavoured to do the work decorously. But
he had to admit to himself that one of these Ashantis, when dead, was a
repulsive-looking object, and that Johnnie was probably justified.

"What does he care?" he asked himself. "He has, no doubt, still a large
share of his savage nature left, and he knows that these men would cut
him to pieces when alive if they could capture him. So he treats them,
dead or alive, with the same ferocity. Well, we've cleared decks, and
I'm not sorry. As for those beggars behind, they might just as well
stop and save their powder; they cannot hurt us more."

There was little doubt on this point, for since the native with the big
elephant gun had toppled overboard, hardly a shot had reached the
launch, though showers of slugs cut up the water in the rear. It was
the turn of those aboard the launch to smile and enjoy the situation.
As they ran down the stream, with the throttle now half closed, for
steam might be wanted for another emergency, they could look back at the
fast-receding fleet of boats and take full stock of them. Also they
could watch the dusky figures bounding through the bush, some still
abreast of the launch or even farther down the stream. They could jeer
at the frantic shouts, could wave back jubilantly to the angry signals
of the enemy, and they could afford to mock at the men who tore through
the jungle, firing aimlessly into the water.

"Good as firework!" laughed the light-hearted Johnnie. "Moon not so
bright now, me tink, and de gun go pop! pop! wid a splosh of fire. Fine
sight, massa! Make de heart young and gay."

"Because we have something to be thankful for. But don't you make any
mistake about the action, my lad; it was a close thing, a precious close
piece of business, and if it hadn't been for that gap, why, where should
we be? That reminds me. How are we for'ard? What's the damage?"

The native leaped from his well and went scrambling along the deck, the
movement giving cause for an increased outburst of shouting and beating
of the drums; for the enemy still watched the retreating launch like
cats, hoping against hope that she would stop, that their fetish, to
which they sacrificed victims innumerable during the year, woul