uddenly, with hardly a movement of his body, his arm snapped forward.
I ducked to one side instinctively and heard the spear whistle past my
ear with the speed of a bullet, so close that the butt of the shaft
struck the side of my head a glancing blow and toppled me over.

I sprang quickly to my feet, and barely in time, for I saw the Inca
stoop over, pick up another spear from the raft, and draw it back above
his head. At the same moment the second raft drew up alongside, and as
I fell to the ground flat on my face I heard the two spears whistle
shrewdly over me.

At that game they were my masters; it would have been folly to have
tried conclusions with them with their own weapons. As the spears
clattered on the ground thirty feet away I sprang to my feet and ran to
the farther side of the ledge, where I had before noticed some loose
stones in a corner.

With two or three of these in my hands I ran back to the water's edge,
meeting two more of the spears that came twisting at me through the
air, one of which tore the skin from my left shoulder.

A quick glance at the crevice as I passed showed me Harry fighting at
its entrance; they were at us there, too. I heard Desiree shout
something at me, but didn't catch the words.

My first stone found its goal. The two rafts, side by side not forty
feet away, were a fair mark. The stone was nearly the size of a man's
head and very heavy; I had all I could do to get the distance.

It struck the raft on the right fairly; the thing turned turtle in a
flash, precipitating its occupants onto the other raft. The added
weight carried that, too, under the surface, and the six Incas were
floundering about in the water.

I expected to see them turn and swim for the landing opposite; but,
instead, they headed directly toward me!

The light from the urns was but faint, and it was not easy to
distinguish their black heads against the black water; still, I could
see their approach. Two of them held spears in their hands; I saw the
copper heads flash on high.

I stood at the edge of the lake, wondering at their folly as I waited;
they were now scarcely ten feet away. Another few strokes and the
foremost stretched out his hand to grasp the slippery ledge; my spear
came down crushingly on his head and he fell back into the water.

By that time another had crawled half onto the ledge, and another; a
blow and a quick thrust, and they, too, slipped back beneath the
surface, paw