him die first.'

I do not know how the others took the revelation, for my eyes were only
for the Portugoose. He made a step towards me, his hands twitching by
his sides.

'You lie,' he screamed in that queer broken voice which much fever
gives. 'It was this English hound that killed the Keeper, and felled
me when I tried to save him. The man who insults my honour is dead.'
And he plucked from his belt a pistol.

A good shot does not miss at two yards. I was never nearer my end than
in that fraction of time while the weapon came up to the aim. It was
scarcely a second, but it was enough for Colin. The dog had kept my
side, and had stood docilely by me while Laputa spoke. The truth is,
he must have been as tired as I was. As the Kaffirs approached to lay
hands on me he had growled menacingly, but when I spoke again he had
stopped. Henriques' voice had convinced him of a more urgent danger,
and so soon as the trigger hand of the Portugoose rose, the dog sprang.
The bullet went wide, and the next moment dog and man were struggling
on the ground.

A dozen hands held me from going to Colin's aid, but oddly enough no
one stepped forward to help Henriques. The ruffian kept his head, and
though the dog's teeth were in his shoulder, he managed to get his
right hand free. I saw what would happen, and yelled madly in my
apprehension. The yellow wrist curved, and the pistol barrel was
pressed below the dog's shoulder. Thrice he fired, the grip relaxed,
and Colin rolled over limply, fragments of shirt still hanging from his
jaw. The Portugoose rose slowly with his hand to his head, and a thin
stream of blood dripping from his shoulder. As I saw the faithful eyes
glazing in death, and knew that I had lost the best of all comrades, I
went clean berserk mad. The cluster of men round me, who had been
staring open-eyed at the fight, were swept aside like reeds. I went
straight for the Portugoose, determined that, pistol or no pistol, I
would serve him as he had served my dog.

For my years I was a well-set-up lad, long in the arms and deep in the
chest. But I had not yet come to my full strength, and in any case I
could not hope to fight the whole of Laputa's army. I was flung back
and forwards like a shuttlecock. They played some kind of game with
me, and I could hear the idiotic Kaffir laughter. It was blind man's
buff, so far as I was concerned, for I was blind with fury. I struck
out wildly left and right, b