right parang in his left hand; the others were armed
with guns, their swords being thrust through belts. Creeping forward on
tip-toe, though their distant companions were making a tremendous row,
they looked a murderous gang as they peered across the open space, now
brilliantly illuminated by the moon.

Jenks had a sudden intuition that the right thing to do now was to
shoot the whole party. He dismissed the thought at once. All his
preparations were governed by the hope that the pirates might abandon
their quest after hours of fruitless search. It would be most unwise,
he told himself, to precipitate hostilities. Far better avoid a
conflict altogether, if that were possible, than risk the immediate
discovery of his inaccessible retreat.

In other words he made a grave mistake, which shows how a man may err
when over-agonized by the danger of the woman he loves. The bold course
was the right one. By killing the Dyak leader he would have deprived
the enemy of the dominating influence in this campaign of revenge. When
the main body, already much perturbed by the unseen and intangible
agencies which opened fire at them in the wood, arrived in Prospect
Park to find only the dead bodies of their chief and his small force,
their consternation could be turned into mad panic by a vigorous
bombardment from the rock.

Probably, in less than an hour after their landing, the whole tribe
would have rushed pell-mell to the boats, cursing the folly which led
them to this devil-haunted island. But it serves no good purpose to say
what might have been. As it was the Dyaks, silent now and moving with
the utmost caution, passed the well, and were about to approach the
cave when one of them saw the house.

Instantly they changed their tactics. Retreating hastily to the shade
of the opposite cliff they seemed to await the coming of
reinforcements. The sailor fancied that a messenger was dispatched by
way of the north sands to hurry up the laggards, because the distant
firing slackened, and, five minutes later, a fierce outbreak of yells
among the trees to the right heralded a combined rush on the Belle Vue
Castle.

The noise made by the savages was so great--the screams of bewildered
birds circling overhead so incessant--that Jenks was compelled to speak
quite loudly when he said to Iris--

"They must think we sleep soundly not to be disturbed by the volleys
they have fired already."

She would have answered, but he placed a restra