d and honored. She knew he would dare all for her sake. She
could only pray and hope. After reading those inspired verses she
placed implicit trust in the promise made. For He was good: His was the
mercy that "endureth forever." Enemies encompassed them with words of
hatred--fought against them without a cause--but there was One who
should "judge among the heathen" and "fill the places with dead
bodies."

Suddenly a clamor of discordant yells fell upon her ears. Jenks rose to
his knees. The Dyaks had discovered their refuge and were about to open
fire. He offered them a target lest perchance Iris were not thoroughly
screened.

"Keep close," he said. "They have found us. Lead will be flying around
soon."

She flinched back into the crevice; the sailor fell prone. Four bullets
spat into the ledge, of which three pierced the tarpaulin and one
flattened itself against the rock.

Then Jenks took up the tale. So curiously constituted was this man,
that although he ruthlessly shot the savage who first spied out their
retreat, he was swayed only by the dictates of stern necessity. There
was a feeble chance that further bloodshed might be averted. That
chance had passed. Very well. The enemy must start the dreadful game
about to be played. They had thrown the gage and he answered them. Four
times did the Lee-Metford carry death, unseen, almost unfelt, across
the valley.

Ere the fourth Dyak collapsed limply where he stood, others were there,
firing at the little puff of smoke above the grass. They got in a few
shots, most of which sprayed at various angles off the face of the
cliff. But they waited for no more. When the lever of the Lee-Metford
was shoved home for the fifth time the opposing crest was bare of all
opponents save two, and they lay motionless.

The fate of the flanking detachment was either unperceived or unheeded
by the Dyaks left in the vicinity of the house and well. Astounded by
the firing that burst forth in mid-air, Jenks had cleared the dangerous
rock before they realized that here, above their heads, were the white
man and the maid whom they sought.

With stupid zeal they blazed away furiously, only succeeding in
showering fragments of splintered stone into the Eagle's Nest. And the
sailor smiled. He quietly picked up an old coat, rolled it into a ball
and pushed it into sight amidst the grass. Then he squirmed round on
his stomach and took up a position ten feet away. Of course those who
still ca