e.

There was little or no risk in descending the rock. Soon after sunset
it was wrapped in deepest gloom, for night succeeds day in the tropics
with wondrous speed. The hazard lay in twice crossing the white sand,
were any of the Dyaks hiding behind the house or among the trees.

He held no foolhardy view of his own powers. The one-sided nature of
the conflict thus far was due solely to his possession of Lee-Metfords
as opposed to muzzle-loaders. Let him be surrounded on the level at
close quarters by a dozen determined men and he must surely succumb.

Were it not for the presence of Iris he would have given no second
thought to the peril. It was just one of those undertakings which a
soldier jumps at. "Here goes for the V.C. or Kingdom Come!" is the
pithy philosophy of Thomas Atkins under such circumstances.

Now, there was no V.C., but there was Iris.

To act without consulting her was impossible, so they discussed the
project. Naturally she scouted it.

"The Mahommedan may be able to help us," she pointed out. "In any event
let us wait until the moon wanes. That is the darkest hour. We do not
know what may happen meanwhile."

The words had hardly left her mouth when an irregular volley was fired
at them from the right flank of the enemy's position. Every bullet
struck yards above their heads, the common failing of musketry at night
being to take too high an aim. But the impact of the missiles on a rock
so highly impregnated with minerals caused sparks to fly, and Jenks saw
that the Dyaks would obtain by this means a most dangerous index of
their faulty practice. Telling Iris to at once occupy her safe corner,
he rapidly adjusted a rifle on the wooden rests already prepared in
anticipation of an attack from that quarter, and fired three shots at
the opposing crest, whence came the majority of gun-flashes.

One, at least, of the three found a human billet. There was a shout of
surprise and pain, and the next volley spurted from the ground level.
This could do no damage owing to the angle, but he endeavored to
disconcert the marksmen by keeping up a steady fire in their direction.
He did not dream of attaining other than a moral effect, as there is a
lot of room to miss when aiming in the dark. Soon he imagined that the
burst of flame from his rifle helped the Dyaks, because several bullets
whizzed close to his head, and about this time firing recommenced from
the crest.

Notwithstanding all his skill and man