re you?"

"Here!" he shouted; the next instant she dropped into his arms.

A startled exclamation from the vicinity of the house, and some loud
cries from the more distant Dyaks on the other side of Prospect Park,
showed that they had been overheard.

"Up!" he whispered. "Hold tight, and go as quickly as you can."

"Not without you!"

"Up, for God's sake! I follow at your heels."

She began to climb. He took some article from between his teeth, a
string apparently, and drew it towards him, mounting the ladder at the
same time. The end tightened. He was then about ten feet from the
ground. Two Dyaks, yelling fiercely, rushed from the cover of the
house.

"Go on," he said to Iris. "Don't lose your nerve whatever happens. I am
close behind you."

"I am quite safe," she gasped.

Turning, and clinging on with one hand, he drew his revolver and fired
at the pair beneath, who could now faintly discern them, and were
almost within reach of the ladder. The shooting made them halt. He did
not know or care if they were hit. To frighten them was sufficient.
Several others were running across the sands to the cave, attracted by
the noise and the cries of the foremost pursuers.

Then he gave a steady pull to the cord. The sharp crack of a rifle came
from the vicinity of the old quarry. He saw the flash among the trees.
Almost simultaneously a bright light leapt from the opposite ledge,
illumining the vicinity like a meteor. It lit up the rock, showed Iris
just vanishing into the safety of the ledge, and revealed Jenks and the
Dyaks to each other. There followed instantly a tremendous explosion
that shook earth and air, dislodging every loose stone in the
south-west pile of rocks, hurling from the plateau some of its
occupants, and wounding the remainder with a shower of lead and debris.

The island birds, long since driven to the remote trees, clamored in
raucous peal, and from the Dyaks came yells of fright or anguish.

The sailor, unmolested further, reached the ledge to find Iris
prostrate where she had fallen, dead or unconscious, he knew not which.
He felt his face become grey in the darkness. With a fierce tug he
hauled the ladder well away from the ground and sank to his knees
beside her.

He took her into his arms. There was no light. He could not see her
eyes or lips. Her slight breathing seemed to indicate a fainting fit,
but there was no water, nor was it possible to adopt any of the
ordinary expedients su