, watching the path all the
time; and about ten minutes ago, or thereabout, I thought I saw a sort
of shadow or darkness that I had not noticed before out there at the far
end of the path.

"I stood still and watched; and presently I was sure that there was
something moving, and coming nearer; so I grabbed my rifle and lay down,
waiting, with my Remington pointing straight at 'em. Nearer and nearer
they came, until at last I was certain that what I saw was two savages
carrying something on their shoulders, with other savages behind 'em. I
waited until they were so close that I felt I couldn't miss, and then I
let drive--five shots, one after the other, right into the thick of 'em.
That savage lyin' there flung up his arms and keeled over, while the
other chap seemed to stagger a bit, I thought, and I heard something
fall that sounded as if they'd dropped a pole; then the whole crowd
turned and scooted. But I'm pretty sure that I hit another chap as well
as the one lyin' out there."

"Excellent!" I exclaimed. "You have done splendidly, Julius, and saved
us all from a very ugly surprise. Now, ladies, the danger is over for
the present, therefore you may retire and finish your sleep in peace.
As for you and I, Julius, we will get out our ladder, and, while you
watch with your rifle, I will slip out and roll that fellow over the
edge into the torrent; we don't want him lying there."

So said, so done. We lowered the ladder and I climbed down it to the
pathway, with a loaded revolver in my hand as a precautionary measure,
for during our cruise among the islands I had heard one or two rather
gruesome stories of the craftiness and ferocity of certain savages while
out on the warpath. But in the present instance my precaution was
needless. The prostrate savage was quite dead, and I pushed him over
the edge of the pathway into the torrent that roared over its
precipitous rocky bed some thirty feet below, whence the body would
doubtless be swept along until it reached the harbour. Then I found the
thing that he and another had been carrying, and put it safely inside
the cavern. It was the trunk of a young tree, trimmed in similar
fashion to our own ladder; from which circumstance I inferred that,
lurking somewhere unseen, possibly among the bushes on the other side of
the ravine, some of the savages must not only have seen us replenishing
our water supply, but also have noted the character of the contrivance
which w