e used for gaining access to the interior of the cavern, and
copied it.

Toward the afternoon of next day I proposed that I should set out upon a
reconnoitring expedition, leaving Julius on guard, my intention being to
go along the ledge to a point from which I could obtain a view of the
beach, and so ascertain whether the canoes were still there. But the
others would not hear of this; they denounced the project as both
unnecessary and dangerous; and when they found that this argument
scarcely sufficed to dissuade me, Mrs Vansittart flatly refused her
consent, asserting that if any mishap should befall me, Julius alone
would be utterly unable to protect the rest of them, and they must
inevitably fall into the hands of the savages. To this I could find no
effective reply, for there was just enough truth in it to be almost
convincing; so I agreed to defer my expedition until at least the
following day. There was some discussion among us, I remember, as to
where the savages had come from, and why they had called at the island:
as to the former, it was impossible to say; while my own opinion was
that their visit to our island was for the purpose of replenishing their
supply of food and water.

All that night and the next, and through the intervening days, we kept
rigorous watch and ward, while our supply of food and water dwindled
until we were almost as badly off as during our last days in the boat.
A further attempt to replenish our stock of water, which I made in
desperation during the night of the fourth day of our investment, showed
that our enemies were not only still present, but as watchful and
pertinacious as ever. And that night, or rather in the early hours of
the following morning, came the climax, when the wily foe made a last
desperate attempt to rush our defences and overpower us by force of
numbers.

I had taken the first night watch, from six until ten, and Julius the
middle watch from ten until two o'clock in the morning, when I relieved
him. He had informed me that he had neither seen nor heard anything of
a disquieting nature during his watch, and had left me about ten minutes
or thereabout, when, as I lay prone near the entrance of the cavern,
with my gaze intently fixed upon the path outside, a slight rustling
sound came to my ear. I could not at first locate it, so I crept closer
and closer still to the opening, until my head was actually protruding
beyond the portal. As I glanced cautiously