in the throng, and the survivors,
scared by their losses, once more betook themselves to the woods.
Several times during the day they returned to the attack, pushing it
home each time with more determination, and towards evening with a
rage and frenzy that could only be due to the stimulation of strong
liquor. At this last onset the defenders were almost overwhelmed,
repeated volleys seeming only to inflame the fierce warriors. For some
minutes there was a hand-to-hand fight as they made desperate
endeavours to scale the barricade, and only when a score of their
number lay dead and wounded did they relinquish the contest. They took
away the wounded, but left the dead where they lay, and in the night
the garrison had the gruesome task of carrying the bodies to the edge
of the cliff and casting them into the sea. For some time Dr. Smith
was kept busy in attending to the wounded among his own party, and
next day one of the stokers, struck by a poisoned arrow, succumbed to
blood-poisoning, and his comrades, at dead of night, gave him sailor's
burial.

Some days passed, and no serious attack was made, though the garrison
had to be very wary to avoid the arrows which flew at intervals into
the enclosure. One evening, soon after sunset, one of the men on watch
noticed a small light approaching the barricade, and thought at first
it was one of the phosphorescent insects which abounded in the woods,
and which the garrison had seen every night like little lamps among
the trees. But as it came nearer he perceived that it grew larger and
brighter, and moved from side to side with more regularity than was
probable with an insect, and at length he saw that it was a
smouldering torch held by a native, who was waving it to and fro to
cause a flame. Evidently he was coming to fire the barricade. A
well-directed shot brought him down, but to guard against any more
attempts of the same kind Underhill had the barricade constantly
drenched with water from the stream, a fatiguing job, but one that was
welcome to the men, in that it gave them something to do.

Day after day went by. It was clear that the enemy were trusting to
famine to accomplish their end. Luckily, it never entered their heads
to hasten the inevitable by damming up the stream before it entered
the enclosure. If they had done this the garrison could hardly have
held out for a day. In that hot climate a constant supply of water was
a prime necessity. But water without soli