remain."

"I will show them the muzzle of this rifle; it may keep them in check
for a few moments longer," exclaimed Janet. Taking the weapon, she
thrust it through the gap made by the blacks' clubs.

It had the effect Janet expected. Once more they retreated, but finding
that no shot was fired, the savages again came on. Blow after blow
resounded on the door, the splinters flew about, when with a loud crash
the door gave way. Two or three savages were on the point of springing
in, when a rifle-shot was heard, and one of them fell; the next instant
Janet, who was the last to leave the spot, saw Mr Hayward spring
forward and with the butt of his rifle strike down two more. What was
her alarm, however, to find that instead of flying, the rest were
attacking him with their clubs, the blows of which he could with
difficulty parry. Still he bravely kept his post in the verandah,
preventing the blacks from again stepping on to it.

Several minutes he waged the unequal fight, keeping the blacks at bay.
Already he had been struck more than once; his strength must fail at
last. Some savages farther off, finding that the clubs of those in
front were of no avail, rushed forward with their spears, and in another
instant they would have pierced the white man, when a couple of shots
laid two of them low. The shots were followed by the appearance of Rob,
Sandy, and Jock Andrews, one of the men, who furiously threw themselves
on the savages, Rob firing his pistol at the head of one of them. The
blacks, not knowing how many white men might be following, took to
flight and rushed down the hill, allowing Mr Hayward and the rest time
to reload. Janet, from behind the fragments of the door, handed out the
two rifles, which Sandy and his companion loaded and as quickly
discharged at the flying enemy, whom they then pursued down the hill,
uttering loud shouts, in which they were joined by Bruce's fierce bark,
he having at that instant been attracted to the spot.

The blacks made straight for the river, into which they plunged and swam
across, without even looking behind them; nor did they stop on landing,
but made direct for the "bush." To follow them would have been useless
with so small a party.

Mr Hayward was anxious to get back, to ascertain if any of the ladies
had been injured, and to repair the damage caused by the savages before
the return of the party on horseback. There was some risk that the
savages might fall in