"Now forward," said Mr Braine in a low earnest voice. "The plan will
be to keep on till we come upon a place that we can hold against attack.
Frank, Ned, lead on with the ladies; we will come last. Quick, and in
silence. Single file."
Frank led on, but at the end of half an hour no likely spot had been
found, and distant shouts told that their pursuers were closing in.
Mr Braine came now to the front.
"We must have some place found at once, boys," he whispered, avoiding
the inquiring looks of the ladies. "If it is only a patch of rocks or a
dense clump of trees."
But no such spot offered itself, and on all hands he could see how
easily they would be surrounded and at the mercy of the enemy.
At the end of another quarter of an hour they were approaching a steeper
place than usual, but their pursuers were very near now, and the
gentlemen owned to themselves that though they might shoot down a few of
their enemies, the Malays would certainly conquer; when Ned, who had
been staring about him wildly for some minutes, suddenly uttered a low
cry.
"Here, quick!" he cried. "Follow me;" and turning at a sharp angle to
the left, he seemed to be going almost back to the enemy.
"Stop! Are you mad?" whispered Murray, dashing after the boy and
seizing his arm.
"No. I know the place: this way."
"Yes, follow him," said Mr Braine. "He may know;" and without
hesitation he ran after Ned for a few hundred yards, till the boy
stopped to gaze about him wildly, as the voices of their pursuers were
now very plainly heard.
"It was somewhere about here--somewhere about here," whispered Ned.
"Yes, I know! Here!"
He pointed to a narrow rift just before him, and into this, as the
ladies came up, he led them; the others followed, and they had hardly
all passed from the heat and glow of the day into the cool darkness of
the cavern into which Ned had slipped on his first expedition, when a
big swarthy-looking Malay brushed by the bushes which masked the
entrance, followed by two more, who paused and shouted.
"The heathens!" muttered Tim, who was the last to enter; "they've found
us, and I've lost me poipe."
There was an answering shout, and the men went on, while those in the
cave breathed more freely. They were for the moment safe.
There was shout after shout, now more distant, now close at hand, for,
to the dismay of the fugitives, the Malays did not go far, but, as if
scenting their prey, turned back, and came by the narrow crack again and
again, and those within wondered that they passed it unseen, for the
eager excited faces of the Malays were plain enough, and once they were
not more than twenty yards away.
"There is some reason for their hanging about," whispered Mr Braine, as
he stood there pistol in hand. "They must know of the place."
As he spoke there was a fresh shout, and four spear-armed men came to
where the big fellow the fugitives had before seen was standing, rolling
his opal eyes in every direction.
There was an answering shout from high up overhead, and as Ned stood
gazing out past Mr Braine, he saw one of the men down the slope give a
sudden leap, stoop down, and after securing something, hold up a
bamboo-and-reed pipe.
"Bedad, they've found it," murmured Tim. "It fell out of me pocket."
"You've lost us now, Tim," whispered Frank.
"Whisht, sor. I couldn't help it. I haven't been meself since I took
the masther's rat poison."
"You didn't, Tim. Father told me. You drank too much wine."
"Murther! Masther Frank. Why, so it was. It did get right into me
legs."
"Silence!" whispered Mr Braine, sternly. "Ready with your arms."
He raised his revolver as he spoke, for the men who had disappeared had
returned strengthened, and began to search eagerly about. Then one of
them uttered a cry, pointed, and, levelling their weapons, they came on.
"Stand back!" roared Mr Braine, in their tongue; and he fired a shot
over their heads.
This checked them for a minute, and they drew back behind the bushes to
begin throwing spears, but the missiles only struck against the rocks at
the side of the rift, and finding their efforts vain, they paused for a
few moments. A few words ran from bush to bush, and Mr Braine
whispered a warning, "Be ready;" and directly after, the more ominous
word, "Fire!"
It was time, for the Malays dashed forward, kris in hand, but from out
of the cave a scattered volley of revolver shots greeted them so warmly
that two dropped, and the others fell back, followed by their wounded
companions.
"A moment's respite," said Mr Braine. "Reload. We can beat them off."
A moment's respite, but not a minute's, for there was a wild shriek from
the interior of the cave, and a chill ran through Ned. He had recalled
the entrance to the place through which he had slipped, and he turned
just as there was a rush, a burst of yells from within, answered by
others from without, as the Malays again came on.
Then there was a wild struggle, the pistols were useless, and now
thoroughly mastered by their lithe antagonists, all the efforts of the
last few hours proved to have been in vain, for Mr Braine, Murray, the
doctor, Mr Greig, Tim, and the two boys lay bound where they had been
dragged out among the bushes, with the ladies seated weeping by them,
and only one of the unfortunate party spoke.
It was Tim, who turned to the boys.
"Look at that now," he said; "I niver had a chance, and I've murthered
one hand hitting it against the wall."
"Never mind," said Ned; "perhaps our time will come."
"Faix thin, me lad, I'd like to hear it shtrike at wanst."