when the captain joined the two ladies and the boy, who were impatiently waiting for him on the plateau, he had made up his mind to tell them the bad news. terrible as was the necessity, it could not be helped. it was very hard for him to meet those three radiant faces, and to hear them talk about the water that had been discovered.
"now," said mrs. cliff, "i see no reason why we should not live here in peace and comfort until mr. rynders chooses to come back for us. and i have been thinking, captain, that if somebody—and i am sure ralph would be very good at it—could catch some fish, it would help out very much. we are getting a little short of meat, but as for the other things, we have enough to last for days and days. but we won't talk of that now. we want to hear where that other colored man came from. just look at him as he sits there with maka by those embers. one might think he would shiver himself to pieces. was he cast ashore from a wreck?"
the captain stood silent for a moment, and then, briefly but plainly, and glossing over the horrors of the situation as much as he could, he told them about the rackbirds. not one of the little party interrupted the captain's story, but their faces grew paler and paler as he proceeded.
when he had finished, mrs. cliff burst into tears. "captain," she cried, "let us take the boat and row away from this dreadful place. we should not lose a minute. let us go now!"
but the captain shook his head. "that would not do," he said. "on this open sea they could easily see us. they have boats, and could row much faster than we could."
"then," exclaimed the excited woman, "we could turn over the boat, and all sink to the bottom together."
to this the captain made no answer. "you must all get inside as quickly as you can," he said. "maka, you and that other fellow carry in everything that has been left out here. be quick. go up, ralph, and take the flag down, and then run in."
when the others had entered the narrow passage, the captain followed. fortunately, he had two guns, each double-barrelled, and if but a few of the rackbirds came in pursuit of the escaped negro, he might be a match for them in that narrow passage.
shortly after the party had retired within the rocks, miss markham came to the captain, who was standing at the door of the first apartment. "captain horn," said she, "mrs. cliff is in a state of nervous fear, and i have been trying to quiet her. can you say anything that might give her a little courage? do you really think there is any chance of our escape from this new danger?"
"yes," said the captain, "there is a chance. rynders may come back before the rackbirds discover us, and even if two or three of them find out our retreat, i may be able to dispose of them, and thus give us a little more time. that is our only ground of hope. those men are bound to come here sooner or later, and everything depends upon the return of rynders."
"but," urged miss markham, "perhaps they may not come so far as this to look for the runaway. the waves may have washed out his footsteps upon the sand. there may be no reason why they should come up to this plateau."
the captain smiled a very sombre smile. "if any of them should come this way," he said, "it is possible that they might not think it worth while to cease their search along the beach and come up to this particular spot, were it not that our boat is down there. that is the same thing as if we had put out a sign to tell them where we are. the boat is hauled up on shore, but they could not fail to see it."
"captain," said miss markham, "do you think those rackbirds killed the three sailors?"
"i am very much afraid of it," he answered. "if they did, they must have known that these poor fellows were survivors of a shipwreck, and i suppose they stole up behind them and shot them down or stabbed them. if that were so, i wonder why they have not sooner been this way, looking for the wreck, or, at least, for other unfortunates who may have reached shore. i suppose, if they are making this sort of a search, they went southward. but all that, of course, depends upon whether they really saw davis and the two other men. if they did not, they could have no reason for supposing there were any shipwrecked people on the coast."
"but that thought is of no use to us," said miss markham, her eyes upon the ground, "for, of course, they will be coming after the black man. captain," she continued quickly, "is there anything i can do? i can fire a gun."
he looked at her for a moment. "that will not be necessary," he said.
"but there is something you can do. have you a pistol?"
"yes," said she, "i have. i put it in my pocket as soon as i came into the cave. here it is."
the captain took the pistol from her hands and examined it. "five chambers," he said, "all charged. be very careful of it,"—handing it back to her. "i will put your brother and mrs. cliff in your charge. at the slightest hint of danger, you must keep together in the middle room. i will stand between you and the rascals as long as i can, but if i am killed, you must do what you think best."
"i will," said she, and she put the pistol back in her pocket.
the captain was very much encouraged by the brave talk of this young woman, and it really seemed as if he now had some one to stand by him, some one with whom he could even consult.
"i have carefully examined this cavern," said the captain, after a moment's pause, "and there are only two ways by which those men could possibly get in. you need not be afraid that any one can scramble down the walls of that farthest apartment. that could not be done, though they might be able to fire upon any one in it. but in the middle room you will be perfectly secure from gunshots. i shall keep maka on guard a little back from the entrance to the passage. he will lie on the ground, and can hear footsteps long before they reach us. it is barely possible that some of them might enter by the great cleft in the cave on the other side of the lake, but in that case they would have to swim across, and i shall station that new african on the ledge of which you have heard, and if he sees any of them coming in that direction, i know he will give very quick warning. i hardly think, though, that they would trust themselves to be picked off while swimming."
"and you?" said she.
"oh, i shall keep my eyes on all points," said he, "as far as i can. i begin to feel a spirit of fight rising up within me. if i thought i could keep them off until rynders gets here, i almost wish they would then come. i would like to kill a lot of them."
"suppose," said edna markham, after a moment's reflection, "that they should see mr. rynders coming back, and should attack him."
"i hardly think they would do that," replied the captain. "he will probably come in a good-sized vessel, and i don't think they are the kind of men for open battle. they are midnight sneaks and assassins. now, i advise all of you to go and get something to eat. it would be better for us not to try to do any cooking, and so make a smoke."
the captain did not wish to talk any more. miss markham's last remark had put a new fear into his mind. suppose the rackbirds had lured rynders and his men on shore? those sailors had but few arms among them. they had not thought, when they left, that there would be any necessity for defence against their fellow-beings.
when edna markham told mrs. cliff what the captain had said about their chances, and what he intended to do for their protection, the older woman brightened up a good deal.
"i have great faith in the captain," she declared, "and if he thinks it is worth while to make a fight, i believe he will make a good one. if they should be firing, and mr. rynders is approaching the coast, even if it should be night, he would lose no time in getting to us."
toward the close of that afternoon three wild beasts came around the point of the bluff and made their way northward along the beach. they were ferocious creatures with shaggy hair and beards. two of them carried guns, and each of them had a knife in his belt. when they came to a broad bit of beach above the reach of the waves, they were very much surprised at some footsteps they saw. they were the tracks of two men, instead of those of the one they were looking for. this discovery made them very cautious. they were eager to kill the escaped african before he got far enough away to give information of their retreat, for they knew not at what time an armed force in search of them might approach the coast. but they were very wary about running into danger. there was somebody with that black fellow—somebody who wore boots.
after a time they came to the boat. the minute they saw this, each miscreant crouched suddenly upon the sand, and, with cocked guns, they listened. then, hearing nothing, they carefully examined the boat. it was empty—there were not even oars in it.
looking about them, they saw a hollow behind some rocks. to this they ran, crouching close to the ground, and there they sat and consulted.
it was between two and three o'clock the next morning that maka's eyes, which had not closed for more than twenty hours, refused to keep open any longer, and with his head on the hard, rocky ground of the passage in which he lay, the poor african slept soundly. on the shelf at the edge of the lake, the other african, mok, sat crouched on his heels, his eyes wide open. whether he was asleep or not it would have been difficult to determine, but if any one had appeared in the great cleft on the other side of the lake, he would have sprung to his feet with a yell—his fear of the rackbirds was always awake.
inside the first apartment was captain horn, fast asleep, his two guns by his side. he had kept watch until an hour before, but ralph had insisted upon taking his turn, and, as the captain knew he could not keep awake always, he allowed the boy to take a short watch. but now ralph was leaning back against one of the walls, snoring evenly and steadily. in the next room sat edna markham, wide awake. she knew of the arrangement made with ralph, and she knew the boy's healthy, sleepy nature, so that when he went on watch she went on watch.
outside of the cave were three wild beasts. one of them was crouching on the farther end of the plateau. another, on the lower ground a little below, stood, gun in hand, and barely visible in the starlight. a third, barefooted, and in garments dingy as the night, and armed only with a knife, crept softly toward the entrance of the cave. there he stopped and listened. he could plainly hear the breathing of the sleepers. he tried to separate these sounds one from another, so that he should be able to determine how many persons were sleeping inside, but this he could not do. then his cat-like eyes, becoming more and more accustomed to the darkness within the entrance, saw the round head of maka close upon the ground.
the soul of the listening fiend laughed within him. "pretty watchers they are," he said to himself. "not three hours after midnight, and they are all snoring!" then, as stealthily and as slowly as he had come, he slipped away, and joining the others, they all glided through the darkness down to the beach, and then set off at their best speed back to their rendezvous.
after they had discovered that there were people in the cave, they had not thought of entering. they were not fully armed, and they did not know how many persons were inside. but they knew one thing, and that was that these shipwrecked people—for that was what they must be—kept a very poor watch, and if the whole band came on the following night, the affair would probably be settled with but very little trouble, no matter how large the party in the cave might be. it was not necessary to look any further for the escaped negro. of course, he had been picked up by these people.
the three beasts reached their camp about daybreak, and everybody was soon awakened and the tale was told.
"it is a comfort," said the leader, lighting the stump of a black pipe which he thrust under his great mustache, and speaking in his native tongue, which some of them understood, and others did not, "to know that to-night's work is all cut out for us. now we can take it easy to-day, and rest our bones. the order of the day is to keep close. no straggling, nor wandering. keep those four niggers up in the pigeonhole. we will do our own cooking to-day, for we can't afford to run after any more of them. lucky the fellow who got away can't speak english, for he can't tell anything about us, any more than if he was an ape. so snooze to-day, if you want to. i will give you work to do for to-night."a
