CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
OVERCOME.
"Now forward," said Mr Braine in a low earnest voice. "The plan willbe 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 insilence. Single file."
Frank led on, but at the end of half an hour no likely spot had beenfound, 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, avoidingthe inquiring looks of the ladies. "If it is only a patch of rocks or adense clump of trees."
But no such spot offered itself, and on all hands he could see howeasily they would be surrounded and at the mercy of the enemy.
At the end of another quarter of an hour they were approaching a steeperplace than usual, but their pursuers were very near now, and thegentlemen owned to themselves that though they might shoot down a few oftheir enemies, the Malays would certainly conquer; when Ned, who hadbeen staring about him wildly for some minutes, suddenly uttered a lowcry.
"Here, quick!" he cried. "Follow me;" and turning at a sharp angle tothe left, he seemed to be going almost back to the enemy.
"Stop! Are you mad?" whispered Murray, dashing after the boy andseizing his arm.
"No. I know the place: this way."
"Yes, follow him," said Mr Braine. "He may know;" and withouthesitation he ran after Ned for a few hundred yards, till the boystopped to gaze about him wildly, as the voices of their pursuers werenow 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 theladies came up, he led them; the others followed, and they had hardlyall passed from the heat and glow of the day into the cool darkness ofthe cavern into which Ned had slipped on his first expedition, when abig swarthy-looking Malay brushed by the bushes which masked theentrance, followed by two more, who paused and shouted.
"The heathens!" muttered Tim, who was the last to enter; "they've foundus, and I've lost me poipe."
There was an answering shout, and the men went on, while those in thecave 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 ifscenting their prey, turned back, and came by the narrow crack again andagain, and those within wondered that they passed it unseen, for theeager excited faces of the Malays were plain enough, and once they werenot more than twenty yards away.
"There is some reason for their hanging about," whispered Mr Braine, ashe 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 towhere the big fellow the fugitives had before seen was standing, rollinghis opal eyes in every direction.
There was an answering shout from high up overhead, and as Ned stoodgazing out past Mr Braine, he saw one of the men down the slope give asudden leap, stoop down, and after securing something, hold up abamboo-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 tookthe 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 melegs."
"Silence!" whispered Mr Braine, sternly. "Ready with your arms."
He raised his revolver as he spoke, for the men who had disappeared hadreturned strengthened, and began to search eagerly about. Then one ofthem uttered a cry, pointed, and, levelling their weapons, they came on.
"Stand back!" roared Mr Braine, in their tongue; and he fired a shotover their heads.
This checked them for a minute, and they drew back behind the bushes tobegin throwing spears, but the missiles only struck against the rocks atthe side of the rift, and finding their efforts vain, they paused for afew moments. A few words ran from bush to bush, and Mr Brainewhispered a warning, "Be ready;" and directly after, the more ominousword, "Fire!"
It was time, for the Malays dashed forward, kris in hand, but from outof the cave a scattered volley of revolver shots greeted them so warmlythat two dropped, and the others fell back, followed by their woundedcompanions.
"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 fromthe interior of the cave, and a chill ran through Ned. He had recalledthe entrance to the place through which he had slipped, and he turnedjust as there was a rush, a burst of yells from within, answered byothers from without, as the Malays again came on.
Then there was a wild struggle, the pistols were useless, and nowthoroughly mastered by their lithe antagonists, all the efforts of thelast few hours proved to have been in vain, for Mr Braine, Murray, thedoctor, Mr Greig, Tim, and the two boys lay bound where they had beendragged 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 murtheredone 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."