The Castaways of the Flag (29 page)

           
"And
here's hoping we shall never see them back!" John Block added.

           
As yet no one
would venture to prophesy such a happy contingency. Were not the canoes only
waiting for the ebb to run strongly in order to make for the island?

           
Fritz and
Jenny stood side by side, watching in silence, hardly daring to believe that the
situation was drawing to so immediate an end.

           
It soon
became apparent that the canoes were feeling the action of the out-going tide.
Their speed increased, although they did not cease to hug the coast, as if it
were the natives' intention to go round Cape East.

           
At half-past
three the fleet was midway between Deliverance Bay and Cape East. At six
o'clock there could be no further doubt on the matter. The last boat rounded
the cape and disappeared behind the point.

           
Neither M. Zermatt nor anyone else had left the knoll for a moment.

           
What relief was theirs when not a single pirogue remained in sight! At
last the island was freed from the savages' presence! The whole party would be
able to settle down in Rock Castle again. Perhaps there would be only trifling
damage to make good. They would do nothing but watch for the arrival of the
Unicorn!
Their last fears were forgotten, and, after all, they
were all together again after surviving so many dreadful trials!

           
"Shall we start for Rock Castle?" Jack exclaimed, eager to
quit the island.

           
"Yes, yes!" said Dolly no less eagerly. Frank had just joined
her.

           
"Would it not be better to wait until to-morrow?" Jenny
suggested. "What do you think, Fritz dear?"

           
"What Mr. Wolston and Captain Gould and papa think," Fritz
replied; "and that certainly is to spend this next night here."

           
"Yes," said M. Zermatt. "Before we return to Rock Castle
we must be absolutely sure that the savages have no intention of going back
there."

           
"They have gone to the devil already," Jack exclaimed,
"and the devil never lets go of anything he has once got in his claws!
Isn't that so, good old Block?"

           
"Yes—sometimes," the boatswain answered.

           
Despite Jack's protests and arguments, it was decided to postpone the
start until the morrow, and all assembled at the last meal which they expected
to take on Shark's Island.

           
It was a very merry one, and when the evening came to an end all were
ready for bed.

           
Everything suggested that this night of the 29th of January would be as
tranquil as the many others spent in the quietude of Rock Castle and
Falconhurst.

           
Nevertheless, neither M. Zermatt nor his companions would depart from
their custom? ary caution, although all danger seemed to have gone with the
last of the canoes. It was therefore arranged that some should make the usual
nightly rounds while the others remained on guard at the battery.

           
As soon as the women and Bob had gone into the store, Jack, Ernest,
Frank, and John Block, with their guns over their shoulders, set out to the north
end of the island. Fritz and Captain Gould went up the knoll and took their
place under the hangar, as it was their turn to go on guard until sunrise.

           
Mr. Wolston, M. Zermatt, and James stayed in the store, where they were
free to sleep until dawn.

           
The night was a dark one, with no moon. The atmosphere was thick with
the evaporations from the heated earth. The breeze had fallen at evening.
Profound silence reigned. Nothing was audible save the surf of the incoming
tide, which began to flow about eight o'clock.

           
Harry Gould and Fritz sat side by side, recalling memories of all the
events, good and ill, that had followed each other after the
Flag
had cast them adrift. From time to time one or other of
them went out and looked carefully about, more especially in the direction of
the dark arm of the sea lying between the two capes.

           
Nothing disturbed their utter solitude until, at two o'clock in the
morning, the captain and Fritz were startled out of their conversation by a
report.

           
"A gun!" said Harry Gould.

           
"Yes: fired over there," Fritz answered, pointing to the
north-west of the island.

           
"What's up, then?" Captain Gould exclaimed.

           
Both rushed out of the hangar and peered for any light in the midst of
the profound darkness.

           
Two other reports rang out, nearer this time than the first one.

           
"The canoes have come back," said Fritz.

           
And leaving Harry Gould at the battery he ran to the store at top speed.

           
M. Zermatt and Mr. Wolston had heard the reports, and were already on
the threshold.

           
"What is the matter?" M. Zermatt asked sharply.

           
"I am afraid, papa, that the savages have tried to effect a
landing," Fritz answered.

           
"And the rascals have succeeded!" exclaimed Jack, who now
approached with Ernest and the boatswain.

           
"They are on the island?" said Mr. Wolston.

           
"Their canoes touched the north-east point just at the very moment
we got there," said Ernest, "and our shots were not enough to frighten
them off. And now nothing remains but –"

           
"To defend ourselves!" Captain Gould finished for him.

           
The ladies had just left their room. In anticipation of an immediate
attack they had to carry all the arms, ammunition and stores they could, and
get to the battery as quickly as possible.

           
The departure of the pirogues had been merely a ruse. Taking advantage
of the incoming tide, the savages had returned towards Shark's Island, which
they hoped to take by surprise. The manoeuvre had been highly successful.
Although their presence was known and they had been welcomed with guns, they
were in occupation of the point, whence it
would be
easy for them to get to the central store.

           
The situation
was thus desperate, for the pirogues had succeeded in landing the entire band.
M. Zermatt and his companions could not offer a serious resistance to so large
a number of assailants. That they must succumb when their ammunition and
supplies ran out was only too certain.

           
They could do
nothing but take refuge on the knoll, within the battery. That was the only
place where there was any possibility of putting up a defence.

           
The women and
Bob crept under cover in the hangar which sheltered the two guns. They did not
let a murmur escape them.

           
For one
moment M. Zermatt thought of carrying them over to the Falconhurst shore in the
boat. But what would become of the unfortunate women if, after the islet had
been invaded, their companions were unable to join them? Besides, they would
never have consented to go.

           
It was a
little after four o'clock when a confused noise announced the presence of the
savages, a couple of hundred yards away. Captain Gould, M. Zermatt, Mr.
Wolston, Ernest, Frank, James, and the boatswain, armed with carbines, were
ready to fire, while Fritz and Jack stood with matches lighted near the two
little cannon, only waiting for
the moment
to rake the slopes of the knoll with grape-shot.

           
When the black shadows showed against the early light of dawn, Captain
Gould gave the order in a low tone to fire in that direction.

           
Seven or eight reports rang out, followed by horrible cries which proved
that more than one bullet had found its billet in the crowd.

           
Three attacks had to be repelled before sunrise. In the last a score or
so of natives succeeded in reaching the crest of the knoll. Although some of
them had been mortally hit, the carbines could no longer keep them in check,
and but for a double discharge of the ordnance the battery would probably have
been carried in this assault.

           
At daylight the band withdrew among the trees, near the store, as if
they meant to wait until the next night to renew the attack.

           
Unfortunately the defenders had almost exhausted their cartridges. When
they were reduced to the two guns, which could only be directed towards the
base of the knoll, how could they cover the summit?

           
A council was held to consider the situation. If they could not carry on
the resistance under these conditions, would it not be possible to leave
Shark's Island, land on Falconhurst beach, and seek refuge within the Promised
Land or in some other part of the island— all of them together, this time? Or
would it
be better to make a rush on the savages and, with the advantage of carbines
over bows and arrows, compel them to take to the sea again? But M. Zermatt and
his party were only nine against the scores who surrounded the knoll.

           
Just at this
moment, as if in answer to this last suggestion, the air was filled with the
whistling of arrows, some of which stuck in the roof of the hangar, fortunately
without wounding anyone.

           
"The
attack is beginning again!" said John Block.

           
"Let's
get ready for them!" Fritz replied.

           
This assault
was the fiercest of all, for the natives were furious, and seemed no longer
afraid to face the bullets and grape-shot. Moreover, the ammunition was almost
exhausted, and the fire slackened. Several of the savages crawled up the knoll
and got to the hangar. The two carronades fired point blank at them, cleared
the ground of a few, and Fritz, Jack, Frank, James, and John Block fought hand
to hand with the others. Then they retired over the corpses which strewed the
foot of the hill. They had used a weapon between axe and club, which, in their
hands, was a formidable thing.

           
Plainly the
struggle approached its end. The last cartridges were spent. Numbers must tell.
M. Zermatt and his party were trying to make a stand around the hangar, which
must soon be entered. At grips with several natives, Fritz and Frank and Jack
and Harry Gould were in imminent peril of being borne down to the foot of the
hill. The fight would be over in a few minutes now, and defeat meant massacre,
for they could expect no mercy from these savage foes.

           
Just at this
moment a report rang out off the island, borne by the wind from the north.

           
The
assailants heard it, for those in advance stopped.

           
Fritz and Jack
and the others at once ran back towards the hangar, one or two of them slightly
wounded.

           
"A
gun!" Frank exclaimed.