"It's a case o' self preservation, my lad," warned Mackay; and he closed the breech of his powerful weapon with a vicious snap. "You needna think o' usin' the stock o' your gun in this scrimmage. I am just afraid it's goin' to be more serious than I thought."
There could be little doubt as to the meaning of the wily natives' tactics. Assuredly they intended to surround the little camp, which they considered to be safely asleep, and spear the party at their leisure.
"We are to be their sacrificial offerings, apparently," remarked Bob, with forced calm.
Mackay was aroused to a sudden burst of fury at the words; his long-smouldering anger against the natives effervesced to an alarming pitch.
"I'll give them sacrifices," he grated, peering into the darkness with eyes that seemed like glowing coals of fire over the gleaming barrel of his rifle. "I'll make them think an earthquake has broken loose in their midst. I'll—I'll——"
Indignation choked his fiery utterance, and he said no more, but toyed lingeringly with the trigger of his gun.
A minute elapsed, it seemed an eternity, but no signs of the enemy could yet be traced. Instinctively Bob's eyes returned to the recent centre of affairs where the impish fire feeders were heaping on the logs with frantic glee, and he shuddered involuntarily. The suspense was rapidly becoming unbearable, and the little band expected every moment to be overwhelmed with flying spears from some unlooked-for corner. Each pigmy bush around to their overstrained vision took on the appearance of a crouching warrior, and it was with the exercise of great restraint that Mackay and his comrades refrained from firing at random into the night. Slowly the seconds dragged their weary course, then all at once a weird unearthly chorus reached the ears of the anxiously waiting group; it seemed to come from everywhere around, and they turned about in dismay. The attacking horde were closing in on them from all points of the compass. Only when the ring had been completed had they begun their deadly advance. Neither Mackay nor any of them had expected this.
"I reckon we is bested, mates," groaned Emu Bill, helplessly; and it certainly did seem as if he spoke truly.
Another minute elapsed, then they grounded their arms in impotent rage; the swelling chant from an unknown number of throats was drawing insidiously nearer, and they could only roughly guess the various origins of sound. Mackay turned to Jack to give a last word of encouragement, and he was surprised to find the boy standing by Bob's side in an attitude of acute attention—his head was bent forward, and he shielded his ear with his hand as if he were listening intently.