So we went to work gathering sling-shot pebbles—nice smooth, round ones. We had to sally out into the open to get them, and that was taking a chance, with all those heathens shooting away at us with bows and arrows; but by ducking and dodging we made out to fill our pockets and get back safe. Between us we had a couple of pecks of stones.
“There,” says Mark; “that’ll stand ’em off a while.”
We got out our sling-shots just in time. The enemy was creeping up on us, thinking to take us by surprise, but we whanged away at them like sharp-shooters, and it was pretty seldom we missed. Mostly we struck the heathen in vital spots, so that they threw up their arms with a screech and fell dead, rolling over down the hill. Twice we stopped regular charges, and in fifteen minutes or so the foe was pretty badly discouraged.
They retreated right down to the shore of the river, where their war-canoes were, with us a-firing after them as fast as we could shoot. Then for the first time we dared take a breath and look around us. It was lucky we did, for there, not a hundred yards off, were Henry C. Batten and Bill landing out of a boat. Batten looked up at us and grinned.
My stomach all of a sudden went hollow, and my knees got so weak I sat down without intending to. Yes, sir, I went right down ker-plunk. Those men popping up like that took the wind clean out of my sails, and no mistake. Mark wasn’t any better off, either. He looked like somebody had up and poured a pitcher of ice-water down his back.
If I’d been all alone I’d have up and run, but with Mark there I was ashamed to. He couldn’t run, for two reasons: first, he was too fat to go very fast; and, second, he wasn’t the running kind. We knew there was help coming, too, but how long it would be before it got here we hadn’t the faintest idea; it might come too late.
Mark was scared at first, I could see it, but in a minute he got mad, real good and snapping mad, to think of all the trouble we’d had getting the engine back, and then to have these men drop in when it was most safe. It didn’t look fair any way you took it.
“Tallow,” says he, “you can do what you want to, but I’m going to stay and f-f-fight.”
Well, what could I do? I just took a long breath and says, “All right, Mark, but I don’t see what good it’s goin’ to do.”
“They sha’n’t get that turbine as long as I kin s-s-stand up,” he stuttered.