"Steady!" whispered Tyler, seeing that Li Sung had swung his sling about his shoulder. "Wait till they are upon us as before, and then let them have your stone. In any case we must try to avoid a shot, for the sounds would at once attract others from over the water."
"Makee noise not matter," exclaimed Li Sung with a shake of his head. "De men of Rembas know dat dere am fighting, and dey sending oders to see. Velly soon Li and Massa havee de bullets about dem."
As he spoke he pointed eagerly over the top of the wall to the river beyond, and a glance in that direction caused Tyler to give vent to an exclamation of dismay.
"Three more sampans," he cried in accents of alarm. "And all filled with men. That will add thirty at least to the attacking force, and will increase our difficulties immensely."
For the instant the same feeling of consternation as had assailed him before came suddenly upon him; and then, as he took in the situation, and realized the strength of the position which he and the Chinaman held, his face brightened, and he turned to look at the seven remaining men below with spirits as high as ever they were before.
"Of course we are cornered," he said to himself, "and we are in a desperately tight place. But others have managed to do well under similar circumstances, and we shall do the same. After all, I think that we have much to be thankful for, for we might well have been drowned in the river, and then again, what luck to have struck upon such a spot as this! Why, fifty shall not turn us out, for after our escape from the bore I do not mean to be easily beaten. Ah, here comes the leader! and, foolishly for himself, he has chosen a line which I can reach. In a minute he will be hurled to the bottom of the rock."
With courage renewed by his reflections, Tyler stared at the pirates, and watched as they slowly clambered up the steep face of the rock. Unlike the occasion which had preceded this attack, he was as cool and as collected as if he were on the Dido eating his dinner amongst his messmates, and at once checked the Chinaman's eagerness to deliver a shot.
"Wait," said Tyler shortly. "When the boulder goes you can fire, but till then remain behind the wall."
Panting with their exertions, and led by the man who had first rushed to the assault, the seven pirates came clambering up the rock, their eyes searching every likely spot above, while they wondered which of them would be the one to sight the fugitives. Then, as they neared the summit without a sign of their presence having been come upon, and without a stone or boulder having been thrown, they began to doubt that they were still there, and halted to stare at one another questioningly.
"Are the birds flown then?" demanded their leader, sitting down to rest. "Fools that we were, not to have set a watch upon the back of this rock, for while we have talked they have slipped away."