“Not he, sir; he’d send Temistocles. But Mr. Justinian must think us dead.”
“It’s not improbable. However, we will soon show him we’re alive, though the tunnel is closed up forever.”
“Good job too, sir,” replied Gurt cheerfully; “there’s no getting in that way now; so if these villains want to take Melnos, they’ll only have the western pass to enter by. I guess that there rock, sir, killed a few.”
“What with the battle and the earthquake, they must have lost at least a hundred men, while our deaths are comparatively small.”
“We’ve got nigh on a hundred left, I think, sir; but if it weren’t fur you, sir, gittin’ that idear of the boat, we’d be all dead men, for sure.”
“Egad, we’ll be dead men now, if we don’t look out!” said Maurice, as the foremost boat of their pursuers came within pistol shot. “Look out, Gurt; I’m going to pick off that fellow standing up in the prow.”
The Melnosians, in their sudden rush for the boat, had naturally enough dropped their guns; but Maurice, with an Englishman’s determination to stick to anything he has once got a grip of, had carried off his sword, and still possessed his revolver. Gurt also had his cutlass, so, in the event of their foes catching them on land before they could gain the shelter of the stockade, Maurice and one of the Melnosians would have to defend the three wounded men and the remaining one, who had no weapon. Meanwhile, their boat, impelled by the rowers with the energy of despair, had rounded the breakwater, and was rapidly sweeping inward to the land. Some little distance above they could see the narrow entrance of the pass, but, as Crispin and his men were intrenched behind the palisade, farther up the gorge, of course the fugitives could not hope for their help. Maurice, however, thought that the pistol-shots might attract attention, as the sound carries far in that rarefied atmosphere, and he also told his Melnosians to shout loudly, so as to let their friends know they were in peril.
Just as the boat was nearly touching the land, a bullet from the rifle of the man standing up in the prow whizzed past Maurice’s ear; but, fortunately, being widely aimed, did not touch him. The Englishman, resting his revolver muzzle on his left arm, fired carefully, and, luckily, hit his enemy full in the chest; whereupon the man flung up his hands and fell splash into the water. The rowers, startled at this, paused for a moment; and in that time Maurice ran his boat ashore, and giving Gurt, who could not walk, into the care of the two Melnosians, one of whom was unhurt, and the other only wounded in the arm, thrust Gurt’s cutlass into the hand of the remaining one, and began to retreat slowly up the hill.
Alcibiades’ boat was yet far distant, but the one near shore, its rowers having recovered from their surprise at the loss of their leader, landed as quickly as possible, and began to run as fast as possible after the fugitives. The Melnosians shouted with right good will for help, and, while retreating slowly, Maurice managed to drop one of his pursuers with his remaining cartridge. They had now nothing left to fight with but a sword and cutlass, both of which were useless against the rifles carried by their pursuers, and the look-out was all the worse, as Captain Alcibiades, with a new crew of cut-throats, had now landed on the beach.
The two Melnosians hurried Gurt along as quickly as possible, the other wounded man ran ahead, shouting for help, and Maurice, with the remaining islander, covered the retreat with stern determination. Several shots sung past them, but their pursuers were evidently bad marksmen, and they gained the entrance of the gorge without being hurt.