There was no movement for two or three minutes, and Harry had no doubt that they were examining the two black lines of stones between which the water was rushing.
"There are two others on this side, señor," Maria whispered.
The pause was broken by the sharp tap of two arrows striking on the stones a few inches below their heads.
"Well, you have begun it," Harry muttered.
He had already sighted his gun at the head half-hidden by the rock. He now pulled the trigger, and then, turning, he fired the other barrel, aiming along the side of the canyon where the two men seen by his companion must be standing. The head disappeared, and loud cries broke from the other side. The stillness that had reigned in the valley was broken by a chorus of shrieks and roars, and the air overhead thrilled with the sound of innumerable wings. Harry on firing had laid down the fowling-piece and snatched up his rifle.
"Do you see any others?"
"Two have run away; the one against the rocks on the other side was wounded, for I saw him throw up his arms, and it was he who screamed. The man by him dropped where he stood; the one behind the rock is killed, I saw his body carried away in the white water."
Half a minute later Dias and Bertie came up.
"So they have come, señor?"
"Yes, there were four of them. Your wife saw them, though I could only make out one. They shot two arrows at us, and I answered them. The man I saw was killed, and Donna Maria said that one on the other side also fell, and another was wounded."