“Here, stop, Bray! I beg pardon!” exclaimed the old man excitedly; and in another minute he had opened the door and admitted the new-comers.
Men were aroused, and the dogs called in; and then a hasty council of war was held.
“Sure they are not natives?” said Murray to Bray.
But the latter stood knitting his brow without giving any reply.
“Did you not say, friend Murray, that there were convicts escaped from Port Caroline, and that a schooner had been seized?” said the calm voice of Mr Meadows.
“Yes; but surely they cannot have sailed all round here,” exclaimed Murray.
“Why not, if your vessel could anchor two days since in Kaitaka Bay? I see no impossibility. There could be no other marauding party here, my friend. I don’t like bloodshed; so you must make a show of being prepared with such arms as you have, and then we will parley with them. I will be the ambassador of peace. Perhaps a little tea and tobacco will make them take their departure.”
“They’ll take their departure when they have slain all here, and turned your home into a heap of ashes, as they have mine!” exclaimed Bray fiercely. “If you have any respect for your women and your own lives, you will at once try to put the place in a state of defence.”
Meanwhile Wahika had glided out of the door, and getting into the shadow cast by the trees, made his way quickly down the valley; but not for far. In a short time he returned to announce the coming of the enemy.
Murray had proposed flight as the safest plan; but this had been objected to by old Lee, who vowed that as long as he could lift hand no convict should cross his threshold, or lay finger upon the property he had so hardly earned.