Midnight Webs

by George Manville Fenn

Feeling the impossibility of making farther progress, Murray was surprised to see Wahika, after a little reconnoitring, begin to climb the face of the precipice, finding foothold in tiny crevices, and grasping at tufts of grass, till he had surmounted an almost perpendicular portion of the face of the rock. But his object soon became plain: some thirty feet up there appeared to be a shelf and a dark opening, but so full of verdure that it was impossible to make out its extent; and here, it seemed, that the savage intended to make his stronghold, for, having reached the shelf, he drew out his knife, and, in a very short time, from the hanging creepers had woven a kind of rough rope, sufficiently strong to bear the weight of his companions; and this he at length let down.

Katie shrank from it at first; but a whisper from Murray sufficed. The loop made was passed over her, so that she was seated within it; a couple of handkerchiefs bound her securely, lest her courage should fail; and then the young men watched her, trembling, as Wahika stood striding on the crag above, his brow knit, and the muscles upon his arms standing out like knotted cords, as he, by sheer strength, hand-over-hand, drew up the frightened girl.

Twice Murray, his heart beating rapidly, stood with outstretched hands to break her fall; for it seemed that Wahika had over-rated his powers, and that he must be drawn over the edge. But slowly and steadily he hauled up his rough cord, Katie swinging to and fro, and clinging with closed eyes the while, till by an effort the savage drew her to the edge; and the next instant she was in safety.

In a few minutes the rope was lowered; and Murray tied to it the guns and such provisions as still remained; and when, once more, the rope descended, Bray seized it, and half drawn, half climbing, reached the top, just as a shout from below told that not only had the gully been discovered, but that he had been seen.

The next instant a bullet flattened itself against the stone, a little below the edge, and fell at Murray’s feet, while the rocks above echoed and re-echoed the report with a roll as of thunder.

Wahika would have lowered the line again; but Bray held to it, and kept him back; for the temptation was strong upon him to leave Murray to his fate. They had there, where he was, the arms and provisions; and it was impossible for the convicts to reach them. Help must come sooner or later; and then there was the future. Should he not be successful in winning Katie, he would be revenged, and he would not have the agony of seeing her in his rival’s arms. The temptation was strong, and he yielded to it. Murray might die. But Wahika, too, was strong, and heedless of a couple more shots fired, he struggled hard for the rope, sending Bray back upon the precipice, so that it seemed that both must fall; but by an effort Bray recovered himself, and the savage was forced back; when, with a harsh cry, he loosened his hold of the rope, and darted to Katie, whose agitation had alarmed him, for she had seemed as if about to leap down to her lover.

But if such had been her intention, Wahika restrained her, pulling her down into shelter; and, seizing his gun, he took rapid aim, fired; and one of the convicts who was about to fire at Murray bounded into the air, and then fell into the little trickling stream.

Imitating his example, Bray too fired; and another man sank into a sitting posture, and then crawled into the shelter of the rocks; while half-a-dozen shots fired at the defenders of the gully flattened themselves on the rock, or dislodged little clouds of dust and stones.

Knowing his peril, Murray sank at the first discharge, and behind a mass of rock crouched with anxious heart, waiting for the coming of his executioners. For it seemed to him that, sooner or later, they would dash on, ignorant of the inaccessible mass of rock, and then, in their rage and disappointment, kill him upon the spot.

He smiled bitterly as he thought of this new act of treachery; and as he watched the barrels protruded above his head, he would have felt little surprise had that of Bray covered him; and a thrill of rage ran through him as he thought of his helpless position—weak and unarmed, and waiting for his end.