Midnight Webs

by George Manville Fenn

Another rattling volley startled them; but apparently feeling now that their efforts only ended in waste of ammunition, the convicts ceased firing, and, for the rest of the night, save an occasional whisper, the silence was oppressive. But there was not the agony of spirit Murray had before suffered. Two soft hands were now clasping his; and when all hope of relief was gone, he thought, as they sat there waiting for the day, that they could still die together.

But he was hopeful yet. There was the prospect of help coming through Mr Meadows; and he told his thoughts to the trembling girl.

“But would they find this gully?” was the response, to which he could only speak hopefully.

The sound of Wahika reloading a gun made the young man ask for a piece, which, with the much-lightened horn and pouch, was pushed into his hands, and, with knitted brow, he sat still, waiting for the light, feeling stronger each hour, and determined to give a good account of more than one assailant, before finger should be laid upon the sleeping form at his side.

For now, completely worn out, and feeling herself in comparative security, the poor girl’s head had sunk lower and lower, until it had rested upon her breast, and she slept.

At last, morning again, bright and glowing. Murray felt that if they could only hold the convicts at bay, that would be sufficient. The help must come soon; and if they could avoid farther bloodshed, he should be thankful. But he knew that all must depend upon the actions of their assailants, and he looked about anxiously now, to see the state in which they, the besieged, would be.

Wahika had told him that man could not climb the sides of the gully; but the savage had not allowed for the possibility of one or two daring spirits climbing to a height wherefrom they could command their place of refuge, and render it untenable for any length of time; and it was with no little anxiety that Murray saw that, from the first, faint light, the convicts had been carefully trying the sides, and that now a couple of men were slowly crawling up from crag to crag to a projection similar to that on which the besieged rested, and from which, while finding shelter themselves, they would be able to fire down upon those at the end of the gully.

There was no time for consideration—it was life for life; and having turned to see whether the savage had made out the new danger, Murray took careful aim, fired, and had the mortification of seeing a puff of dust close by one of the convicts’ heads as the bullet struck the stone, while the shot sent by Wahika had no better effect.

A loud shout of derision greeted their failure; and as hands were raised in loading, shot after shot was discharged at the ledge, but also without effect. Wahika was first ready to fire again. Murray’s hand trembled so from excitement that he was long in preparing; and then they took aim again at the uppermost convict, who they found, to their dismay, had gained the shelf, and was reaching down to help his companion, who was toiling patiently after him. Two steps, a strong drawing up of the hands, and he was within reach, so that he could grasp the other, and in another minute destruction would have been certain for the fugitives, when simultaneously Murray and Wahika discharged their pieces, and Katie hid her face in her hands, for there was a strange surging movement in the higher convict, who pulled his companion upward for a few inches, and then seemed to bow forward, gliding over the edge of the precipice, the two falling from crag to crag, full sixty feet, to roll over at last, crushed and helpless, among the ferns and long grass.

A cry of rage followed this defeat; and darting from behind a stone, another man began fiercely to scale the side, climbing actively till he had nearly reached the same height as his companions, and then, escaping a couple of bullets, taking a leap which landed him upon a jutting mass, behind which he glided; but the next moment his gun-barrel was raised, with his cap thereon, by way of signal to his companions, who greeted it with a cheer. Then Murray saw it withdrawn, and an ominous silence followed.