The New Guinea men chattered and seemed delighted, holding out their hands and catching eagerly at the beads, snatching them from the giver’s hands, and asking apparently for more.
I saw Uncle Dick sign to them that he wanted some of their birds in exchange.
They understood him, for they held out two or three skins, and he advanced a step to take them; but they were snatched back directly, and, as if by magic, the savages thrust their hands behind them, and in an instant each man was flourishing a war-club.
It all seemed to happen in a moment, and my heart seemed to stand still as I saw one treacherous savage, over six feet high, strike my uncle over the head with his club, my poor uncle falling as if he had been killed.
It was now that I saw why Ebo had held back behind my uncle, and it was fortunate that the faithful fellow had followed the guidance of his own reason. For as, in the midst of a tremendous shouting and yelling, the tall savage bent forward to again strike my uncle I saw Ebo’s lance point strike him in the throat, and he went down.
This checked the savages for an instant, long enough to enable the black to stoop down and get a good grip of Uncle Dick’s collar with his left hand, while with his right he kept making darts with his spear at the yelling savages who kept striking at him with their clubs.
So tremendous and so true were Ebo’s thrusts that I saw another great black go down, and a couple more run yelling back towards the dense cover from which they had come; but Ebo was in a very critical position. My uncle was heavy, and the black had hard work to drag him over the sand towards the boat, and keep his enemies at bay.
It was now that I saw what a brave warrior and chief our follower must be; but I also saw how his enemies had formed a half circle and were trying to get behind him and cut him off from the boat.
For the first few moments I had felt helpless; then I had determined to leap over and go to their help; then I saw that I was best where I was, and took aim, ready to fire at the first chance, for I could do nothing at first for fear of injuring my friends. And besides, a horrible feeling of compunction had come upon me at the thought of having to fire at men—fellow creatures—and I shrank from drawing trigger.
At last, though, I saw that further hesitation would be fatal. Ebo was making a brave defence, and had wounded several of his assailants as he dragged my uncle to the water’s edge. Another step and he could have waded, easily dragging my uncle over the water, but his enemies had made a savage dash, and one of the boldest had got hold of his spear.