Goliah, however, did not propose to let his army expend their energy and time in shrieking. About noon on the eighth day of Philip’s voluntary imprisonment the sounds from the grotto proclaimed the fact that the enemy were making preparations for entering the passage.
At the first alarm the chimpanzees were nearly beside themselves with fright; but after observing Philip’s calm demeanor they appeared to gain confidence, and in less than an hour both were sufficiently composed to render such aid as their human companion required.
The work of maintaining a defense was not arduous. It consisted simply in breaking the naturally-formed statues into fragments—which was easily done owing to the porous nature of the stone—and packing the pieces into the passage as fast as the wall gave evidence of being weakened by the besiegers.
“They may go on with that sort of work for a month without being able to get at us,” Philip said, much as if the chimpanzees needed encouragement and could understand what he said. “We have only to keep on hand a plentiful supply of material, and the advantage will all be on our side.”
Before the day came to an end the animals had learned so well what was necessary that their companion had no hesitation about trusting them to continue the defense while he caught and prepared fish for supper.
During the night the enemy remained silent, but at the first break of day the attack was continued—this time so methodically that the forenoon was but half spent when the barricade was so far destroyed that Philip could see the besiegers at the further end of the tunnel.
They labored in couples, dragging out the rocks and passing them to those in the rear, who formed a long chain to the outer end of the grotto, where the fragments were thrown down the incline at such a point that the movement of the army would not be impeded.
In this order of working it was possible for them to gain very materially upon the defenders of the cavern, and for the first time since having taken refuge in this place Philip began to fear they might eventually be dragged from what he had believed was a secure retreat, unless it should be possible to change their own plan.
It was while he stood at the mouth of the tunnel trying to devise some means of accelerating the work of defense that he was startled by hearing the report of a cannon in the distance.