‘The sight turned me quite faint and sick. Then I got vicious. Slipping to the water, of which there was now very little left, to get one good, long, last drink, my eyes fell upon the powder-flask lying where I had thrown it off.
‘
It was one of the old-fashioned kind, of solid copper, very large, and holding nearly a couple of pounds. It was quite full.
‘“Well,” I said to myself, taking the flask up as the idea struck me, “you’ve cornered me and killed my mates, but I’ll be hanged if I don’t try and scorch some of you before giving in.”
‘Now, sitting down, I tore a strip off my handkerchief, and, with moistened gunpowder, made a rough sort of fuse. Then unscrewing the measuring cylinder, and taking out the spring-valve, I inserted the fuse deeply into the powder, brought the twisted end well up, and replaced the long cylinder. Then, binding the flask firmly about five feet from the head of the spear that had come up with me, I shouted to the niggers, who were busily overhauling their booty.
‘They stared with surprise, and I waved my coat and beckoned to them to come nearer.
‘Chattering like anything, a couple of ’em advanced a few steps very doubtfully.
[160]
]‘Stooping down and striking a match I fired the fuse, which caught at once and began to burn quietly away inside the cylinder.
‘At this moment I hove the spear well out towards them. To my delight it stuck fairly upright in the ground almost at their feet, the shock, so far as I could see, shifting nothing.
‘Starting back, they gazed inquisitively at the shining polished object it had brought with it.