CHAPTER XXXI
A DARING VENTURE
With an expression of baffled rage convulsing his features, Ditty turned and made for shelter. Once safely there, he hurled back the wildest threats and imprecations. So vile they were that Ruth shuddered and put her hands to her ears.
"I said I'd kill you all!" the mate shouted. "I'll take that back. I'll kill all but one!"
The threat was easily understood. Captain Hamilton's face went white, and he glanced hastily at Ruth. But he only said:
"Keep down out of sight, men. They know where we are, but we don't know where they are. They may try to rush us, but I don't think they will at first. Aim carefully and shoot at anything that offers a fair target, but don't waste the ammunition."
He had hardly finished speaking before there came a volley, and the bullets pattered against the rocks. They came from several directions. Ditty had arranged his men in the form of a semicircle. They had ample cover, and the only chance for the besieged lay in the chance that one of the enemy should protrude his head or shoulder too far from behind his tree.
Many times in the next hour the fusilade was repeated. It was plain that the mutineers were armed only with pistols.
"Probably Ditty laid in a stock before he left New York," the captain muttered to Tyke. "Automatics, too."