“Yes; one shot will be worth a volley from a regiment,” he returned.
I own I was puzzled, but he graciously allowed me to run the car, although at a moderate speed, so that I had little chance to observe his immediate actions. I heard him lift the trap in the door, though, and then, after a period of silence, he touched my arm and told me to stop.
We could now observe with the naked eye the group of Indians on the river bank.
“Who can make the best shot with this contrivance?” asked Moit.
I turned around and understood his plan at once. To one of the arrows he had firmly tied the slender glass bottle, and I could see that it had again been filled with the dreadful explosive.
“I shoot,” said Nux, nodding his head gravely.
Both of the blacks shot splendidly with the bow, I remembered, for it was their native weapon. But Nux was the best marksman of the two.
Duncan handed the arrow and the bow to him and opened a side window.
“When we get a hundred yards away from the river,” said he, “shoot the arrow among the San Blas; but try, if you can, to strike one of those trees growing by the bank. Can you shoot so far, and shoot straight?”
Nux nodded confidently, but held the arrow with great caution and was evidently afraid of it.