There was no answer; a glance aloft showed him the crew of the gun grouped anxiously about it.
“Jammed again, I suppose,” he exclaimed.
Closer and closer loomed the cañon.
“Look out for the prisoner,” Sydney cried out as he saw the native, his hands on the rail, about to leap overboard. Major Marble was near enough to grasp him and the next minute ready hands had bound him securely to the rail and from there he gazed up in terror at the rapidly approaching cliffs.
“There goes the first one,” Sydney exclaimed excitedly as a great boulder swayed unsteadily and then rolled slowly over the edge of the chasm and descended with the speed of a shooting star. Every man on the gunboat was on his feet; above them now was the camp of the outlaws, and several hundred such boulders were there ready to be dropped upon their defenseless heads. The firing of the “Mindinao’s” guns had long since stopped as the elevation was much too great.
With a terrific splash which hurled the water completely over the bow of the gunboat, the first rock took the water; but another and another followed it in rapid succession, and so close did they fall that Sydney felt the rushes of air caused by their passage. General Wilson stood calmly by as unconcerned as though he were only a spectator at a display of fireworks. Major Marble paced rapidly across the bridge, his hands nervously clutching a rifle which every few seconds he would discharge at the frowning cliffs above him.
To add to the danger there now came the song of enemy’s bullets while the water near the gunboat became disturbed as if from the fall of hail. Occasionally there was heard a commotion forward and a man sorely hit would be carried below decks to be attended by the hospital corps located in the men’s quarters.
Many of the soldiers and sailors had now opened fire with their rifles, but the falling rocks disconcerted them. Suddenly the Colt gun commenced its sharp drumming discharge. Sydney glanced aloft. He could see his crew directing the stream of lead slowly covering every point of the cliff ahead.
A cry of delight rose from the Americans, and a cheer broke out from the anxious but relieved men as they noted the immediate effect of the leaden stream. As it swept along the cliffs, those who stood ready to project the balanced rocks upon the heads of their enemy had taken fright, and instead of waiting until the gunboat was immediately beneath them, had in their impatience let go their rocks, and they were falling harmlessly in the water ahead of the gunboat. Sydney steered as near the opposite shore as he dared, fearing that a boulder might have closed the channel. On top of the cliff the sound of strife could still be heard.
Major Marble and Major Lukban anxiously questioned the prisoner. He alone knew the whereabouts of the trail which Espinosa and his men relied upon to furnish an avenue of escape in case the stronghold was successfully attacked. The Filipino officer held his revolver threateningly before the frightened native’s eyes.