CHAPTER x.x.xV.-A NIGHT BATTLE.

Sam was astonished when he heard the rifles banging away on the east side of the rock.

He had been looking for a direct attack and so could not understand this move.

"What can they mean; they are certainly bad, but they are not such downright fools as to think they can do us any harm from that quarter,"

said Sam, thinking aloud rather than asking for the opinion of his companions.

"Mistah Sam."

"Yes, Ike."

"I ken hear de bullets a whistlin' ober head, an' it do 'peah ez ef dey was comin' lower down."

"W'at mattle if dey no comee low nuff down to hult? Let 'em singee, lat's alle lite," grunted Wah Shin, as he crouched closer to the rock, and hugged to his breast a big stone, which he intended to use to the best advantage when the proper time came.

Sam Willett was by instinct a soldier.

This useless attack had a purpose in it, and he was not long in reaching a right conclusion.

To encourage Ike and Wah Shin, he gave them the benefit of his reasoning.

"That firing, off there, is all a dodge," he said.

"Tink dey're shootin' foh fun, Mistah Sam?"

"No, Ike, they are in dead earnest, but their object is to take our attention away from the point of danger."

"De odder side."

"Yes; the attack will be made along the trail leading from the ground to the top of the rock, and we must be prepared for it," said Sam.

Nothing could be gained by heeding the riflemen.

All his sight and strength must now be used to watch and guard the only ascent by which their position could be reached without the highest scaling ladders, and of such mechanical appliances there was no danger.

Sam placed Ike and Wah Shin in position again, and whispered to them not to hurl a stone till he gave the word.

This done he brought his rifle to a half c.o.c.k, and making sure that his cartridges were within reach, he knelt down with the muzzle of his gun covering the trail.

The dry, still air carried every sound.

Though Badger and Shirley moved with the stealth of Indians, yet their labored breathing, and, now and then, the fall of their feet came to Sam's ears.

He was sure he could hear two men whispering under the rocks. He took a firmer hold of his rifle and tried to look through the intense darkness that covered the route by which the attack must be made.

The strain of that long wait was more trying to strength and courage than would have been a prompt attack.

Five, ten, fifteen minutes pa.s.sed, and still the riflemen to the east kept up their desultory, but harmless firing.

The darkness that added to the difficulties of the defense, was not a great advantage to the attacking party.

Badger was in the advance, groping with his hands for the trail, and not daring to strike a light, for fear of making it the target for Sam.

"Keep close behind," whispered Badger to Shirley, who, as they crept on, showed a decided disposition to lag to the rear.

"Have you found the trail, Badger?"

"I think so."

"Is it steep?"

"Hist, man, don't talk, but foller close up. Here's the place where we begin to climb. Mind, it's no fool of a job to get to the top at the best of times," said Badger, as he began the ascent on hands and knees.

Shirley, trembling in every limb, came close after, his fears somewhat allayed by the comforting thought that Badger's huge form would shield him from any bullets that might be fired down.

Sam was on the alert. The sounds about the place died out, and the stillness added to the painful intensity of the situation.

Unable longer to control his feelings, Ike bent down and whispered:

"Say, Mistah Sam."

"What is it, Ike?"

"Dis yar's gittin' ticklish."

"Yes; be still."

Unmindful of this injunction, Ike continued:

"Somet'ing got to be did mighty soon, or dis chile can't stan' de strain."

"Wait."

"But it's time to heab de rocks."

"Not till I give the word."

"But as I'm a sinner I can heah 'em!"

"Where?"

"Right close by--"

Ike's sentence, was cut short by the flash and crack of a pistol fired by a man not twenty feet away.