prove the most serious development yet encountered.

"Are you all right, Iris?" he called out.

"Yes, dear," she answered.

"Well, I want you to keep yourself covered by the canvas for a little
while--especially your head and shoulders. I am going to stop these
chaps. They have found our weak point, but I can baffle them."

She did not ask what he proposed to do. He heard the rustling of the
tarpaulin as she pulled it. Instantly he cast loose the rope-ladder,
and, armed only with a revolver, dropped down the rock. He was quite
invisible to the enemy. On reaching the ground he listened for a
moment. There was no sound save the occasional reports ninety yards
away. He hitched up the lower rungs of the ladder until they were six
feet from the level, and then crept noiselessly, close to the rock, for
some forty yards.

He halted beside a small poon-tree, and stooped to find something
embedded near its roots. At this distance he could plainly hear the
muttered conversation of the Dyaks, and could see several of them prone
on the sand. The latter fact proved how fatal would be an attempt on
his part to reach the well. They must discover him instantly once he
quitted the somber shadows of the cliff. He waited, perhaps a few
seconds longer than was necessary, endeavoring to pierce the dim
atmosphere and learn something of their disposition.

A vigorous outburst of firing sent him back with haste. Iris was up
there alone. He knew not what might happen. He was now feverishly