The G.A. Henty MEGAPACK ®. G.a. Henty Henty
spear glanced over our hero’s shoulder and stuck quivering in the ground a dozen yards beyond.
At the top of their speed they rushed toward the shore.
At first they fancied they were not pursued.
After going a hundred yards, however, a wild yell and the patter of feet told them they would have to do their best.
Encumbered as they were, with both the lads partly disabled and the captain no speedy runner, the savages soon gained on them.
“We must give them another volley!” panted the captain.
Though the guns chosen were breech-loaders, it took some little time to reload them whilst at a run.
Suddenly Bob felt a shock, which nearly made him fall.
However, he recovered himself with a stagger.
“The sack saved you,” gasped Captain Sumner. “But for that the spear would have pierced your back. Now wheel round and fire!”
As they fronted the natives they found that not thirty yards divided them.
At that short range every bullet told.
Three men fell dead, and as many were wounded.
The captain gave them a couple of shots from his revolver before he once more turned and ran for his life.
“That accounts for about half them,” exclaimed our hero.
As they gained the head of the beach Jack stopped short.
“Go on!” he gasped. “My side! I am stuck!”
Bob put his arm through that of his friend, who had dropped his gun, and dragged him onward.
The captain turned and fired the remaining chambers of his revolver among the crowd, now within a score of yards.
The small boat was in waiting, and into it they tumbled, amid a storm of spears.
Both the captain and Bok, who rowed, were stuck.
Our hero seized the oars from the hands of the latter and pulled with all his strength for the yacht.
The gunwale of the little boat was almost level with the water.
It was slow work.
Luckily, nearly all the enemies’ spears were exhausted.
An arrow pierced Bob’s cap, and the last spear which was thrown again wounded the captain, piercing his leg.
Fortunately the distance was so far that it only entered about an inch and fell out from its own weight.
Our hero and the captain clambered on board the schooner.
Jack was exhausted, but still clung to his bag of silver.
Scarcely had they gained the deck when a yell broke from the dark waters around them, and spears and arrows fell on all sides.
Every gun on board was now fired at the savages.
Yet they came on as if determined to kill every white person in sight.
CHAPTER XV
Bob Rescues His Father—Conclusion
The savages were pressing close upon the Dart. Something must be done.
“Slip the cable!” shouted the captain. “Up with the jib, topgallant sails, and gaff!”
“We must trust to weathering the point,” he added to the mate. “If we do, we are safe. The current will carry us to sea.”
His orders were executed.
The wind fortunately blew from the southward, and, filling the light sails, carried the Dart off the shore.
The yacht’s head paid off, and, answering her helm, she, with the tide in her favor, bore seaward.
A few parting shots, and the Dart, now feeling the full force of the wind, left the fleet of canoes far behind.
The next few hours were employed in the dressing of wounds and making things a little ship-shape.
It had been a hard-fought fight, and everyone was tired out.
Fortunately, neither Mrs. Cromwell nor Viola had suffered from the attack.
Long before the crew were able to do anything more darkness set in.
Bob was very impatient to trace up his father, but just now that was impossible.
Anxiously the boy waited for dawn, while his mother wept in silence, thinking of her beloved husband.
Would they save him?
At the first signs of morning Bob was up and ready for the search.
Captain Sumner and Jack were not far behind.
The Dart proceeded slowly toward land.
Satisfied that the savages had left the vicinity, the party went ashore, and once more proceeded toward the cave of ice.
A light snow had fallen, and all former tracks had been obliterated.
In vain they looked about for some trace of the Svlachkys.
“Let us go on an exploring tour,” suggested the captain, seeing how badly Bob felt.
They started off first for the far end of the cavern.
They had gone scarcely a dozen rods when the captain called a halt.
“Someone is coming!” he whispered.
A crunching of snow and ice was now plainly to be heard.
The party ran for shelter behind a series of ice humps and waited.
Suddenly a man clad in furs dashed by them, running at top speed.
“Father!”
At that strange cry the man stopped as though shot.
“Who calls?” he asked, but instead of replying, Bob rushed from his hiding place.
“My son! What does this mean? How came you here?”
“We came in search of you, father,” replied Bob. Father and son embraced warmly. Then Captain Cromwell turned swiftly.
“We must fly! The Svlachkys are coming! I just escaped from them.”
He had just uttered the words when the crowd of strange people came down upon them.
The leader started to throw a sharp spear at Captain Cromwell, when Bob rushed in and, with one well-directed blow of his gun, laid the man on his back.
A fierce shout went up and a struggle ensued.
But the fall of their leader had demoralized the Svlachkys, and when half a dozen guns and pistols had been fired at them they fled in dismay.
After this the party from the Dart lost no time in returning to the vessel.
Bob and his father walked side by side, and never were parent and child happier.
When Mrs. Cromwell saw her husband alive and well, she cried for joy and threw herself into his arms. It was a happy time all around.
Captain Cromwell’s story was a long one. In brief, it was as follows:
When the Bluebell went down, he and Ruel Gross escaped on a raft, and after several days of suffering, reached the coast of Siberia.
From there they set out for Cedar Island.
The island gained, they found the stone chest, and then Captain Cromwell was captured.
For a long while the Svlachkys held him, thinking he knew of more treasures than those already discovered.
At last, however, they grew weary of waiting, and had resolved to put him to death, when deliverance came as recorded.
That there was