He grasped a rifle and lay down on the ledge, already gratefully warm.  There was a good deal of sustained shouting going on.  Jenks thought he recognized the chief’s voice, giving instructions to those who had come from Smugglers’ Cove and were now standing on the beach near the quarry.

“I wonder if he is hungry,” he thought.  “If so, I will interfere with the commissariat.”

Iris peeped forth at him.

“Mr. Jenks!”

“Yes,” without turning his head.  He knew it was an ordinary question.

“May I come too?”

“What! expose yourself on the ledge!”

“Yes, even that.  I am so tired of sitting here alone.”

“Well, there is no danger at present.  But they might chance to see you, and you remember what I—­”

“Yes, I remember quite well.  If that is all—­” There was a rustle of garments.  “I am very mannish in appearance.  If you promise not to look at me I will join you.”

“I promise.”

Iris stepped forth.  She was flushed a little, and, to cover her confusion, may be, she picked up a Lee-Metford.

“Now there are two guns,” she said, as she stood near him.

He could see through the tail of his eye that a slight but elegantly proportioned young gentleman of the sea-faring profession had suddenly appeared from nowhere.  He was glad she had taken this course.  It might better the position were the Dyaks to see her thus.

“The moment I tell you, you must fall flat,” he warned her.  “No ceremony about it.  Just flop!”

“I don’t know anything better calculated to make one flop than a bullet,” she laughed.  Not yet did the tragedy of the broken kegs appeal to her.

“Yes, but it achieves its purpose in two ways.  I want you to adopt the precautionary method.”

“Trust me for that.  Good gracious!”

The sailor’s rifle went off with an unexpected bang that froze the exclamation on her lips.  Three Dyaks were attempting to run the gauntlet to their beleaguered comrades.  They carried a jar and two wicker baskets.  He with the jar fell and broke it.  The others doubled back like hares, and the first man dragged himself after them.  Jenks did not fire again.

Iris watched the wounded wretch crawling along the ground.  Her eyes grew moist, and she paled somewhat.  When he vanished she looked into the valley and at the opposing ledge; three men lay dead within twenty yards of her.  Two others dangled from the rocks.  It took her some time to control her quavering utterance sufficiently to say—­

“I hope I may not have to use a gun.  I know it cannot be helped, but if I were to kill a human being I do not think I would ever rest again.”

“In that case I have indeed murdered sleep today,” was the unfeeling reply.

“No! no!  A man must be made of sterner stuff.  We have a right to defend ourselves.  If need be I will exercise that right.  Still it is horrid, oh, so horrid!”