Mir Jan was startled.

“Where the ghost is, sahib?” he said.

“Ghost!  That is a tale for children.  There is no ghost, only a few bones of a man murdered by these scoundrels long ago.  Have you any food?”

“Some rice, sahib; sufficient for a day, or two at a pinch.”

“Good!  We will get water from the well.  When the fighting begins at dawn, fire at every man you see from the back of the cave.  On no account come out.  Then they can never reach you if you keep a full magazine.  Wait here!”

“I thought you were never coming,” protested Iris when Jenks reached the ledge.  “I have been quite creepy.  I am sure there is some one down there.  And, please, may I have another drink?”

The sailor had left the crowbar beneath.  He secured a rifle, a spare clip, and a dozen packets of cartridges, meanwhile briefly explaining to Iris the turn taken by events so far as Mir Jan was concerned.  She was naturally delighted, and forgot her fears in the excitement caused by the appearance of so useful an ally.  She drank his health in a brimming beaker of water.

She heard her lover rejoin Mir Jan, and saw the two step out into the moonlight, whilst Jenks explained the action of the Lee-Metford.  Fortunately Iris was now much recovered from the fatigue and privation of the earlier hours.  Her senses were sharpened to a pitch little dreamed of by stay-at-home young ladies of her age, and she deemed it her province to act as sentry whilst the two men conferred.  Hence, she was the first to detect, or rather to become conscious of, the stealthy crawl of several Dyaks along the bottom of the cliff from Turtle Beach.  They advanced in Indian file, moving with the utmost care, and crouching in the murky shadows like so many wild beasts stalking their prey.

“Robert!” she screamed.  “The Dyaks!  On your left!”

But Iris was rapidly gaining some knowledge of strategy.  Before she shrieked her warning she grasped a rifle.  Holding it at the “Ready”—­about the level of her waist—­and depressing the muzzle sufficiently, she began firing down the side of the rock as fast as she could handle lever and trigger.  Two of the nickel bullets struck a projection and splashed the leading savages with molten metal.

Unfortunately the Lee-Metford beneath was unloaded, being in Mir Jan’s possession for purposes of instruction.  Jenks whipped out his revolver.

“To the cave!” he roared, and Mir Jan’s unwillingness to face a goblin could not withstand the combined impetus of the sahib’s order and the onward rush of the enemy.  He darted headlong for the entrance.

[Illustration:  IRIS BEGAN FIRING DOWN THE SIDE OF THE ROCK AS FAST AS SHE COULD HANDLE LEVER AND TRIGGER.]

Jenks, shooting blindly as he, too, ran for the ladder, emptied the revolver just as his left hand clutched a rung.  Three Dyaks were so close that it would be folly to attempt to climb.  He threw the weapon into the face of the foremost man, effectually stopping his onward progress, for the darkness made it impossible to dodge the missile.