But “there is many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip.”  When Keona issued from the cave, he was received with a shout by the band of savages, who instantly recognized him as their friend by his voice.  Poor Poopy was already in their hands, having been seized and gagged when she emerged before she had time to utter a cry.  And now they stood in a semicircle, ready to receive all who might come forth into their arms, or on their spear-points, as the case might be.

Bumpus came out like an insane thunderbolt, and Corrie like a streak of lightning.  Instantaneously the flash of the pistol, accompanied by its report and a deep growl from Bumpus, increased the resemblance to these meteorological phenomena, and three savages lay stunned upon the ground.

“This way, Corrie!” cried the excited seaman, leaping to a perpendicular rock, against which he placed his back, and raised his fists in a pugilistic attitude, “Keep one or two in play with your broken toothpick, an’ I’ll floor ’em one after another as they comes up.  Now, then, ye black baboons, come on,—­all at once, if you like,—­an’ Jo Bumpus’ll show ye wot he’s made of!”

Not perceiving very clearly, in the dim light caused by a few stars that flickered among the black and gathering clouds, the immense size and power of the man with whom they had to deal, the savages were not slow to accept this free and generous invitation to “come on.”  They rushed forward in a body, intending, no doubt, to take the man and boy prisoners; for if they had wished to slay them, nothing would have been easier than to have thrown one or two of their spears at their defenseless breasts.

Bumpus experienced a vague feeling that he had now a fair opportunity of testing and proving his invincibility; yet the desperate nature of the case did not induce him to draw his sword.  He preferred his fists, as being superior and much more handy weapons.  He received the first two savages who came within reach on the knuckles of his right and left hands, rendering them utterly insensible, and driving them against the two men immediately behind with such tremendous violence that they also were put hors de combat.

This was just what Bumpus had intended and hoped for.  The sudden fall of so many gave him time to launch out his great fists a second time.  They fell with the weight of sledge-hammers on the faces of two more of his opponents, flattening their noses, and otherwise disfiguring their features, besides stretching them on the ground.  At the same time, Corrie flung his empty pistol in the face of a man who attempted to assault his companion on the right flank unawares, and laid him prone on the earth.  Another savage, who made the same effort on the left, received a gash on the thigh from the broken saber that sent him howling from the scene of conflict.

Thus were eight savages disposed of in about as many seconds.

But there is a limit to the powers and the prowess of man.  The savages, on seeing the fall of so many of their companions, rushed in on Bumpus before he could recover himself for another blow.  That is to say, the savages behind pushed forward those in front whether they would or no, and falling en masse on the unfortunate pair, well-nigh buried them alive in black human flesh.