But the superstitious savages had
already screwed themselves up to an act of unusual daring in delivering
a night attack, and the appearance of boats filled with men of whose
fighting qualities they had already such a lively experience quite
demoralized them. They fled without attempting a counter assault.
Just as negroes conjure up white demons, so did these nude Alaculofs
regard with awe men who wore clothes. They were ready to kill and eat
the strange beings of another race who, few in numbers and ill armed,
wandered into their rock-pent fastness, but it was quite a different
thing to face them in equal combat.
At last the sounds of conflict died away. The black waters closed over
the dead; the last swimmer vanished into the silence. The spasmodic
barking of the dog, the groaning of men lying on the decks and the
shouts exchanged between Courtenay and Gray for the guidance of the
boats, were the only remaining symbols of the fiercest crisis which had
yet befallen the _Kansas_.
Elsie, wandering through a trance-like maze of vivid impressions, awoke
with a start to the fact that Courtenay was giving directions for the
lowering of the ship's gangway, meanwhile receiving information as to
the identity of the boats beneath.
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