not a human being within miles of them; and now the air rang with savage and ferocious yells, and fierce armed men crowded round them on every side, bent on their destruction. They were now fairly engaged for their lives; escape was impossible, and surrender to their enemies out of the question.
As soon as Lieutenant Grey saw the natives around him, he fired one barrel of his gun over the head of him who was pursuing his dismayed attendant, hoping the report would have checked his further career. He proved to be a tall man who had been seen at the camp, painted with white. The shot did not stop him; he still closed on them, and his spear whistled by their heads; but whilst he was fixing another in his throwing-stick, a ball from the second barrel of Lieutenant Grey's gun struck him in the arm, and it fell powerless by his side. He now retired behind a rock, but the others still pressed on. Grey now made the two men retire behind some neighbouring rocks, which formed a kind of projecting parapet along their front and right flank, whilst he took part on the left. Both his barrels were exhausted; and he desired the other two to fire separately, whilst he was reloading; but to his horror, Coles, who was armed with his rifle, reported hurriedly that the cloth case with which he had covered it for protection against rain, had become entangled. His Services were thus lost at a critical moment; and the other man was so paralyzed with fear, that he could do nothing but cry out, "Oh, sir, look at them, look at them!"
In the mean time their opponents pressed more Closely round, the spears kept whistling by them, and
