“Well, I can’t lie down anyhow, Frank; but Anna and I will crouch down if you say that we must when they begin to fire.”

They were silent for two or three minutes, and no sounds were heard in the wood.

“We shall be attacked sooner or later,” Frank said quietly to the men.  “We will take to the trees on our right if we are attacked from the left, and to those on the left if they come at us from the right.  If we are attacked on both sides at once, take to the right.

“George, do you and Harrison and Jones get behind trees, next to the path.  It will be your business to prevent anyone from passing on that side.  I, with the other two, will take post behind trees facing the other way.  The four boatmen with Dominique will shelter themselves in the bushes between us, with Miss Greendale and her maid in the middle.  They will be the reserve, and if a rush is made from either side, they will at once advance and beat it back.

“You understand, Dominique?”

“Me understand, sar.  If those fellows come we charge at them.  These fellows no used to shoot, sar.  Better give muskets to others.  We do best with our swords.”

“That is the best plan.

“You take one of the muskets, George, and give one to Harrison.  The two men on my side had better have the others, as I can’t use one.

“You understand, lads.  These will be spare arms.  Keep them in reserve if possible, so as to check the fellows when they make a rush.  Now do you all understand?

“You explain it to your men, Dominique.

“Now we will go on again, and at the double.  It will be as much as those fellows can do to keep up with us in this thick wood.”

Ten minutes passed.  Then there was a loud shout and the blowing of a deep horn on their left, followed by a yell from the wood on both sides.

“To the right,” Frank shouted, and the party ran in among the trees.

“Get in among that undergrowth with Anna,” he said to Bertha.

“Gather there, Dominique, with your men.  We shall want you directly.  They are sure to make a rush at first.

“Now, lads, one of you take that tree; the other the one to the right,” and he placed himself behind one between them.  On glancing round he saw that George had already posted his two men, and had taken up his station between them.

“All hands kneel down,” he said.  “These bushes will hide us from their sight.  If we stand up we may be hit by shots from behind.”

A moment later there was a general discharge of firearms round them, and then some forty negroes rushed at them.

“On your feet now, men,” Frank shouted.  “Take steady aim and bring down a man with each shot.”

A cheer broke from the sailors.  Four shots were fired from Frank’s side, and five from George Lechmere’s, and with them came the cracks of Frank’s revolver, followed almost directly afterwards by those of the pistols carried by the men, and George Lechmere’s revolver.