"
This, as they afterward learned, was exactly the case.
The battle, if such it could be called, was kept up. There was about
a hundred natives, all of whom had guns, and, though they were slow
to load, there were enough weapons to keep up a constant fusilade.
On their part, Tom and the others fired at first over the heads of
the natives, for they did not want to kill any of the deluded men.
Later, though, when they saw the rush keeping up, they fired at
their legs, and disabled several of the Eskimos, the electric gun
proving very effective.
It was now quite dark, and the firing slackened. From their position
in the cave, Tom and the others could command the hole where the
gold was, and, as they saw several natives sneaking up to it the
young inventor and Ned, both of whom were good shots, aimed to have
the bullets strike the ice close to where the Indians were.
This sort of shooting was enough, and the natives scurried away.
Then Tom hit on the plan of playing the searchlight on the spot, and
this effectually prevented an unseen attack. It seemed to discourage
the enemy, too for they did not venture into that powerful glow of
light.
"They won't do anything more until morning," declared Abe. "Then
we'll have it hot an' heavy, though, I'm afeered. Well, we'll have
t' make th' best of it!"
They took turns standing guard that night, but no attack was made.
Pages:
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180