CHAPTER XXVIII.
BESIEGERS AND BESIEGED.
Suddenly a bushy bead, with a black face, horribly distorted by passion, appeared at the window furthest from where Professor Grimcke was standing.
The right hand was raised and in the act of poising a javelin to hurl at the white man; but the latter, with an incredibly quick movement, brought his Winchester to a level and fired.
The bronze skull was shattered as though it were a rotten apple, and the Murhapa, with a resounding shriek, went backward in the darkness.
A slight rustling at the other window drew the white man's attention thither, and, without lowering his weapon, he let fly at a group who were simply peering within, evidently believing there was no call to use their javelins.
Another screech told that the bullet had found its mark, and the other faces vanished.
Then Grimcke stepped out from the wall to gain a view of the opening which answered for a door.

A rustling there told him a crowd were gathering, but they had taken warning just in time to avoid a third shot.

Then he slipped a couple more cartridges from his belt into the magazine, so as to keep it full, and awaited the next step in this extraordinary business.
"I've about a hundred left," he reflected, "and that's enough to keep things on a jump, if I can dodge their javelins." Meanwhile, Jared Long was not idle.

He had but the opening at the rear to watch, and he did the duty well.

Almost at the moment that his comrade fired his first shot, he descried the figure of a Murhapa trying to steal into the apartment without detection; but just enough of the moonlight that was shut from the front doors and windows, reached the rear of the building, to disclose the outlines of the head and shoulders, as he began stealthily creeping into the building.
Bippo had discovered the peril at the same moment, and clutched the arm of his master with a nervous intensity of terror.