Page:Ballantyne--The Battery and the Boiler.djvu/268

 "What! and leave Letta, not to mention Meerta and Bungo, behind us? Never!"

"I forgot them for the moment," said Sam. "No; we can't do that."

As he spoke the noise of revelry became louder and degenerated into sounds of angry disputation. Then several shots were heard, followed by the clashing of steel and loud yells.

"Surely that was a female voice," said Robin, rising and rushing up the steep path that led to the cavern, closely followed by his comrades.

They had not gone a hundred yards when they were arrested by hearing a rustling in the bushes and the sound of hasty footsteps. Next instant Letta was seen running towards them, with glaring eyes and streaming hair. She sprang into Robin's arms with a convulsive sob, and hid her white face on his breast.

"Speak, Letta, dear child! Are you hurt?"

"No, O no; but Meerta, darling Meerta, she is dead! They have shot her and Bungo."

She burst again into convulsive sobbing.

"Dead! But are you sure—quite sure?" said Sam.

"Quite. I saw their brains scattered on the wall. Oh, Meerta!—"

She ended in a low wail, as though her heart were broken.