Page:Guy Boothby--A Bid for Fortune.djvu/299

Rh it. I explained this in as few words as possible to my followers, and then, bidding them wait for me where they were, at the same time warning them against letting their presence be discovered, I set off up the hill in the direction I knew the plateau to lie. The undergrowth was very thick and the ground rocky, so for this reason it was nearly twenty minutes before I reached the top of the hill. Then down on the other side I crept, picking my way carefully, and taking infinite precautions not to allow any noise to give evidence of my coming.

At last I reached the high ground above the plateau and looked about me. A small perpendicular cliff some sixty feet or so in height was before me, so throwing myself down flat I wriggled my way to its edge. When I got there I looked over and discovered three well-built huts upon a little plateau at the cliff's base. At the same moment a roar of laughter greeted my ears from the building on the left. It was followed by the voice of a man singing to the accompaniment of a banjo. Under cover of his music I rose to my feet and crept back through the bushes on the track by which I had come. I knew enough now to locate my forces.

Having reached my friends again, I informed them of what I had seen, and we then arranged the mode of attack as follows: The mate of the yacht with two of the hands would pass round the hill to the left side of the plateau, Wetherell and another couple of the hands would take the right side, while Beckenham and myself crept down at the back. Not a sound was to be made or a shot fired until I blew my whistle as a signal. Then, with one last word of caution, we started on our climb.

By this time the clouds had cleared off the sky and the stars shone brightly. Now and again a bird would