Boyle or Gray had never relaxed their vigil by her side. It was Gray
who made the thrilling discovery that the canoes were returning. As
the fleet crossed the bay it could be seen that they were towing the
life-boat. But never a sign of any prisoners could the most careful
scrutiny detect. The boat was empty; it was easy to count every man in
the canoes as they passed into Otter Creek. And there were wounded
Indians on board many of them. That was a significant, a tremendous,
fact. There had been hard fighting, and the boat was captured, but
some, if not all, of the crew must have joined their comrades in the
sanctuary of the haunted cave. The accuracy of this deduction was
proved by the presence of the smoke column on the hill. Indeed, the
opinion was generally held that its spiral clouds were denser than at
any previous hour, thus showing that the defenders were endeavoring to
make known their continued existence.
Elsie awoke from her trance, but, in returning to life, she was
transformed into a stern, resourceful, commanding woman. Her face had
lost its gentleness; the pleasant curves and dimples of mouth and chin
had hardened into a sort of determination; even her slight, graceful
figure seemed to assume a certain squareness which betokened her
resolve to act as her lover would have acted were he the watcher from
the ship and she the prisoner pent behind that screen of rock and wild
forest.
None suspected the mighty force which worked this resolution in her
nature. She conducted herself with a cunning that was wholly foreign
to her character. Her first care was to hoodwink her companions into
the belief that the strain of the day had passed. She accepted a cup
of tea brought by Isobel, expressed her sorrow that if by word or look
she had given cause for offence, and entered eagerly into the pros and
cons of the debate which sprang up as to the best course to pursue on
the following day.
Everyone agreed that nothing could be done that night. If the pillar
of smoke were visible at sunrise, and Walker could possibly manage to
fire the boilers, Boyle suggested that some sailors in the jolly-boat
should sound a channel along which the vessel itself might steam slowly
towards Guanaco Hill. That, in itself, would be a move of considerable
value. If they could lessen the distance between the shore and the
ship, each yard thus gained would help the prisoners and impose a
stronger barrier against the Alaculofs, who would probably be daunted
when they found that the vessel's mobility was restored.
This proposal was deemed so excellent that they all dined in vastly
better spirits than any of them anticipated. Christobal, puzzled out
of his scientific senses by Elsie's change of manner, kept a close eye
on her. He was amazed to see her eat a better meal than she had eaten
for days, and she was normally a quite healthy young person, with a
reasonably good appetite.