Rifles and spears were dropped or flung aside in a wild scramble for the
protection of the cocoanut palms. Satan multiplied himself. Never had
he been free to tear and rend such a quantity of black flesh before, and
he bit and snapped and rushed the flying legs till the last pair were
above his head. All were treed except Telepasse, who was too old and
fat, and he lay prone and without movement where he had fallen; while
Satan, with too great a heart to worry an enemy that did not move, dashed
frantically from tree to tree, barking and springing at those who clung
on lowest down.
"I fancy you need a lesson or two in inserting fuses," Sheldon remarked
dryly.
Joan's eyes were scornful.
"There was no detonator on it," she said. "Besides, the detonator is not
yet manufactured that will explode that charge. It's only a bottle of
chlorodyne."
She put her fingers into her mouth, and Sheldon winced as he saw her
blow, like a boy, a sharp, imperious whistle--the call she always used
for her sailors, and that always made him wince.
"They're gone up the Balesuna, shooting fish," he explained. "But there
comes Oleson with his boat's-crew. He's an old war-horse when he gets
started. See him banging the boys. They don't pull fast enough for
him.
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