第40章 THE INEVITABLE WHITE MAN(3)

"The rifle firing from the boats had ceased, and I made no doubt that they were finished off and that the end had come to everything.It was only a matter of moments when they would return for my head.They were evidently taking the heads from the sailors aft.Heads are valuable on Malaita, especially white heads.They have the place of honor in the canoe houses of the salt-water natives.What particular decorative effect the bushmen get out of them I didn't know, but they prize them just as much as the salt-water crowd.

"I had a dim notion of escaping, and I crawled on hands and knees to the winch, where I managed to drag myself to my feet.From there I could look aft and see three heads on top the cabin--the heads of three sailors I had given orders to for months.The niggers saw me standing, and started for me.I reached for my revolver, and found they had taken it.I can't say that I was scared.I've been near to death several times, but it never seemed easier than right then.I was half-stunned, and nothing seemed to matter.

"The leading nigger had armed himself with a cleaver from the galley, and he grimaced like an ape as he prepared to slice me down.But the slice was never made.He went down on the deck all of a heap, and I saw the blood gush from his mouth.In a dim way I heard a rifle go off and continue to go off.Nigger after nigger went down.'my senses began to clear, and I noted that there was never a miss.Every time that the rifle went off a nigger dropped.I sat down on deck beside the winch and looked up.Perched in the crosstrees was Saxtorph.How he had managed it I can't imagine, for he had carried up with him two Winchesters and I don't know how many bandoliers of ammunition; and he was now doing the one only thing in this world that he was fitted to do.

"I've seen shooting and slaughter, but I never saw anything like that.I sat by the winch and watched the show.I was weak and faint, and it seemed to be all a dream.Bang, bang, bang, bang, went his rifle, and thud,thud, thud, thud, went the niggers to the deck.It was amazing to see them go down.After their first rush to get me, when about a dozen had dropped, they seemed paralyzed; but he never left off pumping his gun.By this time canoes and the two boats arrived from shore, armed with Sniders, and with Winchesters which they had captured in the boats.The fusillade they let loose on Saxtorph was tremendous.Luckily for him the niggers are only good at close range.They are not used to putting the gun to their shoulders.They wait until they are right on top of a man, and then they shoot from the hip.When his rifle got too hot, Saxtorph changed off.That had been his idea when he carried two rifles up with him.

"The astounding thing was the rapidity of his fire.Also, he never made a miss.If ever anything was inevitable, that man was.It was the swiftness of it that made the slaughter so appalling.The niggers did not have time to think.When they did manage to think, they went over the side in a rush, capsizing the canoes of course.Saxtorph never let up.The water was covered with them, and plump, plump, plump, he dropped his bullets into them.Not a single miss, and I could hear distinctly the thud of every bullet as it buried in human flesh.

"The niggers spread out and headed for the shore, swimming.The water was carpeted with bobbing heads, and I stood up, as in a dream, and watched it all--the bobbing heads and the heads that ceased to bob.Some of the long shots were magnificent.Only one man reached the beach, but as he stood up to wade ashore, Saxtorph got him.It was beautiful.And when a couple of niggers ran down to drag him out of the water, Saxtorph got them, too.