Top sprang forwards, and disappeared.
"He will get there!" said the reporter.
"Yes, and he will come back, the faithful animal!"
"What o'clock is it?" asked Gideon Spilett.
"Ten."
"In an hour he may be back. We will watch for him."
The gate of the corral was closed. The engineer and the reporter re-entered the house. Herbert was still in a sleep. Pencroft kept the compresser always wet. Spilett, seeing there was nothing he could do at that moment, busied himself in preparing some nourishment, whilst attentively watching that part of the enclosure against the hill, at which an attack might be expected.
The settlers awaited Top's return with much anxiety. A little before eleven o'clock, Cyrus Harding and the reporter, rifle in hand, were behind the gate, ready to open it at the first bark of their dog. They did not doubt that if Top had arrived safely at Granite House, Neb would send him back immediately.
They had both been there for about ten minutes, when a report was heard, followed by repeated barks.
The engineer opened the gate, and seeing smoke a hundred feet off in the wood, he fired in that direction. Almost imemdiately Top bounded into the corral, and the gate was quickly shut.
"Top, Top!" exclaimed the engineer, taking the dog's great honest head between his hands.
A note was fastened to his neck, and they read in Neb's large writing: "No pirates in the neighborhood of Granite House. I will not stir. Poor Mr. Herbert!"
CHAPTER VIII
FORTUNE TURNS HER BACK
So the convicts were still there, watching the corral, and determined to kill the settlers one after the other. There was nothing to be done, but to treat them as wild beasts. But great precautions must be taken, for just now the wretches had the advantage on their side, seeing, and not being seen, being able to surprise by the suddenness of their attack, yet not to be surprised themselves. Harding
