"Now, forward, my lads!" exclaimed the captain, as the report of a rifle was heard in the distance.
At the double the seamen rushed towards the collection of hovels that formed the Patagonian village. A few of the natives showed fight, but the majority fled, yelling with terror, in the direction of the narrow defile held by Sinclair and his men.
Soon the fugitives were driven back; men, women, and children bolted to their huts, and the work of capturing the natives began.
The savages offered but little resistance as they were seized and securely bound. As for the women and children, they stoically remained with their men-folk and finding that they were not to be put to death--as they fully expected to be--the savages began to lose their sullen manner and to take a faint interest in the seamen's preparations.
On an open space in front of the village the natives were placed--the men, individually bound and roped together as an additional safeguard, sitting on the ground in a circle, with the women and children in the centre.
Meanwhile another party of seamen had carried seven tins of dynamite, each containing 16 1/2 lbs., to the base of the crag that Gerald had indicated--at a distance of a mile and a half from the village--and separated from it by the main channel of Desolation Inlet.
Gerald had detailed his volunteers for the task of guarding the prisoners, and all the preliminary preparations were now complete.
"Now for a practical test of the ZZ-rays, Mr. Tregarthen," exclaimed Captain Brookes, as he bade Gerald farewell. "It is now 10.30 a.m. At noon punctually I shall liberate the electric current from the _Olive Branch_, at a distance of nine sea miles from yonder crag. You will please remain here, and on no account release the prisoners till my return, which, I hope, will be at 1.30 p.m."
"Very good, sir," replied Gerald, with a salute, as the captain ordered the remainder of the landing-party to fall in.
Meanwhile the divers had been working incessantly, and the propeller was again fit for its task; the anchor was weighed, and the _Olive Branch_ once more glided down the waters of Desolation Inlet.
Left in charge of the prisoners Gerald had ample time to reflect upon the action he had taken. In his anxiety to save the savages from extermination he had made a somewhat hasty proposal; and now, with the execution of his plan in progress, the force of Captain Brookes' objections came home to him.