"Christ save us all from a death like this,
On the reef of Norman's woe!"

But it was not Dicky who saved Fielding. On the third day the long-
deferred riot broke out. The Copt and the Arab had spread the report
that Fielding brought death to the villages by moving the little flags
on his map. The populace rose.

Fielding was busy with the map at the dreaded moment that hundreds of the
villagers appeared upon the bank and rushed the Amenhotep. Fielding and
Dicky were both armed, but Fielding would not fire until he saw that his
own crew had joined the rioters on the bank. Then, amid a shower of
missiles, he shot the Arab who had first spread the report about the map
and the flags.

Now Dicky and he were joined by Holgate, the Yorkshire engineer of the
Amenhotep, and together the three tried to hold the boat. Every native
had left them. They were obliged to retreat aft to the deckcabin.
Placing their backs against it, they prepared to die hard. No one could
reach them from behind, at least.

It was an unequal fight. All three had received slight wounds, but the
blood-letting did them all good. Fielding was once more himself; nervous
anxiety, unrest, had gone from him. He was as cool as a cucumber. He
would not go shipwreck now "on the reef of Norman's woe." Here was a
better sort of death. No men ever faced it with quieter minds than did
the three. Every instant brought it nearer.

All at once there was a cry and a stampede in the rear of the attacking
natives. The crowd suddenly parted like two waves, and retreated; and