There was no sign of the _Valetta_, which had sunk in the deep water of the crater.
Two things Raoul Van Asveld did that showed his keenness and coolness and that elicited Grief's admiration. Under the _Rattler's_ rifle fire Raoul compelled the fleeing Fuatino men to come in and surrender. And at the same time, dispatching half his cutthroats in the _Rattler's_ boat, he threw them ashore and across the peninsula, preventing Brown from getting away to the main part of the island. And for the rest of the morning the intermittent shooting told to Grief how Brown was being driven in to the other side of the Big Rock. The situation was unchanged, with the exception of the loss of the _Valetta_.
VI.
The defects of the position on the Big Rock were vital. There was neither food nor water. For
