Spilett and Herbert went to their breakfast, while Top kept watch under the windows. Then they returned to their post. Two hours later the situation was unchanged. The quadrumana gave no sign of existence, and it seemed as if they must have disappeared; but it was more likely that, frightened by the death of one of their number and the detonations of the guns, they kept themselves hidden in the chambers or the store-room of Granite House. And, when the colonists thought of all that was stored in this latter room, the patience which the engineer had recommended turned into irritation, and indeed they could not be blamed for it. “It is too bad!” exclaimed the reporter, at length; “and is there no way we can put an end to this?” “We must make these beggars give up!” cried Pencroff. “We can readily do it, even if there are twenty of them, in a hand-to hand fight! Oh, is there no way we can get at them?” “Yes,” replied Smith, struck by an idea. “Only one?” rejoined Pencroff. “Well, that’s better than none at all. What is it?” “Try to get into Granite House by the old weir,” answered the engineer. “Why in the mischief didn’t I think of that!” cried the sailor. This was, indeed, the only way to get into Granite House, in order to fight the band and drive them out. It is true that, if they tore down the cemented wall which closed the weir, the work would have all to be done over again; but, fortunately, Smith had not yet effected his design of hiding this opening by covering it again with the lake, as that operation necessitated a good deal of time. It was already past noon when the colonists, well armed and furnished with picks and mattocks, left the Chimneys, passed under the windows of Granite House, and, having ordered Top to remain at his post, made ready to climb the left bank of the Mercy, so as to reach Prospect Plateau. But they had hardly gone fifty paces, when they heard the loud barkings of the dog, as if making a desperate appeal. All halted. “Let us run back,” cried Pencroff. And all did as proposed as fast as possible. Arrived at the turn, the whole situation was changed. The monkeys, seized with a sudden fright, startled by some unknown cause, were trying to escape. Two or three were running and springing from window to window, with the agility of clowns. In their fright they seemed to have forgotten to replace the ladder, by which they could easily have descended. In a moment half a dozen were in such a position that they could be shot, and the colonists, taking aim, fired. Some fell, wounded or killed, within the chambers, uttering sharp cries. Others, falling to the ground without, were crushed by the fall, and a few moments afterwards it seemed as if there was not one living quadrumana in Granite House. “Hurrah,” said Pencroff, “hurrah, hurrah!” “Don’t cheer yet,” saidSpilett. “Why not,” asked Pencroff. “Ain’t they all killed.” “Doubtless: but that does not give us the means of getting in.”