The victory was dearly bought; for now that the breathless excitement
was over, and there was time to make an examination, it was found that
fully half the crew had injuries, more or less serious, the men, though,
bearing their sufferings with the greatest fortitude as their two
officers, for want of a doctor, bound up the wounds.
It almost seemed as if those who had most exposed themselves had come
off best; for neither Lieutenant Johnson, Bob Roberts, Ali, nor Adam
Gray, who had been brave even to recklessness, had received a scratch.
"I have only one regret about you, Gray," said Lieutenant Johnson,
shaking his hand warmly.
"May I ask what that is, sir?" replied Gray.
"Yes, that you are not a sailor; that is all," said the lieutenant,
smiling. "I shall not forget this affair. I believe you twice over
saved my life."
"And you, too, friend Ali," continued the lieutenant, laying his hand
upon the young chief's shoulder. "I have often called the Malays a set
of treacherous wretches, but I find that there are Malays and Malays.
Sir, I hope some day that you may rise to power, as in you England will
always have a trusty ally."
Ali bowed gravely, and his eyes betokened the pleasure he felt as he
thought of the possibility of his raising the people of this land to
something better than the slothful, betel-chewing, piratical race they
were.
The steamer was now rapidly making her way back, the men furling the
sails, and the screw as it revolved sending a wave washing in amidst the
roots of the trees on either side of the river; while, now that the
present danger was over, the lieutenant went round to visit his
patients, leaving Bob Roberts in command, and a man with the lead in the
chains.
"I think the central channel is safe enough, Roberts," said the
lieutenant; "but keep him heaving the lead."
"Trust me, sir," said Bob rather importantly.
"Yes, I'll trust you, Roberts," said the lieutenant. "I'll be frank
with you, my lad, and tell you something that will please you, I know."
"What is it, sir?" said Bob eagerly.
"I don't think I shall ever look upon you again as a boy?"
Bob coloured with pleasure as soon as he was left alone; but his common
sense prevailed the next moment.
"That's very kind of him," he thought, "but it's all gammon; I am only a
boy yet. And there--hang it all! since Miss Linton spoke to me as she
did, hang me if I care if I am!"
Fortunately for the party on board the steamer, the Malays had carried
off their wounded as they fell, so that there was no trouble with either
them or prisoners, who would have been highly inconvenient at such a
time, especially as there was no knowing how soon there might be another
attack. For though beaten as to their prahus, the Malays almost to a
man succeeded in reaching the shore, to join those besieging the fort,
and at any time a new attack might be made.
As they came abreast of the prahu that was run ashore and forsaken,
Lieutenant Johnson determined to run no risk of its being floated once
more, and used, after patching, to annoy; for giving the order to
reverse the engine, the steamer was kept abreast, while Bob Roberts and
a party of marines and Jacks went ashore and made preparations to burn
her.
Ali stepped into the boat with his friend, and advised caution; for he
warned Bob that, although severely punished, the rajah was in no wise
beaten, and that, as likely as not, a force of men were lying hidden
amongst the reeds to protect the injured prahu.
"All right!" said Bob, "I'll be careful." And to show how careful he
intended to be, he let the cutter run up amidst the reeds, and jumped
out with a dozen men, provided with some fiery spirit, and some spun
yarn and matches.
"I think you ought to search the reeds first with a few shots from your
marines' rifles," said Ali, who was gazing around very distrustfully;
and no wonder, for there was every likelihood of some of the Malays
being in ambush.
"No need," said Bob, laughing. "We've given them such a lesson as they
won't forget for some time, my lad. Come along."
Ali leaped ashore, and they tried to get on board the prahu, which
seemed close in to the bank; but finding this was not the case, they
returned to the boat, and pushed off through the rustling reeds to row
round to the other side, and there board her by means of a rope.
It was well for the little party that they returned as they did, for in
twenty places dark figures were stealing through the thick, long reeds
quite unseen, but all converging upon the spot where the cutter ran to
the shore.
The return to the boat upset the plans of the ambush, but the Malays who
formed the party were not beaten; and finding their first plan hopeless,
they immediately adopted another, and began creeping through the reeds,
hardly making them rustle as they made now for the prahu.
"Heave up a rope, one of you," said Bob, "unless anybody can climb up."
This was as the bowman held the cutter close up against the prahu's side
with his boat-hook.
"If one on 'em keeps the cutter alongside, sir, I can get up, and then
make fast a rope," said the bowman.
"All right! up with you," said Bob; and as another man held on by one of
the big oars that hung in its place, the boatman hooked on his boat-hook
in one of the rattan-twisted ropes, and cleverly climbed up, catching
the rope that was thrown up and making it fast, when half a dozen of the
sailors, with Bob Roberts and Ali, were soon on the short, bamboo deck.
"It seems almost a pity to burn her," said Bob, who was greatly taken by
the workmanship of the craft.
"No, no!" said Ali angrily, as his eyes wandered suspiciously about
amidst the reeds; "burn her, burn her! the decks have been stained with
blood, and many a poor, innocent creature has suffered outrage at the
owner's hands. Rajah Gantang was a cruel, bloodthirsty pirate. Let the
river be purified from his boats!"
"But," said Bob, laughing, "we might give it a good washing down, and
fumigate it below decks, and afterwards give it a coat of paint. It
would be purified enough then, and it might be useful."
"I do not understand you," said Ali seriously; "but let your men be
quick; I fear danger."
"What a suspicious chap you are, to be sure, Ali," replied Bob. "I'll
be bound to say, if the truth was known, there isn't a nigger within a
mile of us. Here, look alive, my lads; it seems a pity to burn such a
boat; but orders are orders, and we shall have a gun fired directly, by
way of recall. There, that will do; lay the oakum there, and pour the
spirits over it. She'll burn like a firework."
The men obeyed in a quiet leisurely manner, quite satisfied of there
being no danger if their officer saw none; so the oakum and yarn they
had brought were heaped up on the bamboo deck, and another lot thrust
into a kind of cabin, plenty of the spirit poured on each, and nothing
was needed but the application of a match or two for the work of
destruction to begin.
Still Bob seemed loth to fire so well-built a vessel, and he stood
pointing out good points in the make of the long light boat, counting
the number of sweeps she had carried, examining the shot holes and the
like--partly in a bravado spirit, for Ali was all anxiety to get on
board the steamer again, scenting danger as he did on every breath of
wind, while Bob wanted to show him how matter-of-fact and cool a British
officer could be.
"Look!" said Ali suddenly, and he laid his hand upon Bob's shoulder.
"Which way?" said Bob quietly. "I can see nothing."
"You will not see," said Ali in a low passionate voice. "You are so
brave, but you are so foolish too. Why risk life when there is danger."
"I don't," said Bob coolly.
"You do; there is great danger now," said Ali. "Gantang's men are
creeping through the reeds to spear us."
"Jump down in the cutter then," said Bob, "and you will be all right."
Ali drew himself up angrily.
"A Malay chief never knows fear," he said, as he leaned his hands upon
the muzzle of the rifle he still carried, and stood there, proud and
defiant, like a bronze statue, he was so motionless and calm.
"I didn't mean to offend you, Ali, old fellow," cried Bob. And as the
young Malay saw the open, frank, laughing face before him, and the
extended hand, he seized it in his.
"I am not offended," said Ali, "but I'm afraid for you and your men."
"What of?" said Bob.
"That!" said Ali, as a spear whizzed through the reeds and stuck in the
bamboo deck.
"Yes, it was close," said Bob coolly. "Who has the matches?"
"Here you are, sir," said one of the men.
"All right," said Bob, taking the box. "Down into the boat, all of you.
Go on too, Ali."
"No, I stay with you," said the young chief, just as another spear stuck
quivering in the deck.
"Ah! I left it a bit too long," said Bob, striking a match as he dived
into the cabin, and the next moment a volume of smoke rolled up.
He then lit another match, and held it to the soaked oakum on the deck,
spear after spear being thrown, several of which he escaped as by a
miracle. Another moment or two, and the thick smoke formed a veil
between the two young men and their enemies, who threw spear after
spear, but without effect.
"Won't they be fine and mad?" cried Bob. "Here, give me your rifle,
Ali, old fellow, and I'll have a couple of shots at them. No, I won't,"
he said, handing the rifle back; "I can't shoot in cold blood. Come
along, or we shall be roasted ready for our friends there, if they are
disposed to be cannibals. My word, how she burns!"
His last words were not uncalled for, as the light wood of which the
Malay vessel was composed began to blaze furiously; so fast indeed, that
the middy and his friend were driven into making rather an undignified
retreat before the great leaping tongues of flame and the rolling
volumes of smoke that in a few minutes ran from end to end of the
vessel.
"Push off, my lads," cried Bob, as he took his place in the
stern-sheets, coughing and sneezing from the effects of the pungent
smoke. "Give way!" he cried; "there's a signal flying for our return."
Just then a shot came from the steamer as well, and with the Malays
beginning to fire at them from among the reeds, the cutter was rowed
rapidly back to the steamer's side, the prahu meanwhile blazing
furiously, and promising soon to burn down to the water's edge.
"Come, Mr Roberts," cried the lieutenant impatiently; "you have been a
long time."
"Yes, sir," said Bob, smiling at Ali, "there was a good deal of
spear-throwing towards the last, and we had to dodge them."
"The enemy is not easily frightened," said the lieutenant, as the
propeller once more rapidly revolved; "but we must get back, for I fancy
I can hear firing below, and I am afraid they are attacking the fort now
for a change."
"What shall you do, sir?" said Bob eagerly.
"It is not the custom, Mr Roberts, for the officer in command to
explain his plans to his subordinates; but if you must know, I shall run
the steamer as close up to the fort as I can, and there keep her, if the
Malays do not prove too strong for us."
Then walking to and fro for a few minutes, he ended by going up to where
old Dick, with a bandage round his head, was calmly masticating a lump
of tobacco.
"I have never thanked you for your capital idea," said the lieutenant.
"That hot water saved us in a terrible pinch."
"Yes, sir," said Dick, grinning, "it saved us; but it warn't my idee at
all. `There's lots of boiling water, Dick,' says Mr Roberts, yonder;
`screw on the hose, and tell the engineer what you want. Then when
all's ready, and it seems a good time, lay hold of the branch, and play
up among the niggers,' sir; and I did as soon as I could, but my head
were in that muzzy state that--"
"There is firing going on," said the lieutenant. "Mr Roberts, clear
again for action."
"Action, eh?" said old Dick. "Then I can't do better than say another
word to the engineer, for of all the ways to clear the decks this hot
water system's about the best." So saying, Dick went to screw the hose
on the valve once more, muttering and talking to himself the while, and
ever and again slapping one of his legs and bursting into a series of
chuckles.
"Lor' a mussy me," he said; "and how I argyed with Mr Roberts there
about the niggers not being clean. Why that's what put it into his
precious head. I wonder what they looks like to-day, after their
washing."
"Took the skin off, I should say, Dick," said Bob Roberts, who had heard
the old man's words.
"And sarve 'em right, sir," said the old sailor. "What did they mean to
do to us but take us right out of our skins, and end us right off at
once? And them as plays at bowls must expect rubbers."
So saying, Dick, who had finished his speech without an audience, seemed
quite forgetful of his wound, and went down to the engine-room, where
the engineer and firemen saluted him with a broad grin; to which Dick
responded with one a little broader, as he stood mopping the
perspiration from his face.
"Why, Dick, old man," said the engineer, "after this I think we can show
them gunners a trick or two. It would have puzzled them to clear the
decks like that. However came you to think of it?"
"Think of it?" said Dick. "I shouldn't never have thought of such a
game; it was young Mr Roberts, you know. But did you see 'em run?"
"Run!" said the engineer. "Running was nothing to it; you cleared the
deck like a shot."
"Shot!" said Dick scornfully; "I should like to see the shot or shell
that would do it half as well. Why, look here, my lads, your shot and
your shell kills and murders people, knocks off their legs and wings,
and precious often their heads. A shot goes bang in amongst a lot o'
folk, and there's an end of it. But here I was with the copper branch
in my fisties, and I just sprinkled 'em here and there like a shower
and--"
"Give it 'em hot," interposed one of the firemen leaning on his shovel.
"Ay, I just did," said Dick; "not as it was much hotter than it is down
here, my lads, but hot I did give it 'em, and there wasn't one who would
face it. And that brings me down to why I come here."
"Oh, we know why you come here, Dicky," said another of the firemen, who
had just been stoking a furnace, and whose face shone with perspiration.
"You said to yourself, you did, there's them poor chaps down there in
the engine-room getting half-roasted, and with their throats as dry as
brown paper; now, being a good-hearted sort of fellow as I am, I'll just
go down below and say to 'em, a nice cooling drink o' lime juice and
water with a dash o' rum in it, is what you all wants in a big tin can.
Shall I get it for you? That's what you come down here to say."
"Blest if ever I see such a clever chap as you are, Sam Walsh," cried
Dick, slapping his leg and laughing. "You can read a fellow just as if
he was made up o' large print and big leaves. You've really hit it, but
you see a drink like that wants mixing; and don't you see, though you
may drink it cold it wants hot water to mix it? and that's what I did
come about--more hot water."
"To mix up for us, Dick?" said the engineer, laughing.
"No," said Dick, "I didn't say that, my lad," and a bigger grin came
over his face; "what I want is the hot water to mix the grog for the
niggers, as it seems they liked the last dose so much, that I'm to get
ready some more."
"There's plenty--hot enough for anything, Dick," said the engineer, "and
I'll keep up the supply."
"Silence below there!" cried a voice; and the engineer gave his
subordinates a nod.
"You'd better get on deck, Dick, old man," he said quietly; and then in
response to a signal from above, he seized and altered a couple of
handles, listened for a fresh order, and slackened the speed of the
engine; while Dick went back on deck, satisfied that there was an
abundant supply of hot water ready for the next action, and seeing that
the island was once more in sight.
A party of Malays were at the head, but they disappeared amidst the
trees as the steamer came steadily down stream, while now as they drew
nearer the sounds of smart firing could be heard, telling that an
engagement was in progress. Smoke, too, was rising slowly above the
feathery palm-trees, but not in such dense volumes as that which could
still be seen spreading out like a cloud above the jungle, where the
prahu was burning.
A sharp series of orders followed, and every man stood at his post; for
boats could be seen going to and from the island, and it was plain
enough to the meanest comprehension on deck that if they meant to aid
the occupants of the fort they had come none too soon.