During the rest of the day preparations were actively carried on for the
night's work. The fifty marines and a hundred bluejackets were to take
part in the landing expedition; the ammunition to be carried was ranged
along the deck, and the men told off for the various work there was
to be done, some being allotted to carry stretchers and surgical
requirements for the wounded. The first lieutenant was to command the
party, having with him the third lieutenant, the master's mate, and
the two senior midshipmen; besides, of course, the marine officers. Dr.
Horsley was also to accompany them. Some cartridges were made up with
powder and musket bullets for two of the brass guns captured, in order
that, if the Malays succeeded in landing, they might meet with a hot
reception. It was decided that no carriages should be taken for them,
but that they should be simply laid on the sandbags.
The party on shore had kept up a fire all day at the forest. The yells
of defiance which at times rose showed that the Malays were in great
force all round its edge. Towards evening all on shore returned to
the ship. As soon as it became absolutely dark, the anchor chain was
unshackled, and a buoy being attached to the end, it was noiselessly
lowered into the water. Then the screw began to revolve, and the vessel
gradually backed down the river. All lights had been extinguished, and
no sound from the forest showed that the movement had been observed.
A mile lower down the ship was turned, the screw began to revolve more
rapidly, and at half speed she ran down to the junction of the two
branches of the river, and steamed up the other arm until within half a
mile or so of the village at the mouth of the creek. Then a light anchor
was let go, the boats were lowered, and the landing party took their
places in them; the oars were all muffled, and keeping close to the
right bank of the river, they rowed up until past the village, and then
crossing, entered the mouth of the creek, and rowed up it until they
reached the spot where the landing had been effected on the previous
night.
Half a dozen men provided with well greased saws first landed under Dick
Balderson's command, and cleared a passage six feet wide to the path;
then the landing began in earnest. The guns were first put on shore, and
carried bodily to the path; the rest of the marines and the bluejackets
then landed, each carrying, in addition to his arms and ammunition,
a gun cartridge, or a box of rifle ammunition, and a couple of empty
sacks. As fast as they landed they proceeded up the path. Dick Balderson
led the way, and the men were directed to step as closely as they could
to each other. As they arrived near the pool, each deposited his burden,
and then went back to assist to drag up the guns and carriages.
Scarcely a sound was heard during the operation. Their feet fell
noiselessly on the soft earth of the track, and no one a few yards
away would have guessed that a hundred and fifty men were engaged in
laborious toil. There was far more noise than there had been the night
before on board the prahus, an incessant jabber being maintained, and
voices rang high in excitement as the men discussed the destruction of
the town and the orders that had been received for a portion of them to
land on the following morning and take part in the annihilation of the
whites if they entered into the forest. As soon as the two heavy guns
were placed upon their carriages, just behind the screen of bushes, the
greater portion of the men were sent back as far as the point where
they had landed, there to fill the sacks with earth from the bank of the
river, a number of shovels having been brought for the purpose.
Several large bundles of bamboos, cut into lengths six feet long, and
sharpened at both ends, had been among the articles taken up to the
battery, and while most of the men were engaged filling and carrying the
sacks of earth, some were employed in constructing chevaux de frise, ten
paces on each side of the spot where the battery was being constructed.
The bamboos were set diagonally a foot and a half into the soft earth,
and bound together by being lashed to strong poles running along them.
These fences extended from the edge of the bushes by the water to the
trees. The forest behind was so thick and entangled with creepers that
there was little fear of an attack being made from that quarter.
Accustomed to work in the darkness, the sailors had no difficulty in
carrying out the operation, and before morning broke the battery was
complete. It was six feet high on the side facing the water, with two
embrasures for the guns, four feet high on the sides covered by the
chevaux de frise. The front face was twenty-five feet in length, the
sides forty. Morning was breaking as the work was finished, and bread
and cold meat were served out, with a full ration of grog. By the time
these were consumed it was broad daylight; for there is little twilight
so near the equator.
“Now for it, Dick,” Harry Parkhurst said, as the lieutenant gave the
signal for all to rise and take their places. Filing out of the battery,
the marines lined the bank on one side, and the sailors, other than
those who were to work the guns, on the other. Some of the sailors
climbed over the front wall and with their jackknives cut away the
boughs in front of the guns. There was silence on board the prahus,
where the Malays had dropped off to sleep a couple of hours before
daylight. Mr. Ferguson himself superintended the laying of the guns,
seeing that each was most carefully trained upon the waterline of a
prahu. As the distance was some seventy or eighty yards, he had little
doubt that the two vessels aimed at would be sunk at once. When he was
thoroughly satisfied, he drew back and gave the order to fire.
The two reports sounded as if one, and were mingled with the explosion
of shells as they struck the prahus exactly on the waterline. There was
a momentary silence, and then a wild hubbub of yells of surprise and
fury, while a loud cheer broke from the British, as they saw the success
of the shots. Almost instantly the two craft struck began to settle
down, and in a minute disappeared, the water being covered with the
heads of the crew, who were swimming to the other prahus. The guns
of these had evidently been kept loaded, for before the two eighteen
pounders were again ready, a fire was opened by the four craft, one or
two balls striking the sandbags, while the rest went crashing into the
forest behind. Every shot from the British guns struck the prahus, but
none effected such damage as the first two fired.
“They are taking to their boats, Ferguson,” the doctor, who was standing
beside him, said.
“Yes, but I fancy they have no thought of giving it up at present; they
are going to make a dash at us. They can still work their guns and spare
any amount of men to attack us.”
The next minute, indeed, a dozen boats, crammed with men, shot round
from behind the prahus.
“Grape now,” the lieutenant ordered, while, at the same moment, the
marines and seamen, who had hitherto been silent, opened fire from under
the bushes, beneath which they were enabled to obtain a view of what was
going on.
Two of the boats were sunk by the discharge of the grape; but the
others, without checking their course, pushed on.
“Quick, lads, give them another round before it is too late.”
The guns were loaded with incredible quickness, and two more of the
boats were shattered, their swarthy occupants striking out for the
shore, making for the most part towards the battery, as did the boats.
Twenty of the sailors and as many marines were at once called in from
the bank to aid in the defense of the battery, and a desperate conflict
was presently raging here and along the bank, the Malays, swarming up,
striving to force their way up through the embrasures, or to climb the
sandbags; but as fast as they did so, they were cut down or bayoneted by
its defenders. Those trying to land at other points were impeded by the
bushes, and numbers were killed; but they pressed on so furiously that
at last Mr. Ferguson, who had been moving backwards and forwards along
the line, thought it best to call the men in, and in a minute or two
the whole party were collected in the little fort, and ranged along the
sides.
With furious yells the Malays came on, and although swept by volleys of
musketry reached the bamboos, which they strove in vain to pluck up
or climb. In the meantime the eighteen pounders had never ceased their
fire, the sailors working them steadily, regardless of the fight that
was going on on either flank. Here the little brass guns did good
service; each time they were fired the recoil sent them tumbling from
the top of the sandbags, only, however, to be seized, sponged, and
loaded, by the four sailors in charge of each, and then lifted to their
place again, crammed with bullets to the muzzle, in readiness to check
the next charge of the Malays. Suddenly their yells redoubled, and were
answered by similar shouts from the forest.
“The rajah's troops have come up,” the first lieutenant said to the
marine officer; “our position is getting serious. Do you think that we
could make our way back to the boats without great loss? We have sunk
two of their craft, have badly damaged the others, and inflicted very
heavy loss on them.”
“It would be a very risky operation; but it might be done, Ferguson.
Listen!”
There was a fresh outburst of shouts, this time on the path by which
they had come. Evidently a number of the newly arrived Malays had struck
into it by some other track from the town.
“That settles it,” the lieutenant said shortly; “we must fight it out
here. It is lucky we have a fair stock of ammunition, and can keep it
up for some hours yet. You see, the sailors have not had to use their
pistols yet, and they will astonish those fellows if they do manage to
scale the sandbags.”
For another half hour the fighting continued. Again and again the Malays
fell back, but only to return to the attack with fresh fury, and the
defenders had been obliged to betake themselves more than once to their
pistols. The two heavy guns were now removed from their position to the
sides, for the attack by boats had ceased entirely, and the destruction
of the prahus was of less importance than the defense of the little fort
from the attacks on its flanks. The operation began just as the Malays
made one of their retreats, and by the time they returned, the guns were
placed in their new position, their muzzles peeping out from among the
sandbags, while the embrasures on the water face had been closed by bags
taken from the upper line. The effect of the fire at such close quarters
was to drive the Malays flying into the forest. Shortly afterwards the
sound of chopping was heard.
“The beggars are trying to cut a path through the jungle to our rear,
Dick,” Harry Parkhurst said.
“Obstinate brutes! But I don't think much of that, Harry: they will get
on well enough until they arrive within twenty or thirty yards of us,
when we can pepper them so hotly that they will soon get sick of it.”
At this moment there was the report of a heavy gun, and a shell crashed
through the forest fifty yards in the rear of the fort. Loud yells of
rage and alarm rose from the Malays, while a hearty cheer broke from the
defenders of the fort. Closely following, came the sound of another gun,
and then a rain of grape, some of which whistled over the fort.
“Keep yourselves well down behind the sandbags, men,” Lieutenant
Ferguson shouted; “the captain knows that we have shelter, and will
sweep the Malays out of the forest round us. That shot must have done
great execution among the Malays on the path between us and the boats.”
The guns of the ship kept up a heavy fire, searching the wood for some
distance round with shell, and pouring volleys of grape into the trees
near the battery. Presently the fire ceased.
“I fancy they have all bolted, Dick,” his comrade said; “after the first
five minutes we have not heard a sound. I wonder what the prahus are
doing?”
A minute later the lieutenant said, “Mr. Morrison, take a dozen men and
make your way along the path until you get to the boats. I hope they
have escaped. If they are within hail go on board, and report to the
captain that we have sunk two of the prahus, and that for the present
the Malays who have been attacking us have made off. Say that large
numbers of them have gone on board the four prahus, and that I am about
to open fire upon them again.”
As soon as the mate had left, parties of men were set to work to shift
the guns to their old positions, and fire was again opened upon the
piratical prahus, who replied, as before, with their little guns. A
very few minutes later a shell flew overhead, and fell in the water near
where the craft were anchored. Another and another followed quickly.
Intense excitement was manifest on board the prahus, and almost
immediately their cables were cut, oars got out, and at a great rate
they started down the creek.
“The place has got too hot for them altogether, Harry; they think it
better to run the gauntlet of the ship's guns than to be sunk at their
moorings.”
Scarcely had the prahus issued from the pool, than the guns of the ship
were heard.
“I am afraid that some of them will get away, Harry. The beggars row so
fast that there won't be time to give them more than one broadside
as they pass. If the ship is aground, which is likely enough, for the
captain pushed up farther than we thought possible, they will be pretty
safe when they have once got past her.”
Presently the guns were heard to fire in rapid succession. Loud yells
and cries followed; then came shouts of triumph and defiance; then
all was still, save that a few cannon shot were discharged at regular
intervals.
“They have got one of the guns round to fire over the stern, Dick.
There, it has stopped now; evidently the prahus have got round the next
corner. It is a pity that any of them should have escaped, and they
would not have done so if the Serpent had remained at the mouth of the
creek; but I suppose the captain became anxious at the continuation of
the heavy firing here, and so came up to our help. It is lucky he
did so, for, though we might have beaten them off, they were in such
tremendous force that I fancy it would have gone hard with us in the
long run. I was beginning to think so myself, Harry.”
Dr. Horsley had been busy enough from the time that the fighting began
in earnest. Ten men had been killed by balls that had passed through the
embrasures, or by kris or lance wounds, and twenty-eight others had been
more or less severely wounded. A quarter of an hour after the firing
ceased, Captain Forrest himself, with the mate, rowed into the pool
in one of the cutters, and landed at the end of the path close to the
battery.
“I congratulate you on your success, Mr. Ferguson,” he said, shaking
hands with the first lieutenant; “it has been a very hot affair, and by
Mr. Morrison's report it was just as well that I decided to change
my plan and come up to your aid, though it has resulted in two of the
prahus getting away.”
“Then you sank two of them, sir?”
“No, indeed, we only sank one; the third went down just after we saw her
come out from the pool. Certainly we had not hit her, so that the honor
of accounting for three out of six of the craft falls to you and your
party. Well, Doctor, what is your report? I am afraid it is a bad one.”
“Serious, indeed,” he went on, after he had received the figures. “Still
it is much less than might have been expected from attacking such a host
of pirates. I am glad to hear that none of the officers are dangerously
wounded.”
“Parkhurst had his forearm laid open with a cut from a kris, and
Balderson had one of their spears through his ear. Dr. Horsley said if
it had been half an inch more to the left, it would probably have killed
him. Lieutenant Somers of the marines is more badly hurt, a spear having
gone through the thigh. It cut an artery. Luckily the doctor was close
to him at the moment, and clapped on a tourniquet, and then cut down
to the artery and tied it. As he says, 'A delay of two minutes, and it
would have been all up with the young fellow.' Are the boats safe, sir?”
“Yes, the boat keepers pushed off a little way when the firing began in
the forest, and when they heard the shouts of a large party of the
enemy coming along the path, they went out almost into the middle of
the creek; and it was well they did, for many of the Malays came down
through the path you cut, and would have riddled them with their spears
had they been within reach. The boat keepers acted very wisely; all of
them got into the gig and towed the other boats astern, so that if the
Malays came along, either in their prahus or in their boats, they could
have cut them adrift and made a race of it down to the ship.
“Well, I think that there is nothing more to be done here. The men may
as well have a tot of grog served out, and then the sailors can march
down to the landing place and bring up the boats and take the guns and
what ammunition you have left, on board. Mr. Morrison will go back
with me to the ship; he has one of his arms broken by a ball from the
prahus.”
“I did not know that he was wounded, sir; he did not report it. I should
not have sent him if I had known it.”
“It is just as well as it is, Ferguson; it will give me an opportunity
of specially recommending him for promotion in my report. The assistant
surgeon temporarily bandaged his arm when he reached the ship.”
“Is she afloat, sir?”
“No; I want you back as soon as possible. We shall have to get out the
anchors and heave on them. We put on a full head of steam and drove her
two or three hundred yards through the mud before she finally brought
up. I wanted to get as near to you as possible, in order to clear the
woods round you.”
By two o'clock the whole ship's company were on board again, and set
to work to get her off; but it was not until after some hours' exertion
that the Serpent was again afloat. She was at once turned round, steamed
down to the mouth of the creek, and cast anchor opposite the village.