"THE SMOKE'S LIFTING."
"Well done, _Seafowl_!" said the lieutenant, and the men gave a cheer
which drew forth a "Silence!" from the officer.
"You're holloaing before you're out of the wood, my lads," he said.
"Ah, there they go again--nearer too. Those must be Mr Munday's or Mr
Dempsey's men. Halt, and stand fast, my lads. Let's give them a chance
to join, and then we can retire together. No doubt, Mr Murray, about
the direction we ought to take."
"No, sir," replied the midshipman, "and we are going to be quite out of
our misery soon."
"What do you mean, my lad?"
"The smoke's lifting, sir."
"To be sure, my lad, it is. A cool breeze too--no--yes, that's from the
same direction as the _Seafowl's_ recall shot. If it had been from the
forest we might have been stifled, after all."
The signals given from time to time resulted in those who had fired
coming before long within hail, and the men who now joined proved to be
a conjunction of the second lieutenant's and boatswain's, who had met
after a long estrangement in the smoke, and without the loss of a man.
Then, as the smoke was borne back by the now increasing sea breeze, the
general retreat became less painful. They could breathe more freely,
and see their way through the burned forest in the direction of the
anchored sloop.
It was a terribly blackened and parched-up party, though, that struggled
on over the still smoking and painfully heated earth. For they had no
option, no choice of path. The forest that lay to left and right was
too dense to be attempted. There were doubtless paths known to the
natives, but they were invisible to the retreating force, which had to
keep on its weary way over the widely stretching fire-devastated tract
that but a few hours before had been for the most part mangrove thicket
interspersed with palms. But the men trudged on with all the steady,
stubborn determination of the British sailor, cheered now as they were
by the sight of the great river right ahead, with the sloop of war well
in view; and in place of bemoaning their fate or heeding their
sufferings the scorched and hair-singed men were full of jocular remarks
about each other's state.
One of the first things observable was the fact that to a man all save
the officers were bare-headed, the men's straw hats having suffered
early in the struggle against the flames, while the caps of the officers
were in such dismal plight that it was questionable as to whether it was
worth while to retain them.
Titely, the seaman who had been speared, was the butt of all his
messmates, and the requests to him to show his wound were constant and
all taken in good part; in fact, he seemed to revel in the joke.
But there was another side which he showed to his young officer as,
cheering at intervals, the party began to near the river edge and get
glimpses of the boats waiting with a well-armed party to take them off
to the sloop.
"It's all werry fine, Mr Murray, sir," said Titely, "and I warn't going
to flinch and holloa when one's poor mates wanted everything one could
do to keep 'em in good heart; but I did get a good nick made in my
shoulder, and the way it's been giving it to me all through this here
red-hot march has been enough to make me sing out _chi-ike_ like a
trod-upon dog."
"My poor fellow!" whispered Murray sympathetically. "Then _you_ are in
great pain?"
"Well, yes, sir; pooty tidy."
"But--"
"Oh, don't you take no notice, sir. I ought to be carried."
"Yes, of course! Yes, I'll tell Mr Anderson."
"That you don't, sir! If you do I shall break down at once. Can't you
see it's the boys' chaff as has kep' me going? Why, look at 'em, sir.
Who's going to make a party of bearers? It's as much as the boys can do
to carry theirselves. No, no; I shall last out now till I can get a
drink of cool, fresh water. All I've had lately has been as hot as
rum."
"Hurray!" rang out again and again, and the poor fellows joined in the
cheers, for they could see nothing but the welcome waiting for them, and
feel nothing but the fact that they had gone to clear out the horrible
hornets' nest with fire, and that the task had been splendidly done.