The storm was approaching us rapidly; the rumble of the thunder grew
momentarily louder, and soon became continuous; and presently a vivid
flash of chain lightning streamed from the clouds low down upon the
northern horizon, followed, in about half a minute, by a smart peal of
thunder, much louder than any that we had yet heard. This was quickly
succeeded by a second flash, perceptibly nearer than the first--for the
interval between it and the resulting clap of thunder was noticeably
shorter, while the volume of sound was much greater and sharper. And
still the sheet lightning continued to play vividly and with scarcely a
second's intermission among the Titanic cloud-masses around and above
us, lighting up the entire scene from horizon to horizon; so that we now
had no difficulty whatever in following the movements of the various
proas in sight, the whole fleet of which were obviously converging upon
us as upon a common centre.
It was evident, from the uneasy glances cast by the men from time to
time upon these craft, that they fully shared my own and the chief
mate's suspicions regarding them, and I have no doubt that the sight of
the seven proas unmistakably sweeping down toward us had as much as the
quickly gathering storm to do with the acceleration of their movements;
at any rate, I had never seen men work more smartly; and the nearest
proa was still fully three-quarters of a mile distant when the last man
reached the deck--which he did by way of the main-topmast backstay--and
our task of shortening sail was complete.
I thought it was now time to say a word or two to the hands. I
therefore requested Mr Roberts to call everybody aft; and at the word
they came shambling along the deck, bare-footed, and grouped themselves
on the port side, between the main rigging and the capstan, while the
two mates joined me upon the poop. I waited a moment until they were
silent, and then said--
"My lads, the glances you have been casting at intervals in the
direction of those proas assures me that not only have you all observed
them, but also that, like myself, you have very grave doubts as to the
honesty of their intentions. I may as well say at once that, so far as
I am concerned, doubt has given place to certainty--the certainty that
they mean mischief towards us. I believe that the large proa that
passed us this morning, running out to seaward, and afterwards sweeping
up the straits again, under the land, was simply bound upon a
reconnoitring cruise; and that, on seeing us, her people arrived at the
conclusion that we should prove a very suitable object for attack,
should opportunity present itself; and that the presence of those seven
proas is the result.
"Now, I need not waste time by telling you what sort of character the
Malays bear, because you all know it. They are, almost to a man, born
pirates, and a cruel, bloodthirsty set of rascals are they into the
bargain. We may therefore be certain that if those fellows are once
allowed to gain full possession of our decks, not a soul of us on board
here will be left alive five minutes afterwards. Unfortunately, we
mount no guns, so I fear there is little chance of our being able to
keep them at a distance; but there is an arm-chest below containing a
sufficient supply of cutlasses and revolvers for all hands, and these,
with ammunition, shall be served out to you. I may tell you that Mr
Roberts and I have been concocting a little plan by which we hope to
prevent the rascals from actually boarding us; but, as I have never yet
tried it, I am by no means certain that it will succeed. Should it
fail, we shall undoubtedly be boarded, in which case we must fall back
upon cold lead and cold steel, serving out both to the enemy with such
zeal and good will that they shall be anxious only to get back on board
their own craft with the utmost possible expedition. You will all
fight, and fight well, I know--I never yet met with a Briton who would
_not_ fight--but it may perhaps put a little extra vigour into your arms
if I remind you that you will be fighting, not only for yourselves, but
also for the helpless women and children who are sleeping below. Now
muster yourselves, the port watch on the port side of the deck, and the
starboard watch on the starboard side, and Mr Roberts and Mr Forbes
will serve out the arms to you. After which you will hold yourselves
ready to promptly execute such orders as you may receive." The fellows
raised a cheer as I finished speaking, and ranged themselves on either
side of the deck with a steadiness and alacrity of movement that was
very encouraging to me, as indicating a cool and undaunted frame of mind
on their part; and the two mates at once dived below to bring up the
arms and ammunition.
Meanwhile, I walked aft to Sir Edgar, who still retained his chair,
puffing placidly at his cigar, but clearly evincing, by the way he had
slued himself in his seat, and in his observant, listening attitude, the
lively interest he was taking in the proceedings.
As I joined him he rose from his chair and, pitching the glowing stump
of his cigar over the side, said--
"I am going below for my rifle now, captain. And I think that while I
am there I had better awaken my wife and Miss Merrivale, and just give
them a hint of what is impending. The firing is certain to awake them,
if the thunder has not done so already, and I think it will be best that
they should have a clear idea of what is about to happen, or when we
begin firing we may have them rushing on deck in alarm to see what is
the matter. Do not you agree with me?"
"Yes, certainly," said I. "I was about to suggest such a course to you.
But there is every probability of there being some exceedingly warm
work going on here on deck very shortly, and if you will allow me to
express an opinion, it is that it would be decidedly more prudent for
you to remain below and do what you can to encourage the ladies. An
unlucky shot, you know, might--"
"Thanks," interrupted the baronet, "I think I can guess exactly what you
would say, captain; but not another word, if you please. What? Would
you have me skulk below while brave men are imperilling their lives in
defence of those who are dearer to me than my own life? I could not
possibly do it. Besides, if I am not greatly mistaken, you will need
all the force you can muster before the end of the affair is reached. I
shall be back again within five minutes, and I have to request that,
from then until the fight is over, you will be pleased to consider me as
completely under your orders as any other man in the ship."
So saying, Sir Edgar turned toward the companion and made his way below
with a composure as imperturbable as though he had just bade me "good
night" and were about to turn in, instead of looking forward to active
participation in a struggle which there was only too much reason to
expect would be of the most sanguinary and desperate character, and the
result of which might well be anticipated with anxiety.
The baronet's head had scarcely vanished beneath the companion-slide
when there came a flash and a puff of smoke, followed by a sharp,
ringing report from the nearest proa--now directly astern of us, the
barque having swung with her head once more pointing fair up the
straits--and then the surface of the water was torn and lashed into
momentary foam, some eight or ten fathoms away on our port beam, by the
spattering of a heavy shower of bullets or slugs of some sort that had
evidently formed the charge of the gun.
"That was well meant, at any rate," remarked Roberts, as he crossed the
deck and placed himself at my side. "By the report of it I judge that
it is a brass gun they are using, and they've got our range to a nicety,
for a wonder."
"Yes," said I; "the men had better get under cover, Mr Roberts, for, if
the next charge should happen to fall on board us, somebody may be hurt,
and there are so few of us that we cannot afford to have any casualties
before coming to close quarters. Be good enough to see to this, if you
please, and while you are forward get one of the men to open and start a
drum of petroleum into the tank of the fire engine, and put the nozzle
of the hose into the tank to soak, so that our wick arrangement round
the jet may get thoroughly saturated with oil against the time that we
shall want to use it. At the same time you had better tell off two of
the most reliable hands to attend exclusively to the working of the
engine. And be pleased to remember that you and Mr Forbes are included
among those who are to keep carefully under cover until otherwise
required."
"All hands under cover," shouted the mate, as he made his way forward.
"Stow yourselves away where no shot can get at you, my lads, but hold
yourselves ready to answer smartly to a call. Harry, I want you and Joe
Martin to--"
I heard no more, being by this time halfway down the companion-ladder in
quest of my rifle, for the time was now at hand when it would be needed.
As I entered my own state-room I heard Sir Edgar's voice speaking in
reassuring tones in his wife's cabin, and as I emerged again with my
rifle in my hand, a cutlass girt about my waist, and a pair of revolvers
in my belt, he came into the saloon and from thence followed me on deck.
As I placed my foot on the bottom step of the companion-ladder I heard
the report of another discharge from the proa mingling sharply with the
deep, volleying roll of the thunder overhead, but as there was no
accompanying patter of shot on the deck I concluded that they had again
missed us.
I was heartily glad that the Malays had unmistakably declared their
intentions by opening fire upon us, for, to be perfectly candid, I had
been in some perplexity as to how I ought to act towards them, should
they make no hostile demonstration towards us while approaching. For
while, on the one hand, there had scarcely been a shadow of doubt in my
mind, from the moment when my eye first fell upon them, that the proas
were piratical craft, with sinister designs upon the barque, there
remained, on the other hand, a bare possibility--until they absolutely
declared themselves to be otherwise--that they might be perfectly honest
traders bound upon their own lawful business, and we should hardly be
justified in taking the initiative and opening fire upon them as they
approached, merely because their movements happened to present to us a
suspicious appearance, and because their respective courses happened to
be in our direction. But now that one of them--the craft nearest us--
had actually assumed the offensive, we need entertain no further
scruples, so far at least as she was concerned; and as for the others,
now that the engagement might be said to have begun, we should soon
discover, by their behaviour, what their intentions were.
"How is your rifle sighted?" asked Sir Edgar, as we stood together near
the wheel, watching the approach of our antagonist.
"Up to a thousand yards," answered I. "And as that proa is now within
half that distance, I shall take a shot at her without further ceremony.
When you fire, Sir Edgar, aim at her bows, and as near the level of her
rail as possible; there is doubtless a crowd of the villains grouped
forward there about their gun, and in the eyes of her, watching us, and
it is to that part of her, therefore, that we must direct our attention
at first. Here goes for the first shot."
I levelled my weapon carefully, but had to wait for what seemed quite a
long time to get a good aim; two or three very vivid flashes of
lightning just then following each other in quick succession, and so
effectually dazzling my eyes that I could see absolutely nothing for
some few seconds afterwards. Then I fired, but there was no answering
sign or sound on board the proa to tell that my shot had been effective.
"What distance were you sighted for?" inquired the baronet.
"Five hundred yards," answered I; "but I believe she is nearer than
that."
"I think so, too," agreed Sir Edgar. "You fired too high, captain. I
shall sight for three hundred,"--going to the binnacle, and uncovering
the hood for a moment to do so. He waited perhaps a minute; then raised
the rifle to his shoulder, paused a second or two, and, taking advantage
of a strong and prolonged gleam of sheet lightning, fired. A shrill
scream from the proa told us that his bullet had found a mark, and
almost immediately afterwards she fired her gun again, the shot this
time striking somewhere aloft, for we distinctly heard the thud of the
bullets against the spars.
"We score first blood, at all events," composedly remarked Sir Edgar.
"As for the enemy, it is evident that they have not altered the
elevation of their piece since they first fired, and it is fervently to
be hoped that they will still forget to do so. If that last shower of
bullets had fallen on deck, captain, I am afraid it would have been bad
for both of us."
"Very possibly," I agreed. "Still, those small, short guns, such as she
appears to carry, scatter tremendously, and we might have the lead
flying thick all round us, and still not be hit. Now, I wonder whether
I shall have better luck this time."
I certainly had, for the sharp report of my weapon was instantly
answered by quite an outcry on board the proa--a kind of compound yell
made up of several distinct sounds, leading to the conclusion that my
bullet had fallen in the thick of a group, and wounded several.
"Why, captain, you are improving," observed my companion approvingly.
"If I could but manage to do the same, now--"
_Crack_! went his rifle, and the sound was followed by two distinct
cries--a scream and a howl--manifestly uttered by different voices, and
we thought we heard the sound of a heavy fall on the deck, but a sharp
peal of thunder at the same moment prevented our being sure of this.
While we were reloading they fired their brass gun once more, and again
the charge flew high overhead--luckily for us, for the bullets seemed to
be flying closer together this time. Then they began pelting at us with
their _gingals_, first treating us to quite a respectable fusillade, and
then blazing away, every man for himself, as fast as they could load and
fire; some of their bullets singing past us so closely that I inwardly
congratulated myself upon my wisdom in ordering everybody under cover.
And new, one after another, the remaining proas opened fire upon us with
their brass guns, although certainly not more than two of the entire
fleet were yet within range; while the vivid lightning flashed and tore
athwart the heavens in continuous coruscations, and the thunder crashed
and rattled and rolled and boomed overhead and all round the horizon in
such terrific detonations that they absolutely caused the ship to
perceptibly tremble and vibrate with the tremendous volume of sound.
At length the proa that had initiated the attack upon us closed to
within a hundred yards, steering for our port quarter, with the evident
intention of sheering alongside us somewhere about our mizzen-rigging.
They were working ten sweeps on board her--five of a side--and
calculating that each sweep required at least four men to handle it (for
they were very long and heavy), I concluded that she would have, all
told, at least sixty men on her deck, a formidable number to oppose with
our small force on board the barque. I was not much afraid of them so
long as we could keep a few fathoms of water between them and ourselves,
but should they once succeed in gaining a footing upon our decks, a very
few casualties on our side would suffice to determine the issue against
us.
It was, accordingly, to prevent this that I had set my wits to work in
conjunction with those of the mate, when we had first seen reason to
anticipate an attack, my plan being to utilise our fire engine as a
means of defence, and I had given instructions to have it prepared in a
manner that I hoped would convert it into a really formidable weapon.
The time had now arrived, or at least was close at hand, when an
opportunity would be afforded us to test its efficacy; I therefore
ordered it to be run aft as far as the capstan, and cautioned the two
men, who had been told off to work it, to stand by the brake-handles. I
had already fully explained my idea to the mate, and he now took in his
hand the long brass nozzle--the tow attachment round the jet of which
was by this time thoroughly saturated with oil--and prepared to act as
circumstances might demand. Meanwhile the pirates had ceased to fire
their brass gun, and the fusillade from their _gingals_ had slackened
considerably, thanks, no doubt, to the indefatigable manner in which the
baronet and I had plied our rifles upon them.
The craft was now so near that, by the continuous flashing of the
lightning, we could distinguish every detail, even to the most minute,
of her hull and rigging, and we could see, too, that her deck was
crowded with men, many of whom appeared to have tailed on, as extra
hands, to the sweeps, which were now being worked with furious energy;
for they lashed the water into a perfect swirl of luminous,
phosphorescent foam, while quite a respectable little curl of luminous
froth buzzed away on each side from her sharp bows. It was clear that
they were giving her "way" enough to shoot alongside, prior to laying in
the sweeps, in order that every man they had might be available for
boarding purposes.
"Now, Sir Edgar," I exclaimed, "we will give her one more shot apiece;
and then we must stand by with our cutlasses in case our fire engine
fails."
"There is a tall fellow standing at the helm who offers a very decent
mark; shall I see whether I can pick him off?" inquired the baronet.
"By no means," I answered hurriedly. "Take especial pains to shoot wide
of him, if you please. I look to him to afford us very effectual help
presently."
My companion turned and stared inquiringly at me for a moment,
apparently doubting whether I was in earnest; when, seeing that I
evidently was so, he muttered--
"Oh, very well," and, taking aim, fired simultaneously with me; and I
saw two pairs of arms tossed into the air as their owners went down.
At the same moment, in obedience to a command that we distinctly heard
given, the sweeps were very smartly laid in and thrown clattering on to
the deck, while every man on board, save the helmsman, sank under cover
behind the proa's low bulwark.
"Now, Mr Roberts, stand by with your hose, and give them the benefit of
it the moment they show themselves," I cried.
"Pump, boys, and fill the hose," exclaimed the mate, plunging the nozzle
into the flame of a lighted lantern that he had brought aft with him for
the purpose. The tow band instantly burst into a fierce flame, casting
a broad yellow glare on everything within its influence, and dripping
burning drops into a bucket of water with which Roberts had taken the
precaution of providing himself.
While this was doing, the proa's helm had been ported, and she now came
driving along toward our port quarter, as I had expected. When within
fifty feet of us another order was given on board her, in response to
which her crew--some eighty in number, at the very least, and as fierce
and relentless looking a set of cut-throats as I ever desire to see--
rose to their feet, with their naked creeses grasped in their hands--the
yellow glare falling strongly upon their keen steel and fierce gleaming
eyeballs--and lined her rail in readiness to spring on board us on the
instant that the sides of the two craft should touch.
"Now is your time, Mr Roberts; let them have it, fore and aft!" I
shouted.
"Pump _hard_!" cried Roberts to the men, excitedly. The handles clanked
smartly; the mate turned the tap of the jet; and in an instant a long
thin stream of oil, ignited by its passage through the flame blazing
round the orifice of the jet, poured in a flood of fire across the
intervening space of water, and struck the proa fairly in the bows. To
raise the nozzle sufficiently to touch the men was an action quick as
thought, when it was so manipulated as to cause the stream to travel
deliberately right along the entire length of the vessel's rail, from
the eyes of her to the taffrail. The effect surpassed my most sanguine
expectations; that stream of fire, thin as it was, could not be
withstood; and in less time than it takes to tell of it the deck of the
proa was full of shrieking men, who, with clothes ablaze, and suffering
Heaven only knows what extremity of torture wherever the fiery spray had
touched them, were plunging headlong below out of the way of the
dreadful missile. The helmsman had, as I expected, instinctively put
his helm hard a starboard the instant that the jet began to play, with
the result that the proa, instead of touching us, forged slowly past us
to port, and so ahead, with little tongues of flame creeping here and
there about her hull wherever the flaming oil had fallen; Roberts
keeping the jet remorselessly playing upon her until she had shot quite
beyond its reach.
"Thank God, we are well rid of that danger!" I ejaculated; "and, unless
I am greatly mistaken, we shall get a breeze before any of the others
are near enough to attempt the same trick."
"Ay; and here it comes with a vengeance, too! Look there, sir, on our
starboard beam," cried Roberts. "Avast pumping there, you two, and run
the engine away for'ard, out of the way. Stand by the braces fore
and--"
A terrific blaze of lightning at this moment enveloped the ship in a
sheet of living flame, which was accompanied by a simultaneous crash of
thunder that was indescribably dreadful and terrifying by reason of its
awful intensity of sound. It literally stunned me for a few seconds, so
completely that I knew not where I was; and when I recovered my senses I
discovered that the tremendous shock of sound had rendered me stone
deaf, so that I was utterly incapable of hearing anything. Fortunately
for us all, this deafness passed off again in a few minutes; but while
it lasted I found it exceedingly inconvenient and unpleasant.
My first act, on coming to my senses, was to glance instinctively in the
direction indicated by the mate, when a complete transformation in the
appearance of the heavens in that quarter met my anxious gaze. The
heaped-up masses of cloud had there been rent asunder by the power of
the imprisoned wind, revealing a large and rapidly widening patch of
clear sky, with the stars brilliantly shining in the blue-black space;
while beneath it the water was all white with the foam of the
approaching squall.
"Man the port fore-braces!" I shouted at the top of my voice--though
not the slightest sound reached my ear--"round-in smartly, men; well
there; belay! Stand by your topsail halliards, fore and main! Why,
what is this?" as in moving I stumbled over something on the deck that
felt like a human body. I stooped to feel for the object--for the
lightning had entirely ceased since that last baleful flash--and found
that it _was_ indeed a body. Had some one been struck by a bullet
without our having noticed it? I hurriedly called for a lantern; but
before it could be brought the squall burst upon us in all its fury; and
though I could still hear absolutely nothing, I know that the Babel of
sound must have been terrific, for the wind smote me as though it had
been a solid body, jamming me hard against the larboard mizzen-rigging,
while the staunch little barque bowed before it until her larboard rail
was buried in the sea and her maindeck all afloat as far up as the
coamings of the hatchways. I shouted an order to let go the topsail
halliards, and signed to the man at the wheel to put the helm hard up;
but he appeared to have already done so, for--the coat that had masked
the binnacle light having gone to leeward upon the wings of the squall--
I could see him to windward of the wheel, holding the spokes in his
grasp and bearing against it with all his strength. Catching my eye,
the fellow pointed ahead and said something--at least, I saw his lips
move--and, looking in the direction toward which he pointed, I saw the
proa that had engaged us driving away to leeward, broadside-on, with
tongues of fire clinging to her bulwarks and deck here and there, which,
even as I looked, were fanned into a devouring flame by the furious
strength of the blast that swept over her. It was evident that
Roberts's flaming jet had set her on fire.
But the barque was paying off rapidly, and had risen to an even keel by
the time that we had brought the blazing proa well on our starboard bow,
when away she flew like a frightened seabird before the gale, leaving
the unfortunate Malays to a fate that, however dreadful, they had
certainly brought upon themselves. Meanwhile, the topsail halliards
having been let go, the yards had slid down upon the caps, while the
topsails--being patent-reefing--had close-reefed themselves; so that,
running, as we were, dead before the squall, we were snug enough for the
moment; although there was a lee-shore at no very great distance, the
existence of which occasioned me considerable anxiety.
The first danger over, I again called for a lantern, which was quickly
brought; and its first rays revealed the shocking fact that it was the
body of the chief mate that lay at my feet. Stooping hastily, I turned
him over on his back to search for the wound that had laid him low; but,
to my great surprise, was unable to find one, or to discover the
slightest trace of blood. The features were perfectly placid and
composed, with just the ghost of a smile upon them, giving him the
appearance of having fallen suddenly into a pleasant sleep. I laid my
fingers quickly upon his wrist fearing I knew not what, and failed to
detect any movement of the pulse. Sir Edgar, meanwhile, had joined me,
and now thrust his hand inside the waistcoat, over the region of the
heart. He held it there a moment or two, and then started up,
horror-stricken. "Good God!" he ejaculated, "the man is _dead_!"
It was so. There could be no doubt about it. Roberts's presentiment
had actually been a true one; he had indeed been doomed to die that
night. But it was no mortal bullet that slew him; God Himself had
launched the bolt that had severed the thread of this staunch and
faithful sailor's broken life. It was that last terrible flash of
lightning that had killed him; and the poor fellow had died so
instantaneously that he could scarcely have been conscious of the
momentous change; certainly it must have been impossible that he could
have experienced the least sensation of pain.
I was inexpressibly shocked and grieved at this terribly sudden death of
my chief mate; not so much on account of the death itself--for, after
hearing the poor fellow's sad story in the earlier part of the night, I
could not for an instant doubt that death would be regarded by him as a
thrice welcome friend--but it was the awful suddenness and unexpected
character of it that appalled me. However, I had no time to dwell upon
the matter just then, for, though perfectly safe at the moment, every
fathom that the ship travelled carried her more nearly to a position of
awful jeopardy. I therefore gave orders that the body should be taken
below to Roberts's own state-room, and begged Sir Edgar to go below and
see whether he could by any means restore vitality to it; hurriedly
explaining the situation to him, and pointing out the impossibility of
my leaving the deck until the safety of the ship should be assured. The
kind-hearted fellow at once consented, and followed the men below,
leaving me alone in the darkness and the turmoil of the storm to reflect
on the words he had spoken on the night that witnessed the destruction
of the _Northern Queen_: "How completely are we in the hands of God, and
how absolutely dependent upon His Mercy!"
Our present situation was a further exemplification of this great truth,
if indeed such were needed; for there was no sign whatever of any
abatement of the strength of the gale; indeed, contrary to all my
previous experience, the wind appeared to be increasing in violence with
every fathom that we sped to leeward. True, the sky was clear away to
windward and overhead, which was a good sign; but then I had before now
known it to blow heavily for many hours on end out of a perfectly clear
sky; while away to leeward, somewhere down in the thick blackness toward
which the barque's bows were pointing, and in the direction toward which
she was hurrying, lay the land--a rock-bound coast, for aught that I
knew to the contrary, but, at all events, _land_--to touch which, under
the circumstances, would certainly mean the loss of the ship, and, most
probably, of all hands as well.
While I was meditating upon this, and debating within myself the
possibility of bringing the ship to the wind without losing the masts, a
cry arose forward--a shout of horror raised by many voices, as it seemed
to me, but if any words were uttered I failed to catch them, so terrific
was the uproar of the wind in the maze of rigging overhead. I sprang
toward the break of the poop, crying out at the same time to know what
was the matter, when, as I did so, I caught a glimpse of a darker shadow
against the blackness of the sky ahead, lying right athwart our hawse;
there was another cry from our forecastle; and as I turned my head to
shout an order to the helmsman to put the wheel hard over I felt a
shock--not a very severe one by any means, but as though we had touched
the ground for a moment--a loud scream uprose out of the dark shadow
beneath our bows, and a grating, grinding sensation thrilled along the
whole ship from her bows to her stern-post, as though she were forcing
her way over something solid. I sprang to the rail and looked over the
side into the water; and there, sliding swiftly past the ship, and prone
upon the glittering, phosphorescent, milk-white foam, lay distinctly
limned the black outline of a mast with a long, tapering latteen yard
and a strand or two of rigging attached to it; while here and there,
dotted upon the hissing froth, I caught a momentary vision of certain
round black objects that I knew were the heads of drowning men,
intermingled with fragments of wreckage, tossing arms, and writhing
bodies.
Even as I gazed, horror-stricken, at this picture of sudden, swift
destruction, it drifted astern and was quickly lost to view; but I had
seen enough to know exactly what had happened. We had unwittingly run
down one of the proas that had essayed to attack us.