"Ay, ay, sir."
"Yes, it would be a pity," said the lieutenant thoughtfully; "but it's
tempting. If we could get in front, Herrick, we could tow the load, and
it would shelter us all from the firing."
"Unless they got to be level with us, sir," I said.
"And--quick! right and left, my lads. Fire!" cried the lieutenant; for
there was the breaking of undergrowth close at hand on either side, and
a savage yelling commenced as our pursuers forced their way through.
The men, who had been like hounds held back by the leash, were only too
glad to get their orders; and in an instant there was quite a blaze of
fire from both sides of the boat, the bullets cutting and whistling
through the thick trees and undergrowth; and the movement on the banks,
with the cracking and rustling of the bushes and tufts of bamboo,
stopped as if by magic.
"Cease firing!" cried Mr Reardon; and then, as if to himself, "Every
shot is wasted."
I did not think so, for it had checked the enemy, who allowed us to go
on slowly another hundred yards or so.
"Allee velly dleadful," whispered Ching to me, as he crouched in the
bottom of the boat. "You tinkee hit Ching?"
"I hope not," I said. "Oh no; we shall get out into the river
directly."
"No," he said; "velly long way yet."
"But who are these?" I said--"some village people?"
"Pilate," he cried. "Allee come home not kill, and findee plize-money
gone. Makee velly angly. Wantee chop off sailor head."
"Like to catch 'em at it," growled Tom Jecks, who had been very silent
for some time.
"Silence there!" cried Mr Reardon sternly. Then to me, "We seem to
have checked them, Herrick."
At that moment there was a sudden stoppage in front, and our coxswain
growled--
"Starn all!"
"What is it?" cried Mr Reardon, rising.
There was a rattle of matchlocks from our right, and Mr Reardon fell
sidewise on to me.
"Hurt, sir?" I cried in agony.
"Yes, badly--no--I don't know," he cried, struggling up with his hand to
his head. "Here! why has that boat stopped?"
His voice was drowned by the reports of our men's rifles, as they fired
in the direction from which the shots had come; and just then a voice
from the laden boat came through the semi-darkness--
"Ahoy!"
"Yes; what is it?" I said, as I saw that a man had crawled over the
stack-like load.
"There's a gang in front, sir; and we're aground."
"And the tide falling," muttered Mr Reardon. "Herrick, I'm a bit hurt;
get our boat close up; half the men are to come astern here, and check
the enemy; the other half to help unload and get enough into our boat to
lighten the other."
"Yes, sir," I said; and I gave the orders as quickly and decisively as I
could.
The men responded with a cheer; and, with scarcely any confusion, our
boat's head was made fast to the other's stern, and the men swarmed on
to the top of the load, and began to pass down the bales rapidly from
hand to hand.
Crash came a ragged volley from right ahead now; but this was answered
by three rifles in the stern of the laden boat, and repeated again and
again, while the strong party in the stern of ours kept up a fierce fire
for a few minutes.
It was a perilous time, for we knew that if the enemy pushed forward
boldly we should be at their mercy. They could come right to the edge
of the bank unseen, so dense was the cover; and, working as our men were
at such a disadvantage in the gloom, which was rapidly growing deeper,
there was no knowing how long it would be before the first boat was
sufficiently lightened to float again; it even seemed to be possible
that we might not keep pace with the fall of the tide, and then perhaps
we should also be aground.
"Hurt much, sir?" I said to Mr Reardon, who was now seated resting his
head upon his hand.
"Don't take any notice of me, my lad," he said, pressing my hand. "Hit
by a bullet. Not very bad; but I'm half stunned and confused. The men
and boats, Herrick; save them."
"If I can," I thought, as I hurried forward again, and gave orders to
the men to pass the silk bales that were nearest to the bows.
"Ay, ay, sir," they shouted, as readily as if I had been the captain.
From here I went back to the stern, where I found that Mr Reardon was
seated now in the bottom of the boat, supported by Ching, while the men
were keeping up a steady fire at every spot from which a shot or yell
came.
"We're hard at it, sir," said Tom Jecks, who was handling his rifle as
coolly as if it had been a capstan bar; "but I don't think we're hitting
any of 'em. How's the first luff seem?"
"I don't know," I said excitedly.
"Well, sir, we're all right," said the man, "and are doing our best.
You needn't stop if you can hurry the boys on forward."
It was a fact; I could do no good at all, so I hurried forward again.
But even here I could do nothing; the men had their task to do of
lightening the first boat, and they were working as hard as if they had
been lying down in the shade all day, and just as coolly, though every
now and then the rough slugs the pirates fired from their clumsy
matchlocks went spattering through the trees overhead and sent down
fresh showers of leaves and twigs.
But I was obliged to say something, and I shouted first one order and
then another.
"That's your sort, lads," cried a cheery voice. "Down with 'em, and
I'll stow. It's like bricklaying with big bricks."
"Who's that?" I said sharply, for the man's back was towards me, and it
was getting quite dark where we were.
"Me it is, sir--Bob Saunders, sir. Beg pardon, sir."
"Yes; what is it?"
"Tide's going down very fast, sir, arn't it?"
"Yes; why?"
"'Cause we don't seem to get no forrarder. Hi! steady there! D'yer
want to bury yer orficer?"
"Never mind me, man. Stow away; she must soon be lightened enough to
make her float."
"Then we'll lighten her, sir; but don't you go and give orders for any
of the stuff to be chucked overboard. It's too vallerble for that."
"Only as a last resource, Bob," I replied.
"Beg pardon, sir."
"Don't," I cried to the man who touched me. "Never mind ceremony now;
go on firing."
"Yes, sir; but Tom Jecks says, sir, would you like six on us to land and
have a go at the beggars?"
"No," I cried. "Keep together; we may be afloat at any moment."
"Right, sir; on'y we're all willing, if you give the word."
"I know that," I cried. "But be careful, my lads. It's a terrible
position, with our chief officer down like this."
"So it is, sir," said the man, taking careful aim at a part of the bank
where he thought that he saw a movement. Then, almost simultaneously,
there was a flash from the place, and another from his rifle muzzle.
"Either on us hit?" he said coolly, as I clapped my hand to my ear,
which felt as if a jet of cold air had touched it. "Don't think I
touched him, sir, but he has cut off. I can hear him going. Not hurt,
are you, sir?"
"No; a bullet must have gone close to my ear," I said.
"Oh yes; I felt that, sir. It went between us. But it's no use to take
no notice o' misses."
"Well?" I said; for one of the men behind me now touched my arm, and I
found it was Bob Saunders.
"We're getting dead down at the head, sir; hadn't we better begin
stowing aft?"
"Yes, yes, of course," I said excitedly, and feeling annoyed that I had
not thought of this myself.
"Then, if you'll make the lads ease off to starboard and port, sir,
we'll soon pack a row of these here little bales between 'em. Or look
here, sir! how would it be to bring 'em a bit amidships, and let us
begin right astarn, and build up a sort o' bulwark o' bales? They could
fire from behind it when we'd done."
"Yes, capital!" I cried, once more annoyed with myself because I, a
mere boy, had not the foresight of an experienced man.
"No, no," I cried the next moment. "How could we get at the tiller?"
"You won't want no tiller, sir; we can row aboard easy enough, once we
get out o' this fiddling little drain."
"You are right, Saunders," I said. "Go on."
All the while the men astern were keeping up a steady fire, which
certainly had one effect, that of checking the enemy's advance. And now
Saunders came aft with a bale on his head, keeping his balance
wonderfully as he stepped over the thwarts.
"Mind yer eye, Pigtail," he cried.
"Keep back! Where are you coming?" growled a man who was loading.
"Here, matey," cried Saunders; and he plumped the bale down right across
the stern.
"Hooroar!" cried Tom Jecks, stepping behind it, and resting his rifle on
the top.
No more was said, the men easing off out of the way as bale after bale
was brought and planted in threes, so that when six had been placed
there was a fine breast-work, which formed a splendid protection for
those in the stern, and this was added to, until we were fairly safe
from enemies behind. But once more we could hear them creeping nearer
through the bushes on our right; the firing grew more dangerous, and
there was nothing for it, I felt, but to order every man in the two
boats to take his piece, shelter himself behind the bales, and help to
beat the enemy back.
It was a sad necessity, for I knew that the tide was falling very fast,
and that before long we should be immovable; but to have kept on
shifting the load and allow the enemy to get close in over our heads on
the densely-clothed sides of the stream would, I knew, be madness; and
the men showed how they appreciated the common-sense of the order by
getting at once under cover, and then the sharp rattle of our fire was
more than doubled.
But, enraged by their defeat, and doubly mortified to find that we had
discovered their treasure, the pirates seemed now to have cast aside
their cowardice, and were creeping in nearer and nearer, yelling to each
other by way of encouragement; and, in addition to keeping up an
irregular fire, they strove, I suppose, to intimidate us by beating and
making a deafening noise on gongs.
"They will be too much for us," I thought, when we seemed to have been
keeping up the struggle for hours, though minutes would have been a more
correct definition; and, with the longing for help and counsel growing
more and more intense, I was about to kneel down and speak to Mr
Reardon, and ask him to try and save himself.
But I started to my feet, for there was a louder yelling than ever, and
the pirates made quite a rush, which brought them abreast of us.
"Cutlasses!" I cried; and there was the rattle made in fixing them,
bayonet fashion, on the rifles, when--_boom_!--_thud_!--came the roar of
a heavy gun; there was a whistling shrieking in the air, and then
somewhere overhead an ear-splitting crash, followed by the breaking of
bushes and trampling down of grass and bamboo.
Then perfect silence, followed by a cheer from our men.
"Well done, _Teaser_!" shouted Tom Jecks.
It was a diversion which, I believe, saved us, for the enemy fled for
some distance, and gave us time to go on lightening the foremost boat.
But before we had been at work many minutes there was a cheer from close
at hand, and upon our answering it, another and another, with splashing
of oars, and the next minute I heard Mr Brooke's voice from beyond the
first boat.