They were examining the face of the cliff, holding the lantern up to
find the cause of the noises, and as we were lying in the grass on the
other side of the path they never even saw us.
As they passed, Jones and the Commander jumped up and sprang at them.
One gave a funny hoot like an owl--it was the Commander's man, I think.
The man Jones tackled never made a sound except a gurgle, and both went
down like stones. I seized the lantern as it fell and blew it out,
whilst they dragged the two Chinamen into the long grass.
Jones's man seemed to be giving the most trouble, so I tore up a handful
of coarse grass and stuffed it in between his jaws. Then, Jones holding
him by the neck all the time, I unwound a long sash or belt he had round
his waist and bound his arms. Jones bound his feet together with his
knife lanyard, and he lay perfectly still like a log, not making a
sound.
[Illustration: THE COMMANDER AND JONES OVERPOWER THE TWO SENTRIES]
Then I crept over to help the Commander, but his man was as limp as a
rag, and it was an easy job to gag him and secure his arms and legs.
"Now for the boat, boys," whispered the Commander, and we crawled to the
landing-place, keeping well down so as not to show up in the light from
the fire. We wriggled along, got hold of the boat's painter, hauled the
boat alongside, and slid over the side into her.
There was a pair of oars in the boat and some rude rowlocks, but good
enough. I was just going to shove her off into the stream when the
Commander gave a chuckle, as if he had had a sudden inspiration, and
said softly: "Get her close in to the bank. That's it; now haul her
along."
We hauled hand over hand till we came opposite the spot where the two
sentries lay gagged and bound. The Commander and Jones sprang ashore,
leaving me alone in the boat, and presently reappeared out of the
darkness and bundled first one and then the other into the bottom of the
boat, both sliding down like sacks of potatoes.
We then let the boat drift down with the ebb tide, which was already
setting out strongly, till the Commander with a couple of strokes sent
her in under the bank again, where we lay in absolute darkness just
above the landing-place.
"What is he going to do?" I thought. He kept chuckling to himself, so I
knew that everything was all right; but why did he not get away as
quickly as he could? I was tremendously anxious to know, and expected
every moment that one of the fellows at the bottom of the boat would
commence yelling.
We waited there, crouched down beneath the bank, till we could hear the
guard-boat coming back. It ran alongside the other landing-stage, the
crew talking sleepily. Presently the light came down the zigzag path
again, jerking more than ever, and the steam-boat shot across into the
light of the sentry fire and bumped against our jetty. It was hooked on,
the bowman helped the European up the steps, and then, of course, the
sentries were discovered to be missing.
The flow of language was pretty strong, I can tell you, and the European
staggering about in drunken anger round that glowing fire was not a
pleasant sight. He called out to the coxswain, and that man jumped
ashore. Why he wanted him was very easy to see, for he could hardly
stand without support, and leant heavily on him. Like this the three
disappeared round the corner, and the boat was left with no one but the
stoker in her.
"Now drop alongside and board," chuckled the Commander. "You take the
helm, Jones, I'll manage the stoker, and Glover, you cast off the
ropes."
In a moment we had shot out from the bank, and were alongside the
steam-boat before the scared stoker knew we were there. The Commander
laid him out in the bottom of the boat with a crack over the head with a
stretcher he had found in the boat. Jones jumped aft, secured the
boat's painter, unhooked the stern rope, and got hold of the helm. I
sprang across her bows and unhooked the bow rope, the Commander opened
the steam-valve, the propeller flew round (it went astern for a moment,
but the Commander found the reversing-lever and threw it over for
"ahead"). I shoved her bows off for all I was worth, nearly falling
overboard doing it, and by the time I had recovered myself we were away
with the boat, and our two gagged sentries, towing behind us.
Jones steered her bows round till we were in the middle, and then I
wondered how ever we were going to find our way through the twisting
channel.
The tide was sluicing us out as fast as it had borne us in that morning.
The glare of the fire was shut out as we rushed round the corner into
the channel, into absolute pitch darkness. You could almost feel the
intense darkness, and I was horribly scared lest we should smash into a
rock, so hung on like grim death for fear of being knocked overboard.
But then the Commander stopped the engines, and we simply drifted
between the wall faces of those two forts, only standing by to shove her
off if she had hit up against anything. But we were well in the middle,
well in the grip of the current which was running like a millstream,
swinging us round and round like a cork, and all we could do was to hold
our breath and trust to being safely swept out to sea.
The only noise was the bubbling of the current, till suddenly the stoker
in the bottom of the boat let fly a most piercing yell which echoed from
side to side. The Commander was on top of him in a moment, and must
have caught him by the neck. We could see some lights moving overhead.
Somebody called out, and I jumped aft to help the Commander.
"Go back, Glover, and stoke; shove a little coal on at a time. I can
manage him, and we shall want all our steam when we get outside."
I had never done such a thing before in my life, but it wasn't difficult
to find a shovel, and I lifted the furnace door open, and by the light
of the furnace saw where the coal was stored. I threw some on, as far
back as I could, and shut up the door again, but already the alarm had
been given. On each side of us I could hear men shouting and see lights
hurrying up and down, and that one flood of light from the open door
must have just showed them where we were.
Sentries began letting off rifles, and the shouting redoubled.
We were half-way through by this time. We began to feel the motion of
the sea beneath us, and, unless they had a search-light ready, or we ran
on a rock, we were almost out of danger.
They _had_ not a search-light ready, and we _never_ ran into a rock, but
in two minutes knew by the dancing of the steam-boat and the wall of
blackness that appeared behind us that we were clear of the channel and
out at sea.
Suddenly the darkness was lit by vivid flashes and with horrid
ear-splitting bangings--the batteries commenced firing at us from both
sides of the entrance.
I was horribly frightened at first, for I thought that they must be able
to see us, but I was quite wrong--they were simply firing blindly. One
little shell hit the water behind us, and, bursting, showed us up for a
second, but nothing else came near, and in a minute or two they ceased
firing. The Commander opened out the steam, and the little steam-boat
jumped nimbly along, dancing about like a duck, and taking in a lot of
spray over her bows as she breasted a tide rip[#].
[#] Tide rip. This is a jumbling sea caused by the wind blowing against
a strong tide.
We ran out of the tide rip in a short time, and then the stoker began
groaning again, so we bound his legs and arms with rope so that he
should not jump overboard. As we were doing this a search-light began
sweeping the sea, then another from quite a different quarter, and we
knew that Mr. Parker and Mr. Lang were looking for us.
The lights swept past us once or twice, lighting us up sufficiently for
us to see each other's faces, but they were too far off for the
destroyers to spot us, and presently they switched off and we were in
darkness again.
With the danger over I began to feel how frightfully hungry and thirsty
I was, and how cold. My feet and legs were warmed by the furnace fires,
but the cold spray had soaked me through and through.
Perhaps the Commander was feeling the same, for at length he said, "I'm
not going' to stay out here all night," and told Jones to steer towards
where we had seen the nearer search-light.
I threw on some more coal. The glow of the fires did not matter now,
and we rummaged round and found a lantern, but there was no candle in
it.
Then the Commander handed me an oil-can, and I threw some of it through
the furnace door, shutting it again very quickly. There was a great
rush of smoke, and a flame shot out of the funnel three or four feet
high.
It lasted only a few seconds, however, and then I threw in another, and
then a third lot of oil.
"They've seen us, sir," Jones sang out. "One of them has hoisted
position lights." And, sure enough, two bright little lights, one above
the other, shone out.
Jones steered towards them, a search-light began sweeping round, swept
past us, came back again, and steadied itself on us for a few seconds.
We all yelled as hard as we could and blew the whistle, the light was
switched off, and in a couple of minutes the black outline of one of the
destroyers appeared as we ran alongside in her lee.
The crew cheered wildly, strong arms helped us on board, and by the
light of a lantern I saw the cheery red face of Mr. Parker and Toddles
too, of all people, looking white and scared.
They took us down below into the warm ward-room, got our things off,
wrapped us in hot blankets, and gave us food.
Pat Jones was brought down too, much against his will, for there was no
fire anywhere else, and we three sat and warmed ourselves and ate, till
I slid off my chair, coiled myself in a corner next the stove, too
sleepy even to answer Toddles's questions, and went to sleep. What a
sleep that was!
*CHAPTER XIX*
*Cummins Captures One Gun Hill*
Cummins will Take the Risk--A Landing-Party--Glover Lands as
A.D.C.--A Night Landing--Climbing Up-hill--We Rush the
Hilltop--The First Mistake--Preparations for Defence--We are
Discovered
When the dinghy with Commander Cummins, Glover, and the petty officer
Jones had disappeared into the gloom, "No. 3" went back to her usual
position for the night.
As dawn was breaking Mr. Parker brought her back opposite the forts, and
waited with steam raised for full speed, in order to dash off out of
range directly the Commander returned from spying out the forts. As the
shadowy, indistinct outlines of the island became clearer, and the
low-lying rocks at the entrance gradually took on a definite shape, he
and Collins looked anxiously for the return of the dinghy, but could see
no sign of it whatever.
He still maintained his position in the hope that the Commander was
lurking behind some rock, and therefore was invisible from the
destroyer, until the light gradually became so strong that he was
himself able to localize the positions of most of the guns, and almost
immediately afterwards knew by the running to and fro, and the shouting
of men in the batteries, that "No. 3" had been observed from the two
forts.
With his hand on the engine-room telegraph, Parker waited in the most
keen suspense, and it was not till the forts opened fire and twice
nearly struck "No. 3" that he recognized the uselessness of remaining
where he was, and the imminent risk of being sunk, rang for "full speed
ahead", and darted out of danger.
It was these shots which the Commander and Glover had heard from the
rocky ledge inside the harbour.
To remain anywhere near the entrance was impossible, and Parker knew
that the dinghy itself dare not put off from land in daylight, so,
trusting that the Commander would find means of concealing himself
during the day and of escaping next night, he had steamed to the
rendezvous and reported the events of the night to Captain Helston.
Helston's discomfiture was great, and his mind all the more perturbed,
because on Cummins he now undisguisedly relied for the successful
termination of his schemes, and, in his absence, was unable to suggest
any course of immediate action.
Nothing was done, though the squadron, as may be imagined, kept anxious
eyes on the entrance to the harbour during the whole day, and vainly
hoped to see the little black dinghy shoot out from the land, standing
by, with guns trained on the forts, to open fire and cover its escape.
With feelings of the greatest anxiety, anxiety shared by every officer
and man in the squadron, the bigger ships drew off again at night and
left the two destroyers to return inshore, with extra injunctions to
keep a good look-out.
The relief next morning when "No. 3" joined the rendezvous, towing the
two pirate boats and signalling that she had the Commander's party on
board uninjured, was therefore very great, and when the Commander
steamed alongside the _Laird_ in the captured steam-boat, her crew,
scenting some extraordinary adventure, broke into cheers as the little
man complacently climbed the accommodation-ladder and reported himself
to Captain Helston, who was nervously awaiting him on the quarterdeck.
They went down below immediately, whilst officers and men crowded round
the after gangway and along the side to get a view of the
steam-boat--the first trophy they had won from the pirates--and to ask
rapid questions from the blue-jackets of "No. 3", who now formed her
crew.
"We don't know nothing about it," said the temporary coxswain. "We sees
a flare, they having thrown oil on the fires, and turns our search-light
on 'em, and in a few minutes alongside she comes as cool as you
please--the Commander working the engines 'imself, Mr. Glover adoing
stoker, an' Pat Jones a-steering of 'er, with a boat be'ind 'em
chock-full o' 'arf-dead Chinamen."
"What has become of the dinghy?" somebody asked.
"It ain't come back, that's all we knows, an' ever since we've been
bobbing about in this 'ere craft on our lonesome."
Meanwhile, down in the Captain's cabin, Cummins was giving an account of
all that had happened since he had left the _Laird_. Helston's face
dropped when he mentioned the 12-inch gun mounted on the hilltop, but
the Commander with a decisive gesture and a glitter in his eyes said:
"That is the key of the whole island, sir, and I'm going to capture it
to-morrow morning if you will let me. After getting back to 'No. 3' I
took a short rest, and, an hour before sunrise this morning, put a crew
into the steam-boat, saw that they had plenty of coal and water, left
them in charge of the other boat we had captured, and went round in 'No.
3' to the south of the island, to the foot of the hill. The sea was
quite calm, and I went inshore in a Berthon boat, discovered a place
where I can land, waited till there was enough light for me to make
certain that it was possible to scale the hill-slopes, and then came
away again, without, as far as I know, being seen. I steamed back,
picked up the steam-boat and joined you. That is the reason why I am
rather late at the rendezvous. If you give me fifty men, sir, I will
scramble up and capture that gun without firing a shot.
"Risk, sir!" he continued as he saw indecision and doubt in Helston's
face; "there are no risks. At the worst I can but destroy the gun and
come back. At the best I can maintain myself there till you can
reinforce me, and then we have the whole island at our mercy. These
Chinese are not soldiers, sir, they are mere coolies, and will never
face us. The men on board the ships are probably not much better."
Cummins with all his skill had made two mistakes. The gun, as you will
learn later, did not effectively command the whole harbour, and the
coolies were not by any means to be despised.
The Commander had all his plans cut and dried. Fifty men, with two
days' rations in their haversacks, were to go aboard "No. 3" at sunset.
Two hours before sunrise next morning he would land them at the foot of
the hill, scramble up, and rush the gun. During this time "No. 2" was
to demonstrate in front of the entrance, play her search-light on the
forts, fire her guns, and distract their attention.
At daybreak the _Sylvia_ was to be close in under the foot of the hill
and be prepared to land another fifty men from the _Strong Arm_, with
the _Sylvia's_ two Maxim guns, plenty of ammunition, water, and
provisions.
If the first party did not succeed in capturing the gun, or, after
having captured it, could not maintain their ground, Cummins would fall
back under cover of the guns of the _Sylvia_ and "No. 3", destroying the
big Chinese gun, if possible, before he left.
If, however, he found himself able to maintain his position on the top
of the hill, he would signal for the _Strong Arm's_ party to land.
"Once get that gun to bear on their ships and we shall drive them out to
you, sir," he concluded, "and I have no fear of the result then."
"With a hundred men away," answered Helston doubtfully, "it may not be
so easy."
"I shall take the marines, sir; none of the big guns are manned by them,
either on board here or on board the _Strong Arm_. You know they have
complained often enough about that; but I have always had this
eventuality in my mind, and they will, therefore, not be so much missed
in a general action."
Helston paced nervously up and down his cabin. "What will happen if the
weather breaks?"
"It all depends on the weather, sir, I allow that, but such a risk one
must face, and personally I am prepared to face it. Remember that you
have but a month to capture this island."
"I know it, Cummins, I know it," replied Helston; and then turning
suddenly with some of his old fire and animation said, "I tell you what,
I'll go myself."
This was the last thing in the world that Cummins wanted.
"There'll be a lot of climbing, sir, and with your disabled arm you will
be extremely handicapped; and when I drive these fellows out to sea your
place will be aboard your ship in command of your squadron."
"Yes, yes, you are right; you always are, for the matter of that," he
added bitterly, and his voice rising as the excitement of coming action
elated him. "We shall both get our promotion. I promise you that if I
get mine you shall have yours."
Lowering his voice he added, "You said the other day, Cummins, that
there was not much chance of winning a wife here. I don't talk about
these things, but my promotion would win me a wife."
"I think mine would also, sir--I pray it would," answered Cummins in a
grave voice. Both men shook hands for a moment--dropped them--Cummins
stuffed his into his pockets--both looked foolish.
"By the way, sir," stammered the Commander confusedly, "I never told you
that one of these prisoners was dead when we took him out of the boat
last night. It was the man Jones caught around the neck. I rather fancy
young Glover, in gagging him, stuffed grass down his throat. We dropped
him overboard. Glover does not know the real cause."
"Better not tell him," said Helston.
Jenkins interrupted further conversation by announcing breakfast.
* * * * *
The news that a party was to be landed quickly spread through the
squadron, and there was intense excitement on the lower deck and the
most extraordinary rumours. The yarn spread that the Commander, Glover,
and Jones had cut their way through the whole of the pirates, disabled
the guns in the forts, killed any number of men (sometimes as few as ten
were mentioned), and after running the most awful perils had captured
the steam-boat from alongside the _Hong Lu_ and brought her and a host
of prisoners out under fire. When they knew that the Commander himself
was going in charge of the party, every man and boy wanted to go with
him, and every few minutes men would knock at his cabin door and say,
scratching their heads and shuffling their feet uneasily, "Please, sir,
begging your pardon, sir, but I'd be much obliged if you'd give me a
chance ashore, sir."
All day long the equipment of the party was being prepared, rations
stowed, water-bottles and water-breakers filled, leather gear fitted,
pouches filled with ammunition, and the thousand and one requirements of
a landing-party carefully arranged.
During the forenoon the Commander, accompanied by A Tsi, had gone across
to "No. 3" and interviewed the prisoner.
From the sentry whom he had knocked on the head (he had not throttled
him as had Jones his man) he learnt that a broad path ran right along
the crest of the hill and led straight towards the gun. As far as the
man knew--and he seemed quite willing to tell all he knew--there were no
earthworks round the gun, and no guard was left there at night.
Before he went back to the _Laird_ he asked Glover if he would care to
land with him as his "doggy", as they call a commander's A.D.C. in the
navy.
"Ra--ther," said Glover, dancing with joy, and went joyfully back with
him to the _Laird_ to make preparations, and only too delighted to be
able to relate to his chums his adventures of the last twenty-four
hours.
Later in the day he could be seen, surrounded by his admiring and
envious mess-mates, wriggling from side to side to get glimpses of
himself in the broken remnants of the looking-glass in his sea-chest
cover.
He had his haversack, water-bottle, and field-glasses slung from one
shoulder, a rolled-up blanket went round the other, a revolver holster
hung from his cartridge-belt, and a carefully sharpened cutlass (in
place of a dirk) was at his side.
Quite a formidable object he looked, and he admired what he could see of
himself immensely.
Two things marred his perfect happiness. One was, that neither Mellins
nor Toddles was going to land; the other was, that he had to leave
behind the greater part of his home-made cake.
"An ill wind that blows nobody any good," said Mellins gloomily, as he
transferred the remainder to his own chest.
* * * * *
Directly it was dark the landing-party "fell in" on the quarter-deck.
Helston made them a little speech, and then they were sent across to
"No. 3", the rest of the ship's company crowding aft to see them over
the side and wish them luck. Helston did not like the look of the
weather, and said so; Cummins did not either, but kept that to himself,
and only wanted to get away from the ship before orders were
countermanded. For once he was as nervous as a woman. Directly,
however, "No. 3" steamed away in the dark and had lost touch with the
Flag-ship, all fear and anxiety left him, and he could have whooped for
joy.
He called the men aft, said a few words to them, explained exactly what
he wanted them to do, and finished by saying: "You have ten hours to get
through aboard here. Sleep, boys, sleep all you can; you'll want it
before you've finished."
But the marines were all young men--most of them Cockneys; not one had
ever been under fire before, and the prospects of a fight at daybreak
made sleep impossible for them. In little groups they lay down wherever
they could find shelter from the cold night wind, smoking their pipes
and talking with subdued excitement.
The officers lay on the ward-room deck and tried to sleep, but even they
failed to do so.
Cummins himself was on deck practically the whole night, for the sun had
set behind a very angry-looking bank of clouds, and the breeze showed
signs of increasing and veering to the south.
A strong southerly breeze would make it almost impossible to land on the
southern shore of the island, and it was this tendency of the wind to
veer to the south'ard which gave him so much anxiety.
At two o'clock in the morning it was blowing quite fresh from the
south-west. It was raining very heavily, with strong gusts of wind, and
the outlook was most unpromising.
Parker, in dripping oil-skins, reported the barometer still falling, and
for a while Cummins almost decided to abandon the enterprise.
Fortunately the wind, an hour later, went right round to the north-west,
the stars came fitfully out, and a young moon, in the intervals of
drifting clouds, gave light enough to see occasionally the outlines of
the island.
"Carry on, Parker, the elements are with us," chuckled the Commander.
"They won't be for long, sir; the glass is still falling."
The engine-room telegraph clanged down below, the sleepy artificer
answered back, "No. 3" slowly forged ahead with two of the _Laird's_
cutters in tow, and the marines, starting to life with the movement of
the engines, knew that their hour for action was approaching.
An hour later "No. 3" had steamed round to the south of the island and
stopped her engines in the shadow of the big hill whose shoulder and
flattened top loomed darkly above her, outlined against a faint moon.
A strong, cold breeze blew down its slopes, but the sea was only gently
ruffled by it.
The first to land in the black shadows at its foot were the Commander,
Glover, and two signalmen in one of the Berthon boats. With little
danger or difficulty they reached the shore and jumped to land as the
boat tore her bottom out against the rocky beach.
A few minutes were spent in hurriedly choosing a more suitable
landing-place, and then the spot was marked by a signal lantern placed
at the water's edge behind a great rock, so that its light could not be
seen from shore.
This was the signal for the rest of the party to land, and in a few
minutes they heard the regular beat of oars, and the two cutters,
appearing out of the dark, grated up the beach. The men with their
rifles slung over their shoulders began hastily jumping ashore.
"Keep your feet dry, men, and don't hurry," said Cummins, as he saw them
jumping into the water in their excitement to be the first ashore.
The boats were hauled out of the water and then the order was given to
"fall in". They "fell in" in three little detachments--twenty Royal
Marine Light Infantry under their subaltern, a huge, jovial giant named
Saunderson; ten blue-jackets under Pattison, the late skipper of
destroyer "No. 1", who to his great joy had been taken out of the
_Sylvia_ and given another chance; and twenty Royal Marine Artillery
under their captain, Williams, a famous cricketer and Rugby player.
These artillery or Blue Marines had to bring up the rear. The light
infantry or Red Marines had to lead the party.
The blue-jackets consisted of six seamen gunners, two armourers with
tools to disable or repair the 12-inch gun, and two torpedo men with
explosives to destroy it if necessary. Besides these fifty men and
their officers there were two signalmen, Richardson, the "young doctor"
of the _Laird_, a sick-berth steward, Glover, and the Commander.
Half the men carried axes, half Wallace entrenching spades, and every
six men had a nine-gallon water-breaker to carry up between them.
Cummins went slowly from one group to another as they stood at the foot
of that hill casting hurried glances upwards, and told them that it was
two hours before sunrise, that they had two hours to get to the top,
that there was to be no hurry, and that not a word was to be spoken.
"You have to keep together, men. If any man loses touch with the rest,
make uphill; he can't go wrong."
In single file, one after another, Cummins going first, Glover sticking
to him like a leech, and the two signalmen close behind, they began to
clamber up, hauling themselves hand over hand, forcing their way through
bushes, and always keeping upward.
It was slow work, and Cummins halted, whenever a clear spot was reached,
to enable stragglers to close up. At the first halt, a quarter of an
hour after the start, the little party was silently mustered. All were
present, fifty-three men and six officers.
There had been a great deal of noise of breaking bushes, falling stones,
and muttered oaths, but the shrieking of the wind among the trees
effectually drowned it.
Presently Cummins found himself faced by an almost perpendicular cliff
and called another halt. Ten minutes--it seemed like hours--went by
before he found a way up, and the little column, bending to the left,
struggled on again.
Now the ground became more open, covered with coarse grass up to the
knees and dotted with stunted trees. Progress was more rapid.
A pheasant disturbed from sleep flew off with a "whr! whr!" which made
the men's hearts leap to their mouths. Occasionally a frightened
wood-pigeon darted from his roosting-place. Most scaring these noises
were in the pitch darkness.
Faintly, at intervals, they could now hear the dull sound of distant
firing, sometimes fast and furious, dropping again to a few single shots
at long intervals, then recurring with renewed vigour. It was Lang in
"No. 2" demonstrating outside the entrance and drawing the attention of
the forts. These were replying savagely.
Not a sound came from above except the soughing of the cold wind.
At the next halt two marines were missing. One rejoined, bruised from a
fall, but they could not wait for the second. "Who is he?" was
whispered along the line. "Bolton, a Blue Marine," was passed back from
the rear.
At the end of the first hour he was the only man missing. Some of the
water in the breakers had been spilt, a helmet or two knocked off and
lost in the darkness--that was all.
Another half-hour of slowly pushing upwards--men were breathing hard and
panting; another halt was called.
A blue-jacket had sprained his ankle, and after a hurried examination by
Dr. Richardson, two men were told off to assist him. Rifle straps were
eased, water-breakers changed hands, and leather gear adjusted.
Looking downwards towards the sea Cummins saw the first faint glimmer of
approaching dawn--far away in the east. They must push on. Bending
again to the left to keep in more open ground, they still steadily
pressed upwards.
Another halt; and the wind, lashing more savagely through the trees,
drowned any noise, and told them that now they were reaching the crest
of the hill.
Cummins went cautiously forward to reconnoitre, and reappeared, Glover
panting with excitement behind him. "I've found the path, Saunderson,"
he chuckled, and the word was passed to move on again.
Four men were now missing besides Gunner Bolton, but there was no time
to wait; already objects were becoming more visible, and daylight was
fast approaching.
In another two minutes they were in the open, on a broad, well-beaten
track, and a subdued "Oh! oh!" of excitement ran along the men.
The column pressed on rapidly, turning to the right uphill, and walking
in the grass at the side of the path to make less noise. Every moment
the men expected to be fired upon, and were already beginning to unsling
their rifles as their excitement and nervousness increased.
As they turned a corner an angry gust of wind, blowing up from the
harbour below, dashed cold rain in their faces--still not a sound in
front except the weird noises of the wind as it swept through the trees.
Some of the youngsters were beginning to get "jumpy", and one or two
began loading their rifles without orders.
Cummins caught the sound of a breech-block closing (the rifles were
Martinis, not Lee-Metfords), guessed what was happening, and knew that
someone would let off a rifle and give the whole "show" away.
He halted at once, sent Glover back with orders for every man's rifle to
be examined, and for the name of every man, found with a cartridge in
his rifle, to be taken.
This took time, but steadied the men, and whilst it was being done
Cummins crept forward, followed by Glover, and a blurred, indistinct
mass he had seen in front of him gradually shaped itself into a clump of
trees. The path dropped slightly in front of him, ran across an open
space, and then rose abruptly towards the trees.
"Our gun is up there," whispered the Commander joyously, and lay down,
coolly munching a stalk of grass, his supply of toothpicks having failed
him, and tried to make out whether there was any sign of life under the
trees.
As they lay there another gust of wind carried up from the harbour the
clattering noise of beating gongs. "Eh, boy! that's the second time
we've heard that noise," he chuckled. "Run back and bring up the men.
We are not a hundred yards from the gun."
As the men came up they were rapidly extended from left to right.
"Fix bayonets, men; not a sound--no cheering--no shooting," the order
went in whispers from man to man.
The subdued rattle of fixing bayonets ran along the line, and Glover
afterwards said it gave him the "shivers" to hear it.
He was lying watching the Commander, and thought he would never give the
order to charge.
He could see the indistinct outline of the gun among the trees covered
with a huge tarpaulin, and just then somebody near him whispered, "There
are people moving about there, sir," and he could actually feel the men
bracing themselves for a rush.
At last the Commander was "up", and trotting down the slope with a bit
of grass between his teeth. Glover followed, vainly trying to draw his
cutlass. The men sprang after them, breasted the rise, swept over some
level ground, and with a final rush leaped over a parapet of sand-bags,
swarmed around the gun, and found--Gunner Bolton doing "sentry-go"
backwards and forwards in rear of the gun! There was not a Chinaman to
be seen.
Some of the men simply sat down and laughed, others, furious, cried out
that "They'd been jolly well had," and that "Gunner Bolton 'ad made
fools of 'em all, 'e 'ad," and that "They would jolly well knock 'is
blooming 'ead off, that they would, next general-leave day."
"Fall in, men," sang out the Commander, with a twinkle in his eye. "You
shall have plenty of fighting presently."
Then he sent them back for the water-breakers and armourers' stores
which they had dropped when fixing bayonets, whilst he and Williams, the
captain of marines, took a rapid survey of the position, and Pattison
and his blue-jackets commenced to overhaul the gun.
The top of the hill was flattened out into a little plateau about a
hundred yards long, sloping gently towards the harbour and then falling
abruptly into the steep side of the hill with a quite well-defined edge.
It had its back to the sea and was facing the harbour.
At the east end, the end nearest to the entrance channel, and in the
corner overlooking the sea, was the gun, an obsolete 12-inch Krupp,
mounted in a deep circular pit, and poking its muzzle over a wall of
sand-bags ten or twelve feet thick and about six feet high.
A little cluster of stunted trees hid the gun from view out at sea.
Their trunks had already been half sawn through in preparation for
felling them, and a few more strokes of the axe would bring them down.
The first thing to be done was to ascertain whether the gun could be
made ready for service, as otherwise it was useless to remain there.
Already Pattison and his men had hauled away the tarpaulin covering its
massive breech, and were rapidly examining the mounting and training
gear.
"Rough and clumsy, sir, but we shall be able to train her round all
right," he reported.
Magazines had been tunnelled out through the side of the gun-pit down
into the ground, and the doors were closed with padlocks. These were
wrenched off, and Pattison reported plenty of ammunition. In a corner
he found boxes of friction-tubes and fuses.
His men also found the ropes and blocks to be used in training the gun.
They were brought out, made fast to the great gun-carriage at one end
and to huge steel rings sunk in the concrete foundations at the other, a
dozen sturdy Blue Marines "clapped on" to the ropes, and with Cummins
standing on the sighting-platform the ponderous mass was slowly, and
with many jerks, trained across the harbour.
It was then that the Commander realized his first mistake.
From that sighting-platform he could look down towards the sea, but the
other edge of the plateau shut out all view of the harbour. It was now
light enough for him to make out "No. 3" below him, but, looking inland,
the flat top of the hill prevented him from seeing anything except the
high land on the opposite side of the island, across the harbour.
His calculations had been made from that ledge of rock on which he,
Glover, and Jones had hidden all the previous day. He had forgotten
that they were then sixty or more feet above the harbour level, and had
not dreamt that from the water's edge the gun itself was not visible.
To destroy the gun and get back to the _Laird_ was his first thought,
and he called for Pattison to jump up with him.
Pattison's face dropped as he, too, saw that fifty yards of hilltop were
in between him and the pirate ships he had hoped to sink.
Suddenly Cummins turned to him with a suggestion. "How about
half-charges--eh? A pinch of powder will 'flop' them down there--eh?"
"We might try, sir."
"They won't be very accurate at first, Pattison, but we'll improve--eh?"
"Right you are, sir, I'll manage that."
"We'll ferret them out before the day is over," he chuckled again, and
looking down behind him he saw the _Sylvia_ looming in towards the
shore.
"For once Bannerman is up to time. We'll have the _Strong Arm's_ up
here in a couple of hours or so."
He sent the signalmen down the hill to communicate with the _Sylvia_ and
to order the second party to land immediately, and then he and Williams
made plans for placing the top of the hill in some state of defence.
"We shall have them round us like flies when once they find us sitting
up here," Cummins said.
Fortunately for them, the enemy had evidently intended to mount a second
gun, had indeed already marked out the site for its gun-pit, and had
prepared hundreds of sand-bags to defend it. These lay scattered in
heaps on the plateau, and were now used for making breastworks.
Williams and Saunderson hurriedly marked out the positions in which they
were to be built, and the marines, piling arms, and stacking their
greatcoats and blankets in a heap, "set to" with a will to haul the
sand-bags over to the edges.
"Safer to send some men out in the long field, I think, sir," said
Captain Williams, the cricketer, and ordered his taciturn
sergeant-major--a martinet named Haig--to select two of the older men as
sentries and place them, one along the path the column had just
followed, and another down the face of the hill, on the zigzag path up
which the Commander and Glover had seen the coolies carrying ammunition.
"'Square leg' and 'long on'--eh?" chuckled the Commander.
"Yes, sir, I think they will be enough for the present."
The first breast-work was to be built at the narrow end of the plateau
farthest from the gun-pit.
It commanded the crest of the hill over which the little party had made
its final rush, and the path they had followed ran along this ridge,
dipping down for two hundred yards, and then rising steeply to the
bush-covered knoll, on top of which they had extended and fixed
bayonets.
One of Sergeant Haig's sentries (Williams's "square leg" man) was
already standing in the gap made by the path as it disappeared into the
dense bushes, and it was evident that an attacking force could take
splendid cover there, and could sweep the greater part of the plateau
with rifle fire.
This breast-work was therefore built right across the narrow end of the
plateau, sand-bag was piled on sandbag till it was nearly three feet
high, and as the men had hauled some great logs of timber across from
the gun-pit to strengthen it, they called it eventually the "Log
Redoubt", making loopholes in it for their rifles.
The bush-covered knoll in front of them they named "Bush Hill", and few
will ever forget it.
Some of the men dragged sand-bags to the edge of the plateau,
overlooking the harbour, to form two low breast-works, one on each side
of the zig-zag path, as it led up to the gun-pit.
For twenty yards in front of these two breast-works the steep hillside
was bare, but below this the whole hill down to the pirate village,
which they could see at the bottom gradually becoming distinct as
daylight increased, was covered with small trees and dense brushwood,
through which the zigzag path wound its way upwards.
Men lying behind these sand-bags were somewhat protected by the Log
Redoubt from rifle fire from Bush Hill, so Williams contented himself
with raising them only two sand-bags high.
These being roughly completed, more sand-bags were dragged to the
opposite end of the plateau, and a little redoubt constructed fifty
yards beyond the gun-pit. From here fire could be directed along the
farther ridges, which were devoid of cover and sloped steadily
downwards, and also down both the harbour and sea slopes of the hill.
Sergeant Haig and nine Blue Marines were given charge of this work, and
so it was known as "Haig's Redoubt".
Saunderson and his twenty Red Marines were told off to man the harbour
breast-works, and Williams and his remaining ten Marine Artillerymen
were to hold the Log Redoubt.
Every man was told off to his own special loophole, and each man laid
his rifle and greatcoat on the ground behind it, the precious
water-breakers were taken into the gun-pit, and the men's blankets,
covered with the gun tarpaulin, were piled to form a little "zareba" in
the middle of the plateau.
Meanwhile the signalmen had returned, bringing back two of the
stragglers, and reported that the _Strong Arm's_ party were already
landing from the _Sylvia_.
It was broad daylight now, and presently the remaining two stragglers
came into camp, looking very much ashamed of themselves.
For an hour both officers and men had worked like horses, and all this
time the cold wind swept up to them the noises of the waking town at
their feet--the dull drumming of Chinese gongs and the clanging of the
ships' bells--but nothing else disturbed their work till suddenly the
raucous shriek of a steam hooter startled them.
"That is the signal to start work. The coolies will be up here in half
an hour," chuckled the Commander.
"What are you going to do when they do come up?" asked Williams. "If we
caught them and prevented them from carrying the news back it would be a
good thing. Every few minutes is valuable."
"All right, Williams, we'll try."
Then a signalman reported that the second party had already commenced
the ascent, bringing with them the _Sylvia's_ two Maxim guns.
At the same moment the sentry on the zigzag path below came running up.
"Please, sir, there are fifty or sixty natives coming up from the town."
Cummins ordered everyone to conceal himself. "Don't any of you move
till I sound a whistle."
Five minutes later they could hear the merry chatter of the coolies as
they climbed up towards the gun, and the foremost of them appeared out
of the trees in the open path below them. Something made them
suspicious; they stopped and pointed upwards, jabbering rapidly. Then a
young fool of a marine raised his head to look over the breast-work
behind which he was lying, and, in a panic, they all took fright, threw
down their tools, and scampered down hill as fast as their legs could
carry them.
"Heaps of time," said Cummins gently; "we'd better go to breakfast.
'Place your field' again, Williams," he chuckled, "and we'd better have
a couple of people at 'point' and 'cover point' as well--eh?"
Breakfast of ship's biscuit and corned beef, washed down with a "pull"
from the water-bottles, lasted ten minutes, and then everyone set to
work again.
Williams suggested that they had better start lopping down the bushes
below Saunderson's two breast-works.
"It would give us a better chance if they tried to rush us, sir."
"Now, lads," sang out the Commander, "get your axes and knives and cut
down the bushes in front of you--make a clear sweep of them."
They started hacking and cutting, and in half an hour had cleared three
or four yards along their front, when suddenly, bang! went a shell,
bursting just below them, and the fragments went shrieking overhead.
Every man "ducked", then ran back up the slope, seized his rifle, and
lay down behind his own breast-work.
"Whew!" whistled the Commander, "that is their game, is it?"
*CHAPTER XX*
*The Fight for One Gun Hill*
We Must have Oil--Under Shell Fire--The Pirate Guns are
Silenced--The First Attack--Hopkins Wounded--The "Strong Arm's"
Arrive--The Oil Party Cut Off--A Momentary Respite--The Second
Mistake--The Oil is Rescued--The Big Gun Fires
That first shell was quickly followed by two more, both of which burst
below among the bushes. A fourth sang overhead, going out to sea.
Williams, Saunderson, Cummins, and the two signalmen searched through
their glasses and tried to find the guns that had fired. The shells
came two or three a minute--one burst near the men's blankets and
covered the tarpaulin with dirt, another crushed through the trees
without bursting.
"I see them, sir," yelled one of the signalmen; "right over there, sir,
under those trees;" and he pointed in the direction. As they all
followed his hand, outstretched towards some trees on a hill, on the
other side of the harbour, overlooking the low ground near the outlet
channel, they saw two little spurts of flame shoot out from beneath
them. Two little thin clouds of grey smoke drifted out of sight, and
almost immediately a shell burst three hundred yards in front of the
breast-works, high up in the air, and sent down a hail of bullets into
the bushes; the other flew overhead.
"Shrapnel," muttered Saunderson, and, seeing Glover looking nervously
from one to another, added, "I wish I wasn't so immense. Hi! Glover,
come and stand in front of me."
Another shrapnel tore up the ground in front of the breast-work. One or
two of the men were covered with dust. They all tried to wriggle
themselves into as small a space as possible.
The non-commissioned officers had at first lain down with their men, but
now, seeing their officers standing behind them, rose sheepishly on one
knee, one after another. Saunderson's sergeant (Wilkins by name) stood
upright, walked up to Saunderson, saluted, and said, "Beg pardon, sir,
it shall not occur again," marched stiffly back to his men, and stood
there like a statue.
"It's pretty hard luck on these youngsters to come under shrapnel fire
before they are used to rifle fire," Saunderson said to the Commander.
"If I once lay down behind a sand-bag, nothing in this world would
induce me to get up again. I think I should give them something to do,
sir. They are not old soldiers."
The Commander told Glover to ask Captain Williams to speak to him.
Glover bolted off, only too glad to have anything to do, gave his
message, and ran back.
"Never run, boy; you are apt to get overheated," chuckled Cummins.
Poor young Glover looked fearfully ashamed of himself and grew as red as
a tomato.
Williams was of the same opinion. "Let them go on cutting down the
brushwood, sir."
Cummins nodded assent, and the necessary orders were given, the
sergeants repeated them, with many flowery additions, and the men
nervously rose to their knees and in a very half-hearted way prepared to
obey.
"Leave your rifles, you fools!" shouted Sergeant Wilkins. "There are no
niggers to shoot you. Get out of it, all of you!"
Once they got to work, spread out at wide intervals, they became less
nervous, and Blue Marines and Red Marines vied with each other as to
which should clear the wider space.
Williams and Saunderson worked among their men in the bushes, whilst
Cummins sat on the sand-bag breastwork, Glover nervously hovering round
him, and Dr. Richardson lying down by his side, waiting for a job.
Every now and then shells burst on the plateau, but it was evident that
most of them were directed towards the gun, and Pattison and his men
were having a very warm time of it.
Presently Pattison came across from the gun-pit to where the Commander
was sitting, saluted, and told him in a very low voice that the recoil
cylinders of the gun were empty, and that he could find no oil. The
gun, of course, could not be fired with empty recoil cylinders. It
would probably have toppled over into the sea.
Cummins did not reply for some time, and his face grew very stern. "We
must get oil from the ships," he said at length, and sent a signalman to
find out from the _Sylvia_ whether the whole of the second party had
already left the beach. "They are already a quarter of the way up," the
signalman reported.
"Well, I cannot send them back now. I must get Bannerman to send me a
dozen hands with a couple of oil-drums, and"--his eyes twinkling
again--"I'll tell you what I will do. I will send Parker round to
engage those guns. I believe he could reach them over that low ground."
He sang out for the signalman.
"Excuse me, sir," interrupted Pattison, "I should suggest that you ask
Commander Bannerman to go round and shell those guns with his
12-pounders, and order Parker to send up the oil. I have been aboard
the _Sylvia_ for three weeks, and I think that Commander Bannerman will
be more inclined to engage those guns than to spare a dozen men to carry
up oil. Parker, sir, you know; I do not think you know Commander
Bannerman."
The two men looked at each other in a strange way for a few moments.
Cummins smiled grimly, called for the signalman, and wrote down:
"Commander Cummins's compliments to Captain Bannerman, and would he
steam off the low land to the west and engage two guns on the hill
behind. They are seriously annoying him."
"Will that do, Pattison?" he asked, smiling bitterly.
"I think so, sir."
"And, signalman, also make to Mr. Parker from me, 'Send four drums of
oil--urgent'."
The signalman ran hurriedly off to make the semaphore, but before he
could cross the plateau a shell burst overhead, and he fell headlong.
The second signalman, at a nod from Cummins, darted out and picked up
the paper with the signals on it, and jumped down the side of the hill
overlooking the sea.
Dr. Richardson and his sick-berth steward ran forward, bent over the
prostrate man, picked him up, and carried him behind the gun-pit out of
fire.
Pattison and Glover helped them.
They came back immediately, Glover white as a sheet.
"He is dead, sir," reported Dr. Richardson; "the top of his skull was
carried away."
"Cover him up and get him out of sight of the others," said Cummins
slowly; "and, Richardson, I must insist on your remaining under cover."
"Very good, sir;" and Dr. Richardson went away to take shelter behind
the gun-pit parapet.
Back came the remaining signalman with the replies: "Captain Bannerman
will have much pleasure in supporting Commander Cummins, and will engage
the two guns which are annoying him ".
Cummins tore it up contemptuously.
The second was from Parker: "Oil is being sent with utmost despatch".
Pattison asked for orders. He could do no more with the gun, and was
told to finish cutting down those trees--"They are probably aiming at
them as much as at the gun." A few minutes went past, and then two
marines came staggering up--one with blood flowing from his head,
another with his arm limp at his side. A shrapnel had burst short.
They fell down inside the breast-work, and Cummins sent them over to Dr.
Richardson.
They crawled across.
Then the sentries down below on the zigzag path came running back.
"Hundreds of men are coming up, sir; they look like sailors, sir."
Cummins was perfectly prepared for this news, because half an hour ago
he had seen a commotion among the cruisers in the harbour at his feet,
and boats pulling to and from shore, and had guessed that they were
landing sailors.
"The only people they can rely upon," he thought, and told Glover to ask
Captain Williams to bring his men back.
"No hurry, Glover," as Glover, wild with excitement, was rushing off.
"Wish to goodness I had never brought that boy," he muttered to himself.
"If he gets bowled over his cousin will give me my marching orders like
a shot. I am sure she will.
"Plucky little fellow, too," he continued, as Glover came slowly back,
alongside the huge Saunderson, at the head of his men.
As they came up the slope a shell burst among them, and the smoke hid
Glover and Saunderson for a moment, but the wind carried it away, and
they reappeared, Saunderson steadying his men with a backward sweep of
his arm.
"That's better, sir," he said to Cummins, his face glowing with pride as
the Red Marines stepped quietly over the breast-work and lay down
along-side their rifles. "Got 'em in hand all right now, sir."
And Williams's Blue Marines were just as well in hand, threw down their
axes, and took their places without the least fuss or confusion--half of
them in Sergeant Haig's redoubt, half of them with Captain Williams
behind the Log Redoubt. A minute or two passed, and then a few
blue-coated Chinese came into sight, and a little crowd of them halted
at an open corner of the zigzag path, then rapidly deployed into the
bushes on each side.
The men lying on the extreme right of the breast-work also caught sight
of them, and without orders began easing off their rifles.
The whole line would have been blazing away in another minute, firing
blindly into the bushes beneath them, if Saunderson, his face red with
rage, had not bounded across and stopped them. Cummins chuckled.
As it was, their few shots made the Chinese scatter still more rapidly,
and they vanished to cover without firing a shot.
Then came the most trying time of all, and it tested the young marines'
endurance to the utmost. The two guns were firing rapidly, shells were
screaming past, shells were bursting on the slope in front of them and
on the plateau behind them. Every now and again a little white ball of
smoke burst with a dull "puff" overhead, and a hailstorm of shrapnel
bullets came splashing down. They knew, too, that the Chinamen were
creeping up unseen through the bushes, and they could do nothing but
wait.
The intense tension of suspense was still further increased by the
sentry on the crest path running back from that gap in the bushes with a
scared face.
Another party was advancing along the path they had followed in the
morning, and almost before he had reported this, shots from Bush Hill
came whipping past, and then from the slopes below a furious fire burst
out, the bullets fortunately flying wildly.
Cummins sang out for the signalman. "Go back and signal to Mr. Parker,
'Am attacked in front and left flank. I expect you to keep my rear
open'," and turning to Saunderson, who was standing near him, "Eh!
Saunderson, you make me nervous standing up; I wish you'd lie down."
"I will when you do, sir."
"But I can't, you know," Cummins said, with a silly chuckle.
"For goodness' sake keep moving, then, sir," the giant answered
nervously, as several bullets flew past, and one struck the sand-bag on
which Cummins was sitting.
Cummins dug it out with his finger. It was a small-bore Mauser bullet.
"Hullo! that's capital!" he cried, jumping to his feet, as a faint
report came from the extreme left, and a shell burst among the trees
from which the two guns had been firing. "Bannerman's got round at
last."
The men saw it too, and gave a joyful cheer of relief.
"Now, lads," he sang out cheerily, "you won't be bothered with those
shells, and these Chinese can't hit a haystack. Save your cartridges,
and never fire till you are sure of hitting. The _Strong Arm's_ will be
here with their Maxims in another hour, so don't waste a shot."
With the dreaded shells silent, the men settled down more confidently
and fired very seldom, and once or twice a yell of pain below told them
that a cartridge had not been wasted.
The bullets were going past in great numbers--ping-ping! flick-flick!
Occasionally one struck the ground with a puff of dust, or struck a
stone or an axe and went whistling away, twisted out of shape. Every
now and again one buried itself in a sand-bag with a thud, but most of
them were high overhead. Evidently the Chinese were too undisciplined
to take aim.
Still, it was a sufficiently awkward position, with three or four
hundred men attacking from below, and probably as many on the left,
concealed among those bushes opposite the Log Redoubt.
Cummins had only forty-eight men left, and though they were well in hand
and were steadying every minute, the odds were sufficiently serious.
He was perhaps not so anxious about himself as for the second party,
which was now reported by "No. 3" as being more than half-way up the
hill. If the Chinese attacked them whilst they were struggling through
the thick undergrowth, encumbered with the two Maxims, ammunition, and
provision-boxes, it would go hard with them. Once they joined him with
their machine-guns, he was confident of holding his ground till the oil
arrived and enabled him to fire the big Krupp. His right flank, too,
gave him little concern, for it was comparatively open in that
direction, and gave no shelter for an attacking force; and so long as
"No. 3" could sweep the sea-slope of the hill, he did not worry about
his rear.
But could "No. 3" do so?
The wind, which had been blowing strongly from the north-west, was
already beginning to veer again to the south, and was increasing rapidly
in strength, and Cummins knew only too well that neither "No. 3" could
remain near the foot of the hill, nor the _Sylvia_ near enough to the
low land to smother those two field-guns if the wind remained in that
quarter and brought in a heavy sea.
Unsupported by the ships, he recognized that his position would be
precarious in the extreme.
If, too, the _Strong Arm's_ party followed his route of the night
before, they would run right into the Chinese massed on his flank.
Fortunately he could communicate with them through "No. 3", and
signalled directions for them to incline to their right and make for the
shoulder of the hill on the eastern or gun-pit side of the top.
It took twenty minutes to get the signal to them and to get a reply, and
it was a great relief to him when the signalman reported that the
_Strong Arm's_ landing-party had received the signal and were already
altering their course.
"The oil is also on its way up," was the signalman's welcome news.
"I don't know what we should do without you, Gordon," the Commander
said; "keep under cover as much as you can."
A marine now came hurriedly over to the Commander with a message from
Captain Williams.
"He thinks, sir, that they are gathering for a rush beyond those
bushes," pointing along the crest towards Bush Hill.
Cummins went across to the Log Redoubt, and found Williams scanning the
bushes beyond him through his glasses.
"They are gathering pretty thickly behind there, sir, and I think I can
make out a couple of Europeans."
Cummins could see them too, and he sent Glover to Mr. Pattison to tell
him to bring his men out of the gun-pit. They swarmed over the parapet
and came flying across the level ground, and lay down in the grass on
the right of the Log Redoubt.
"They are using Mauser rifles, sir," said Williams.
"Yes, I know. How do you know?"
Williams held up his left arm, his handkerchief tied around the wrist
and red with blood. "Two tiny holes slap bang through."
"Bones broken?" the Commander asked anxiously.
"I don't think so," Williams said, adding, as the most awful shrieks and
yells came from the bushes--"they are trying to frighten us and getting
up courage to rush across, but I think we can stop them in the open.
Steady, men, don't waste a shot, and fire low. Loosen your belts, men,
and see your ammunition clear."
Each of the ten Blue Marines loosened a couple of packets and laid them
in little piles at his right-hand side.
A wild crackle and splutter of rifle firing rang out--another hideous
yell. Two Europeans sprang into the open, and a crowd of blue-coated
Chinamen followed them and began rushing madly across.
"Now, men, you can't miss them; fire low, fire low, and take aim. Take
aim, can't you?" (this to a young marine who was shoving in cartridges
and pulling the trigger almost at the same time).
Seven or eight fell before they had gone as many yards, but still they
came on, the Europeans well ahead.
They covered a hundred yards, and now they were coming up the rise, the
ground behind them dotted with little blue heaps.