'On to him,' shouted David. 'I'll see to the other.'
His hand dipped into his pocket swiftly, and reappeared with his magazine pistol. Before the flame had quite died out, or the Chinaman could reach him, he pressed the trigger, and caught a glimpse of the fellow as he doubled up like a rabbit, and crashed to the boards. A second later he was swept from his feet by Ho Hung and the Chinaman, who had by now reached the foot of the ladder.
If ever there were a time when David felt inclined to lose his head and act in an aimless manner, it was at this very moment, when he was swept from his feet by the fall of Hung and the villain who had grappled with him. Tumbled on the deck with a crash, he stretched out his hands to help himself to rise, and, instead of feeling his fingers fall upon the boards, realised at once that they had come in contact with a man. He pounced on the fellow, and after gripping his arms, he shifted his fingers to the neck. A growl of vexation escaped him.
'He's the other fellow. The chap I shot a moment ago. Call this acting steadily?' he asked himself fiercely. 'Where's Hung? What's he doing?'
It was useless to ask the question, for the sound of a violent scuffle at his feet, and the fact that he was again nearly felled to the deck provided sufficient answer to any but the most unintelligent. Obviously Hung was locked in the arms of one of the enemy, and in the darkness who could say who was the victor? Then that coolness which David had momentarily lost, and which was so essential under such circumstances, returned to him like a flash. He dropped his pistol into his pocket, extracted a box of matches and struck one.
'Now,' he thought, 'we shall see how matters are going. Ah! another of the fellows.'
The many faces of which he had caught a glimpse a little while before filling the dark square of the hatchway were blotted out by the figure of a Chinaman sliding down the ladder, while the light was reflected brightly from almost a yard of steel that was gripped between the newcomer's teeth. In a second or two he would be at the bottom of the ladder, and then, even if David wished to help Hung, he would be unable to. It was just one of those acute moments when instant decision is necessary, and immediate action, consequent on that decision, of vital importance. We have said that David Harbor was assailed but a minute earlier by one of those strange panics which come to the best of men, to the very bravest. Who knows? perhaps his meeting with the burglars in the store so close to Bond Street had in a measure unnerved him; or even, though his healthy colour and obvious robustness gave the lie direct to the suggestion, he was not yet entirely recovered from his injury sustained in that memorable conflict with Henricksen and his accomplices. Whatever the cause, David had without a shadow of doubt been on the verge of losing his head and his coolness entirely within a few seconds of Hung's arrival to help him. Perhaps the shame he felt immediately afterwards helped him now to behave in the coolest possible manner, and with a promptness that was commendable. Seeing the Chinaman just at the foot of the ladder, he tossed the match to the floor, and stepping forward seized the man round the waist. Then he lifted him from his feet as if he weighed a mere nothing, and using all his strength threw him across the alley-way. The crash had hardly died away when he had another match burning.
'Now we will run to the cabin, Excellency,' he heard Hung say, and turning towards him he saw the gallant fellow standing within a foot of him, a long knife in one hand, and the staff which he had carried at the foot of the ladder. Also the light showed the hatchway above, with its gallery of staring faces, and a huddled figure at Hung's feet. As for the man David had tackled, he lay in a heap against the bulkhead, stunned and helpless after such a rough experience.
'Lead the way,' commanded David, promptly. 'I'll bring the ladder with me. Stand aside, and let us have another match.'
He gripped the sides of the steep ladder leading from the hatchway, and, as Hung fumbled for a match, tore it from its flimsy fastenings. Then he pointed down the alley-way, and seeing Hung advance, slid along after him. Nor was their retreat undertaken a moment too soon. For as David stepped away from the hatchway a dozen more heads were suddenly shown there, standing out dimly against the starlight. Men shouted and bellowed, while one yellow ruffian slid a long, skinny arm downwards, took hasty aim, and pulled the trigger of a huge horse pistol. The concussion in the narrow alley-way deafened our hero, though the bullet did not touch him—for it was as big almost as a pigeon's egg—and crashing against the deck planks, it bored a hole clean through them. The smoke which belched from this antique weapon formed an excellent screen, behind which Hung and his companion were able to cloak their movements.
'You follow closely, Excellency,' David heard the Chinaman say. 'Not safe to strike more matches, for some of the men may have dropped through the hatchway and will fire at us. Follow closely, and bring the ladder. Our friends are within short distance of us.'
'And they have warned the others?' asked David. 'They have made some preparation to hold the enemy?'
'That I cannot say,' came the swift answer. 'But Jong is cunning, while the others will have obeyed his Excellency's orders. Ah! we have arrived. Hist! we are coming towards you.'
In the black darkness at the end of the alley-way a faint sound was heard, as if some one had sharply closed the lid of a metal match-box, though as a matter of fact it was the cocking of a pistol held in Dick's hands. Then the light from a lantern was thrown for one brief instant in David's direction, showing the walls of the alley-way, Hung's hurrying figure, and ahead of him a huge square mass, covered in sacking. Dick's cheery voice broke the silence immediately.
'Cheer oh! David!' he cried. 'What news? We were beginning to get the fidgets about you. Thought those fellows might have bagged you altogether. What's happened?'
'Heaps,' came the laconic answer. 'Just let me get past this bale and take a breather. I've never been so scared in all my life.'
There was a savage note in his voice, a note altogether foreign to David, and hearing it Dick realised that something altogether out of the common had happened.
'Come and sit down on the deck beside me,' he said. 'You can go up into the cabin later. I've sent word to say you were arriving. What's upset you?'
'Look here,' David blurted, turning upon him, 'would you feel yourself if you had been within an inch of proving a funk, of running away with your tail between your legs? Would you? Eh? That's the question.'
'Depends,' came the cautious answer. 'Perhaps there was reason for getting funked. I tell you I was at first when you woke me. Well? What's all the bother?'
'I'll tell you,' said our hero, feeling somewhat relieved and in better favour with himself, now that he heard Dick admit to the fact that he himself had been scared. 'I met our men at the bottom of the hatchway, and sent them on various errands. Then, as I watched from the top of the ladder a beggar threw himself on me, and we both went crash to the bottom. A second fellow followed, and then a third, whom Hung tackled. Well, I stunned my first man, and knocked the breath out of the second. I could feel Hung scuffling with his man in the darkness, and I tell you I nearly bolted. I got into a panic, and might very well have fired in all directions. Gurr! It makes a fellow ashamed of himself.'
Dick roared with laughter, till a sharp command from the cabin above stopped him. 'You do amuse me, David,' he said, dropping his voice to a whisper. 'Stun one man, knock the wind out of another, and then get scared. As if a fellow hadn't a right to be, after such an experience; but what happened then?'
'Pulled myself together, I suppose; did the only sensible thing under the circumstances. I struck a match, and only just in time. There was another beggar at the foot of the ladder, with a whole heap staring through the hatchway. I bet I shook that last rascal. I heaved him across the alley-way as if he were a box, and I should say that he's hardly fit to move yet awhile. Talk about collaring a chap out of the scrum, or getting a quick man extra well when coming all out down the field—that Chinaman don't need to fear a game of footer in the future. He'll never be collared or slung harder. Well, there you are: Hung had finished his man with the most murderous knife you ever saw, while I ended the matter for the moment by tearing the ladder away; but they won't be long in coming after us. What have you done?'
'Half-blocked the alley-way near the bottom of our hatchway with bales of cotton, leaving room for you to come through. Jong's been shoving others into position since. Beyond that I've done nothing; the Professor and Alphonse have been watching the door of the cabin.'
'Then supposing we show that lamp again,' said David. 'If all's clear I'll hop up and report progress, then I'll get leave to come down to you. There'll be a ruction in this neighbourhood before many minutes.'
Dick reached for the dark lantern from the corner in which he had placed it, and turned the slide swiftly, showing first the figures of Jong, of Hu Ty, and Lo Fing crouching behind the barrier erected in the alley-way. Then he flashed the light over the top of the bales of cotton, and illuminated the alley-way beyond. The rays fell upon a dozen eager faces, upon a mass of half-clad men hemmed in the narrow place, and was reflected from a number of brandished weapons. A deafening shout greeted the appearance of the lantern, and the bales it showed barring the progress of the attacking party. Then the same lean, skinny arm which had dropped from the other hatchway, and had fired a horse pistol, jerked itself into a horizontal position, a crashing report filled the alley-way, while a bullet roared between the heads of Dick and David, and thundered against the woodwork behind. Hidden by the eddying smoke the Chinese pirates struggled forward and threw themselves with fury upon the barrier behind which lay the Professor's slender party.
'Excellency, we will see to those men for a time,' said Hung, as the mass of Chinese pirates crowding in the dark alley-way came charging forward. 'The bales of cotton will hold them in check, and a knife will be easier to use in such crowded quarters. But bring the lamp; hold it above our heads, so that the rays do not fall upon us, but upon the enemy.'
He gabbled the words at such a rate that David could scarcely follow his meaning, nor Dick either. But Jong came rapidly to the rescue, stopping for a while on his way to the barrier.
'Him tink you speakee and understandee ebelyting, Excellencies,' he said, smiling as if the fact amused him, and as if the affair in hand was a mere nothing. 'Hong say, supposee you comee along, leavee de fight altogeder to us Chinaboys. Yo hold de light high, so as to shine on de enemy only. Soon kill all dem men.'
He was wonderfully confident, and now went forward at a run. Meanwhile the other three Chinamen had reached the immediate neighbourhood of the barrier, which was placed some four yards along the alley-way, leaving, therefore, ample room for the defenders to stand at the foot of the ladder leading to the cabin above. At once Dick snatched up the lantern, while David dragged his magazine pistol from his pocket.
'Come along,' he shouted, for the din in this confined space was appalling. 'I think I know a trick that'll trouble them. Get along with the lantern, and hold it up at arm's length. I'll make use of the ladder I took from along there, and get well above our fellows; then I shall be able to shoot down into the enemy. Ain't they kicking up a row?'
'Enough to deafen any one; but be careful when you're roosting on that ladder. Don't forget the fellow with the pistol.'
David made a note of the warning promptly, and having reached the scene of the conflict, reared his ladder against one wall of the alley-way, leaving, however, ample room between its foot and the bales for Hong and his comrades to have free movement. Dick pushed his way right to the centre of the barrier, and finding a foothold on the edge of a low case, which formed the base of the obstruction, stepped on to it, and lifted the lantern at arm's length. At once he heard an exclamation of satisfaction come from their friends, for till that moment it was almost impossible for the defenders to take any action against the enemy. All they knew was that the latter were slashing and tearing at the far side of the bales, and with such exertion that the whole barrier threatened to topple over. However, the lamp flung its rays forward on to the struggling mass of men, leaving the part behind the barrier in dense darkness. At once a roar of anger went up from the pirates. One thin and exceedingly active man, whose eyes seemed actually to blaze in the lamp-light, pushed his comrades back forcibly, and with a howl of rage leaped at the top of the barrier. Clutching the sacking with his fingers, and digging his bare toes into any crevice he could find, he was on the summit in a wonderfully short space of time. Then his hand sought the long knife which, as seemed to be the custom with these marauders, he carried in his mouth. He was on the point of launching himself down upon the defenders, while David had already levelled his pistol at the man, when Hung gave a loud shout.
'Stand aside, let me deal with him,' he cried, and turning swiftly, as he dropped his pistol, David was able to catch a view of the gallant fellow as he prepared for the attack. His arms were thrown back over one shoulder, and the faint light reflected from the sides of the alley-way, and from the cotton clothes of the enemy, showed that he gripped in his hands the huge staff which he had showed some minutes before to our hero. It swished through the air as Hung swung forward, and meeting the Chinaman above as he leaped downward it felled him to the deck, striking him so hard that the man never even moved once he had fallen, but lay in a heap, his limbs curled up and contorted beneath him. Then, indeed, the turmoil and the din became so great that those defenders might have been forgiven had they suddenly lost heart, and, turning tail, had rushed to the ladder, there to struggle for the right to be the first to ascend to the security of the cabin above. But Hung was no chicken. To look at Jong he loved this class of thing, for he burst into a roar of laughter as the Chinaman was struck down, while Hu Ty and his comrade crouched behind the barricade, their sallow faces flushed, their eyes dancing, eager for more active effort. But let us remember that David and Dick never once flinched. The latter had been forced to step aside, else the man who had leaped upon the barricade would have jumped down on him, and also he would have been in Hung's way. But he was back in his place now, smiling, still holding the lamp above his head, cheering madly at this first success. As for David, all his old coolness had come back to him. Perched on the ladder well above the combatants, he felt as a general does who is posted on some commanding hill from which he is able to observe every movement in a battle, and give swift orders accordingly. He shouted encouragement to Hung, and then called suddenly to all his comrades to be cautious.
'Some more men have come into the alley-way,' he said, 'and there'll be a strong rush in a moment. Keep well down below the barricade; I can see that rascal reloading his pistol.'
He handled his own weapon, for through a break in the mass of men in front he had caught a view of the skinny individual, who was possessed, by the way, of a most malevolent and ugly countenance, busily ramming a fresh charge into his ancient pistol. Through the sudden silence, which followed the downfall of the man who had attempted to scale the barricade, there came the ring of a ramrod, and now as David watched he saw the rascal pushing his way forward.
'Lie low all of you,' he called again. 'That fellow's going to fire his pistol.'
Up went his own weapon, though he did not fire, for other men as yet covered the ruffian. Suddenly the man with the pistol appeared to have caught a glimpse of the figure perched above the level of the barricade. He shouted; the same skinny arm was thrown up, and before David could realise his danger he was staring into the expanded muzzle of as murderous a weapon as could be found anywhere. Yes, murderous; for it was but ten feet away, and carried a ball like a young cannon-shot. And how it roared as the rascal pulled the trigger! A wide stream of flame spurted from the muzzle, and then such a dense cloud of smoke that the alley-way, the men within it, even the barricade was swallowed up. Moreover, the bullet as near as possible put an end to this narrative, and to the quest of David Harbor; for it tore past his cheek, rattled and ricochetted along the stout wooden wall of the passage, and striking the runner of the ladder behind more than half severed it. In addition, it considerably startled our hero.
'Hit?' called out Dick, swinging his head round, for, of course, he like David had obtained a clear view of the man. 'There still, old chap?'
A growl was his only answer, and then a hasty order.
'You've swung the light off him, though the smoke is too thick to let one see just now. Get it shining down the passage. We must put a stop to that fellow's antics; his bullet as near as possible took my head off. Ah, steady! I can see.'
Yes, he could see. The lamp-light shining into the alley-way was directed upon the ruffian who had just fired; but it showed more than he. It showed a couple of dozen men pressing along behind him, the look on their faces telling plainly that they were determined to rush the barricade. Instantly David gave warning, and levelling his own weapon fired at the pirate who had so recently discharged the pistol; but he did not stop him. The bullet went astray, and striking a man just behind him brought him tumbling to the deck. However, the next proved more successful. The rascal howled with pain, then, as if driven frantic by it, he threw his pistol at the figure which he could only dimly discern above the barricade, and led his comrades forward. For ten whole minutes none of the defenders had so much as a breathing spell. Those four Chinamen at the back of the barricade fought as if they were possessed, and fought too, like Englishmen, in silence. Their knives rose and fell constantly. Now one of them would spring upward, and grabbing an attacker by the shoulder would haul him within reach; now Hung would give vent to a guttural exclamation, at which Dick and his comrades would unconsciously move aside. Then there came the thud of the huge club he wielded, a sickening, dull thud, followed by a heavy fall on the far side of the bales placed across the alley-way. A sudden fusillade from David's magazine pistol drove the assailants out of sight, and allowed the defenders to rest after their exhausting efforts.
'Put the lamp on the top of the bales,' said David at once. 'We must chance a fellow firing at it and smashing it altogether. Hung, post a man up here to watch. I'll go up and report progress, unless, of course, you'd like to, Dick.'
The latter shook his head vigorously, and was about to answer when another voice came from behind them in the alley-way. It was the Professor, jaunty and high-spirited as ever, a silent witness of the late conflict. He stepped from the foot of the ladder, and came towards them, turning the slide of a lantern he carried. And the light reflected from the narrow passage showed up everything distinctly—the dead Chinaman at the foot of the barricade; David on the ladder, and Dick and the other defenders at their posts. It even showed the huge splinter of wood half torn from the ladder by the bullet which had so nearly put an end to the existence of one of the party. And the Professor was as easily seen as any one. There was a bland smile on his clean-shaven face. His eyes sparkled; he laughed outright.
'Please don't move,' he said, coming closer. 'A more perfect picture I never beheld; but I do congratulate you all. You know I hate fighting, and always have done so; but when it's necessary, I can admire the men who show a good front. No need to report, David boy; my own eyes have shown me everything.'
Turning suddenly to the Chinamen, he spoke to them in their own language, which he knew as a native, praising them warmly, and sending the blood flying once more to their cheeks.
'A gallant fight, well organised and generalled,' he said, turning again to Dick. 'Whose idea was the ladder?'
'His,' came the curt answer. 'He fixed everything: David is a born leader.'
'I say!' came indignantly from our hero, who was still perched on his ladder.
'It's true,' came warmly from Dick, for the young fellow had formed a great opinion of David. Secretly he had admired the lad, partly for the courage which he knew he possessed, for had he not been instrumental in saving Dick's mother; and also there was the case of those burglars at Bond Street. But it was not pluck alone that roused his enthusiasm for our hero; it was his grit, his staunchness.
'Just fancy a fellow doing so much all on his own,' Dick had exclaimed more than once to the Professor. 'Many fellows of his age would have been browbeaten by that man who married his stepmother. Very few would have taken the post of lift-boy as he did. I've known young fellows sent up to London to make their way who would have turned up their noses at it, and because they could not get just the class of job that suited them would prefer to live with relatives and do nothing. That's out and out cadging. And here's David, still all alone, determined to go out to China to find a will which may never have existed.'
'I beg your pardon; it did exist,' the Professor corrected. 'I knew Edward Harbor. If he said he had made a new will, he had done so without doubt. He was most exact and painstaking in everything. He made that will in David's favour, but circumstances over which he had no control prevented his having it conveyed to a safe quarter. He perished; perhaps the will perished with him. Perhaps it was purloined along with his other belongings by some rascally mandarin, and is lying forgotten at the bottom of a heap of rubbish at this moment. But I interrupted.'
'I was saying he's so determined,' said Dick. 'He says he'll go to China when he has hardly a sixpence to bless himself with. But he takes the post of lift-boy, and in a twinkling he's made enough to take him round the world. It's grit that does it, sir. Sheer perseverance and doggedness.'
'And knowing that your cause is just; yes,' reflected the Professor.
But to return to our friends in the alley-way, the Professor again demanded who had led in the conflict which he had watched from the foot of the ladder.
'He did without a doubt,' declared Dick, pointing at David. 'Ask him about the ruction along there, sir, and then ask Hung and the others.'
Slowly the Professor dragged the details from David and from the Chinamen. Then he solemnly shook hands with every one present.
'I'm awfully glad I wrote that letter to you, David boy,' he said, when he came to the figure still perched on the ladder, 'and it was a lucky chance which sent Dick here along to trouble me. Together you've made a fine defence in this quarter. Alphonse will be delighted. But now let us go to the cabin; Hung and his friends will watch here and send us a warning if there is to be another attack. Meanwhile, there are other parts to be considered. I tell you plainly, those demons will not rest till they have taken every one of us and looted our belongings. I know the pirates of this gulf; they are a detestable set of cut-throats. But don't let that statement trouble you; we're a long way from being taken, or I'm much mistaken.'
The smile came back to his face, a cheery, confident smile. He spoke swiftly to the men present, and then skipped to the ladder.
'My word,' he cried, as he reached it, and his lamp fell upon the woodwork. 'That must have been done by the shot I heard. It was a big bullet that tore away this piece of the ladder.'
'And precious nigh took David with it,' laughed Dick. 'He got quite angry.'
That set them all laughing, for, somehow, what with the success they had already had, and the Professor's cheery presence, there seemed ample cause for merriment, merriment that was accentuated to no small degree when they reached the cabin; for Alphonse was there, in his shirt sleeves, and posted beside a huge rent torn through the doorway.
'Ah, ha!' he cried, coming towards them. 'You have made much noise below. There has been shooting. None are hurt I hope?'
'None but the fellows who attacked us,' answered Dick. 'How have things gone here?'
'Wonderful! I tell you, wonderful.'
The little man puffed out an enormous chest, and stretched his arms before him. He was pomposity itself, while the manner in which he swung the rifle, that he gripped with one hand, hardly gave one confidence. That and his peaky little beard, which seemed to project even more abruptly forward now, the huge check pattern of his shirt, and the long pointed-toe boots, which he still insisted on wearing, made one more inclined to smile at little Alphonse; and if not at his appearance, then at his gestures and his antics, for the lamp which the Professor carried played full upon him. But a moment or two later one gathered a different impression of the man.
'Ah!' he ejaculated suddenly, bending his head to one side as if he were a bird, and placing his hand behind the ear. 'Did I hear some one coming? Monsieur, Alphonse was never deaf, and he has trained his ears to catch the sound of bare feet. You do not believe it? Bien, then see.'
His eyebrows went up a little, as if he were unable to credit the fact that his listeners did not believe him, then calling on all for silence, he stole towards the door of the cabin, and almost at once his rifle went to his shoulder. He bent swiftly, then there came a sharp report. A crash on the deck outside, and a thunderous explosion told all within the cabin that Alphonse had accomplished something, and crowding at once to the gaping hole which the ringleader of the pirates had torn in the door with his muzzle-loader, they stared beyond at the deck. A man was crawling painfully along the boards, while immediately outside the door, as shown by the lantern, the blunder-bus the man had carried, that undoubtedly he had intended firing through the hole in the door, lay still smoking after its recent discharge.
'Parbleu! Did I not say so?' declared Alphonse with a flourish. 'I have ears to hear, monsieur. I caught the slither of a bare foot and I was warned. My shot caught him just at the right moment. But it might be well to hold a council. Eh? A council of war, monsieur.'
He dragged a seat close to the door, and sat down there with his head at the jagged opening. The Professor drew a cigar from his pocket, bit the end off with a snap, and lit the weed.
'A council, yes,' he said. 'I will state the facts. We chartered a ship at Shanghai captained by a rascal, and with a crew none the better. They had accomplices in the Gulf of Pechili, and the ruffians hoped to secure their booty without a struggle. Of course, we should have been cut to pieces and dropped overboard.'
Alphonse shivered, though every one could see that he was merely making pretence to be frightened. 'Dites donc,' he cried pleadingly, 'but that is dreadful. It makes me feel faint. They would surely not be so harsh with us.'
The grimace he made set Dick roaring, while the Professor smiled grimly.
'Easy enough to make fun of it, Alphonse, but if it hadn't been for your watching we should be down below already. Other Europeans have suffered in the same way, have disappeared and never been heard of again.'
Unconsciously David's thoughts went to his father. He had been assailed more than once when in China; for even at this day, when Western influence is slowly beginning to gain ground in the Celestial Empire, Europeans are still foreign devils to the common mob, intruders, to be killed whenever possible. True, in some quarters the old animosity is beginning to disappear. Wealthy Chinese travel now-a-days, and return home imbued with the wish to give up old and useless institutions and habits, to substitute a modern education for one dating back to the days of Confucius, and to throw open the doors of their native land, so that the miles and miles of rich territory may be developed and bring forth its wealth. That is something. Thirty years ago there was hardly one single Chinaman amongst all the millions the Emperor boasted of who had been away from his native shores, and though an ambassador here and there may have returned with his eyes widely opened, with a desire to westernise his country, what was the value of his influence when all else were against him? It was death almost to suggest change. Arrogance was always a failing of the pig-tailed race, and only time and severe lessons could teach the people that there were other races on a higher footing. And lessons China has had. She has seen foreigners snatch corners of her territory. She has stood helplessly aside and watched Russia enter Manchuria and lay her railways to Port Arthur, and again has watched her neighbour, whom she formerly despised, throw herself upon the Russians and conquer them. And why? Because she had westernised her people. Because Japan had organised her navy and her army on modern lines, and armed them with modern guns. Then why should China not follow? Slowly but surely the desire to do so is filtering through the country, and slowly the change will come. As we have said, a European is still a 'foreign devil' to the bulk of the people to-day. To-morrow he may be as a brother.
'My father was killed during a sudden attack,' said David. 'He was up country, north of Pekin——'
'Where I shall hope to take you all,' interrupted the Professor. 'That is to say, if these rascals will allow us.'
'There was a missionary with him, one who knew the people well. But they were murdered for what they carried, and, as it afterwards appeared, on a sudden suggestion made to the people in the nearest village. There had been several cases of fever, and four persons had died. It was put down to the white men, and that was the excuse for their murder.'
'And that is nearly always the case ashore,' agreed the Professor. 'A missionary, for example, is the best of fellows. He helps the people, is great friends with them, and all goes well till some bigoted ruffian comes along. He wants the odds and ends the missionary possesses. He trumps up some paltry charge, works up his ignorant comrades into a fury, and sends them to murder the "foreign devil." The rascal himself generally disappears with all the white man's possessions. But here there is no working up. The pirates of the Gulf have existed for centuries; murder and pillage is their profession.'
'Hark! I heard something more; stay still if you please, messieurs.'
Alphonse again canted his head to one side like a bird, and one could see that he was listening. His peaky little beard seemed actually to bristle. He jerked his head. His blue eyes sparkled in the lamp-light, then he leaped to his feet.
'The lamp, monsieur,' he cried, 'put it out. They are above us; they have clambered on to the roof of the cabin.'
David could hardly believe it, and though the whole party stood absolutely silent for nearly five minutes, it was not till that time had elapsed that a sound came to their ears to confirm Alphonse's statement. There was a loud bang on the roof, followed by others.
'Pardon, monsieur,' said Alphonse quietly, taking the lantern from the Professor's hand. 'I go to see what is doing. Perhaps one of the messieurs will support me.'
He moved to the doorway promptly, and David sprang to follow. Dick and the Professor drew the bolts silently, though there was little fear of being heard, for the noise above was now very great, the sound of rending wood coming clearly to them. Then they pulled the door open, and Alphonse and David stepped out.
'Up the ladder, mon cher,' whispered the Frenchman. 'I will climb, and you after me. I will cast the light upon them, and at once descend. You can cover me with your pistol; but first to see if the deck is clear.'
They stood still for some seconds, staring into the gloom. But already the light was coming, so that they could see further than at the beginning of the attack. Without a doubt the deck was unoccupied, save by the bodies of those who had fallen. Alphonse nudged David at once, and slid across to the ladder that mounted to the roof of the cabin right at the side of the ship. In a minute both were high enough, then Alphonse coolly turned the slide and threw a broad beam on the enemy. The roof was packed with them. A dozen men, at least, armed with native adzes, were hacking at the deck in as many different places. The Frenchman, undismayed by the angry shouts which greeted his appearance, coolly cast the beam on either side, and only desisted when one of the enemy, a huge fellow with muscular limbs, leaped forward, swinging his adze.
'Monsieur, I think it rests with you,' he said quickly, sliding to one side to allow David to clamber a little higher. 'Monsieur shoots well. He has nerve, eh? That fine fellow will trouble us no longer.'
There was no trace of excitement about him, even when David with a well-directed shot brought the ruffian crashing to the deck. Alphonse merely chuckled, then squeezed himself still more to one side, politely making more room for our hero.
'We will return now if monsieur is ready,' he said. 'Merci, I will follow.'
He came slowly down the ladder after David, and entered the cabin again as unconcerned as if he had merely been out to look at the weather. As for our hero, the recent exploit concerned him far less than did the report he brought to the Professor.
'Two dozen of them, working like demons to break through into the cabin,' he said. 'I can't see how we can prevent them. We can shoot through one or more of the gaps, but when there are so many we shall not be able to watch them.'
The Professor took a long pull at his cigar. David and Dick saw the end of the weed redden in the darkness, while the smoke he blew from his lips was visible in the reflected light. Then Alphonse opened just a crevice of the lamp, thus allowing them to see one another. Even now the features of the leader of the expedition were anything but mournful. The jaw was, if anything, a little squarer. The Professor wore the appearance of a man who is confident, but who at the same time has his back against a wall.
'Call Hung,' he commanded, and when that worthy appeared, 'Run along beyond the barricade,' he urged him. 'Take Hu Ty with you. Report if men are in the bows, and if so, how many. Do not appear on deck. Send the other two to me.'
They came clambering up from the dark alley-way a moment later, Jong still grinning, the more so when he listened to the racket taking place overhead, while Lo Fing kow-towed before his master.
'We are here, Excellency,' he said. 'Your orders?'
'Take everything you see that is of value. You know what the boxes contain; carry them down below at once. Quickly! There is no time to lose. Dick, David, Alphonse, put your backs into the work.'
'Going to make a stand down below,' thought our hero. 'The only move we can make. I wonder if we could get right forward.'
Like the others, he seized upon the boxes that contained all their possessions, and which the Professor, with a knowledge of Chinese cupidity and cunning, had insisted should be stacked in the cabin. Then, when after some three minutes every bale and box was below, he ventured to broach his ideas to the Professor.
'Thought of it myself,' came the short answer. 'Go along with Hung. He's been back to say that the coast is clear. Report as soon as possible if there is a place where we can make a stand. I don't care for this alley-way. Too much like rats in a trap. Quick with it, David.'
In that instant, if never before, David realised that here was indeed a leader; for the Professor was not in the smallest degree flurried. His cheroot still glimmered redly. He drew in the smoke and blew out huge billows. But all the while he was listening to the sounds above, calculating the chances of his party, thinking how best to act so as to secure their safety.
'Why not?' he suddenly exclaimed aloud. 'It's been done before. Why not again?'
'Pardon, monsieur,' ventured Alphonse, standing beside his master, as if to guard him. 'You spoke.'
'Of something that occurred to me. All in good time, my friend. What do you think of the situation?'
The Frenchman threw up his eyes and shrugged his shoulders in a manner sufficiently expressive. 'Monsieur knows better than I,' he said. 'I shall still live to cook and valet for monsieur.'
'Then you shall if I can contrive it. Ah, there is David. Well?' asked the leader of the party.
'Not a soul forward. It's lighter by a long way,' reported our hero. 'I sneaked on deck, and counted forty-three Chinese over our heads. They are hacking away like madmen.'
'Then we will leave them to it. In five minutes at least they will have broken through into the cabin. Get below and shoulder a box, David. We are following.'
The Professor marshalled his little force into the alley-way, and stepped coolly down the ladder after them. Not one word did he utter to hint what were his intentions. All that his supporters knew was that they were retreating from a position that was no longer tenable. But as to the future—well, Alphonse's shrug gave them little indication.
'Excellency, we have come to the end of the passage; we can go no further,' declared Hung, some two minutes after the Professor and his party had set out down the alley-way. 'A ladder leads to the deck above, while there are sleeping places for the crew on either side. Is it here that you will make a stand?'
'Halt! Put your loads on the floor and wait. Come with me, David.'
The leader of the expedition, still puffing heavily at his cigar, and showing an almost unruffled countenance in the lamp-light, stepped casually to the foot of the ladder and began to ascend to the deck of the native craft which he had chartered at Shanghai for the accommodation of his staff, and upon which such a treacherous and unforeseen attack had been made. But if he were the essence of coolness, and declined to hurry, he was by no means a fool, as he showed very plainly in the course of a minute. For while the Professor refused to be frightened and scared out of his wits, he declined at the same time to throw away the lives of his party for the want of necessary caution.
'Don't come higher,' he whispered to David. 'I'll beckon if I want you. Ah, it is still too dark for those ruffians to see us from the poop where they are at work. Come up, lad, and look about you.'
He tossed his cigar over the side, and David heard the hiss of the water as it met the burning weed. A moment later he was beside the Professor.
'Well?' demanded the latter, when some seconds had elapsed. 'What do you say to the situation? Critical I think, eh? Very critical. By the row those demons are making they have broken through into our cabin in more places than one. In a few minutes they will have a leader, and then there will be a rush. We certainly couldn't have stemmed it; they would have killed us with the greatest ease; but where shall the next stand be made?'
Where indeed? David cast his eyes in every direction, piercing the gloom as far as possible. The bare decks gave no promise of successful defence. To retreat to the wide cabin below, which served as the crew's quarters, was but to repeat a former experiment. There remained the rigging and the alley-way, and neither was very enticing. He shrugged his shoulders, as if he had caught the habit from Alphonse, and then turned to his employer.
'We can put up a fight anywhere almost,' he said. 'Out here we should soon be rushed and knocked down. In the alley-way we could hold them for hours. But it couldn't go on for ever; there are too many of them. My idea was calmly to board the other ship and push her off. That would give us a breathing spell. We could then discuss matters again and consider our plans from a different standpoint.'
The Professor chuckled loudly; unconsciously he reached in an inner pocket for his cigar case, and extracting a weed, bit the end off. David even heard the sharp snap of his teeth coming together. 'Boy,' suddenly exclaimed the leader, 'they say that great minds think alike; then yours and mine are great indeed, for the plan you have suggested is mine also. That is why we carried our baggage all along the alley-way. Summon the others on deck. We go aboard the stranger and merely change our quarters; but bid them be silent, for even now those fiends might hear something to rouse their suspicion.'
However, it was not a likely contingency, for as David went to the hatchway to call to those below fiendish yells rose from the poop of the vessel. Then some ponderous weapon was fired, the flame for a moment allowing the Professor to catch a sight of the crowd on the roof of the cabin. A second later they were swallowed up in the gloom, though their shrieks and shouts still told of their presence.
'All on deck, sir,' reported David in his most official manner.
'Then follow to the other ship. Not a sound, friends; not a sound. Once aboard David and Dick run to find a suitable place which we can defend; Hung and his comrades set their boxes down and prepare to stop a rush. Alphonse and I cut the hawsers which hold the two ships and push them apart. Forward!'
In one corner of his mouth the unlighted weed was held, and all unconscious of the fact that he had not set flame to it, the Professor sucked hard at the weed, exclaiming as he found it did not draw. Then, as if habit were too strong for him, or perhaps because he realised that none were likely to see him in that gloom, he stepped back to the hatchway, descended a few rungs of the ladder, and opening his lantern sucked at the flame. Then he followed the others, and was soon at the side of the vessel. Casting his eyes upward, he could see the rigging of the other ship against the stars, while a dull creaking, and an occasional bump showed that the two ships were riding close together.
'But with rope fenders between them,' he told himself, 'else in this swell they'd grind holes in one another. Ah, the rascals threw planks across from rail to rail, which was most thoughtful of them.'
With half his attention given to the enemy, and the other half to his own following, he helped to hand the various bales and boxes across the planks connecting the two ships. Then he crossed over himself, and searched for the ropes it was necessary to sever. Here a sudden difficulty presented itself. One of the connecting links was a stout chain, which the swell and the drift of the vessels had pulled so taught that there was no unloosening it.
'We shall have to cut it,' cried the Professor. 'Alphonse, an axe, quick, those rascals are dropping into our cabin.'
But to call for such an article when just arrived on a strange ship is one thing; to find it an altogether different matter. Neither Alphonse nor Hung, nor any of the Chinese could hit upon one. And while they searched the uproar made by the enemy, which had almost ceased for a time, became of a sudden even more deafening.
'Discovered our absence; awfully bothered,' ejaculated the Professor. 'But they won't be long in discovering our ruse. Can no one find an axe? David, the scheme fails if we do not hit upon one within the minute.'
Alphonse ground his teeth in a manner which would have made our hero squirm on any ordinary occasion. The Professor sucked hard at his cigar and muttered beneath his breath, while Hung threw himself upon the tantalising chain and tugged vainly at it. Then David recollected an incident he had watched at the beginning of the battle between themselves and the Chinese pirates.
'One moment, sir,' he said. 'An axe? Yes, I know where to find one.'
Without hint of his intentions, he cooly stepped on to the planks still uniting the two vessels, and leaped down upon the deck of the one which had proved such insecure shelter for them. Not a sound did his light shoes make, while his figure was swallowed up within a few seconds; for though it was already lighter, the dawn was not there yet, and gloom still hung over the water. Behind him he left a Professor not so unruffled as he had been. To speak the truth the leader of the party was dumfounded for the moment, and only awoke to the danger our hero was necessarily likely to encounter when the latter was already out of sight. He called to him loudly; he even leaped on to the planks himself. Then Alphonse stopped him with a grimace and a tug at the sleeve of his jacket.
'Pardon, monsieur,' he said, 'a leader stays with the bulk of his command. It is the young and brave who attempt such deeds. Monsieur David is no chicken; he will be back with us within the minute.'
'Or hacked to pieces by those villains; but you are right, I will stay. Still I wish that I had guessed his intentions. Dick there, and all the others, get ready, in case he is seen and pursued.'
Alphonse clicked the lock of his rifle promptly, while Dick ranged up at the end of the planks, his magazine revolver gripped in his hand. Then the ever-smiling Jong lisped an apology, pushed the Professor aside, and solemnly clambered on to the planks and crossed them. There was a huge knife in his hand, and his smile was but the cloak to a most sinister expression.
'Velly likely he no wantee helpee,' he lisped, as he dropped to the deck of the other vessel. 'But velly likely also he velly glad. Jong stay here unless he happen to see de Excellency; den p'laps he go towards him.'
The words had hardly left his lips, and his padded soles scarcely gained the deck when a figure was seen coming swiftly towards him. It was David. No, it was a Chinaman, a burly, thick-shouldered individual; then close on his heels another figure followed.
'David,' whispered Dick, scarcely able to breathe. 'George! that other chap is coming aboard.'
Certainly that was the man's intention. He was returning to his own ship to fetch a mighty muzzle-loader which he had previously forgotten. He reached the rail, placed a hand upon it, and was about to spring on to the plank bridge when Jong was upon him. And if any one had ever doubted the grinning Chinaman's courage before, his doubts would have been for ever silenced if he could have witnessed what followed. For this was not one of those sudden conquests, when an unsuspecting man is struck down without time for self-protection. The stranger saw Jong as the latter moved towards him, and faced round with the swiftness of a panther. Then his head went back, and such a shout went up that none could have failed to hear it. A moment later the two were locked in one another's arms, rolling this way and that on the deck, tearing madly at one another. And over them David stepped, with an axe across his shoulders.
'Grandly done! Bravely done!' cried the Professor, showing not a little excitement. 'David, stand by to cut that chain. Hung.'
But Ho Hung was not there to acknowledge the summons. He had flown across the bridge of planks the instant David gave room for passage, while Lo Fing chased close on his heels. How exactly they ended the contest between the two rolling figures none of their own party ever knew; but end it they did.
Meanwhile a lamp flared suddenly in the cabin which David and his friends had so recently vacated, while shouts resounded from various parts. Then the half shattered door of the cabin was burst open with a bang, and a crowd of men swarmed on to the deck. They were met by another group ascending from the hatch by which the Professor had brought his party, and then by a solitary man, who shouted and bellowed at them.
'They have fooled us; they have slipped across into the other vessel. While we have been cutting holes through the roof of the cabin they have been transferring themselves and their possessions.'
The greeting which the news received was such that Dick winced, and felt almost unnerved for the moment. But the Professor reassured him; a glance at the leader showed that he was still drawing heavily at his weed, while his features and his general pose were almost jaunty.
'Shout yourselves hoarse, my beauties,' Dick heard him say. 'I fancy we've fooled you finely. Now, lad, you can strike your hardest.'
And strike David did, careless of the shots which two of the enemy aimed at him. He brought the edge of his axe down with a thud on the chain, and severed it easily. Then he leaped from the plank bridge and helped to throw the boards over.
'Moving asunder already, sir,' he said. 'Might just as well get under cover.'
'Quite so; it will want an active man to leap that breach. Get beneath the rail all of you,' commanded the Professor. 'Don't trouble to return their fire, for they cannot damage us easily, while we have already read them a handsome lesson. Ah, they are more than vexed, I fear.'
Through the rising gloom it was seen that the rail of the ship which had so lately borne David and his friends, and which had proved well nigh a death-trap, was lined with men. Some had clambered on to it, and held their places there with the aid of the rigging. All were shouting and gesticulating, all save the few possessed of fire-arms, and these rammed charges home with frantic haste, and poured their shot into the vessel slowly and steadily drifting away. If their defeat so far had enraged the piratical crews, their anger now was almost stifling. At the very beginning the feat of murdering the foreign devils, and of purloining all their possessions, was one not to be considered twice. Had the Professor been gifted with second sight, or had he had the help of some clever native detective, he would have learned that the rascally captain who had been so eager to charter his boat was already gloating over his gains when the ship set sail from Shanghai, while the leader of the pirates treated the whole affair as if already accomplished. There was to be a secret meeting, a sudden attack, and then cold-blooded murder. And see the result! Men here and there stark and dead on the deck or in the alley-way, others grovelling in the scuppers useless to their comrades, stricken hard by the knives of Hung and his fellows, or by the bullets of the foreign devils. Worse than all, the men whose death had been aimed at were drifting quietly away, not showing so much as a head, bearing with them all their possessions—yes, all their possessions. The pirate leader had already assured himself of that fact, exclaiming bitterly at it. David and his friends caught a glimpse of the man, a bull-necked, almost bald-headed Chinaman, with long, swinging pigtail, and possessed of most powerful arms and legs. They saw him standing on the rail, clinging to the rigging, brandishing a huge sword which, could it have come into close contact with them, would have done grave injury to more than one. The rascal seemed to be almost mad. The failure of a well-laid scheme, the loss of his own vessel on top of that, seemed to have combined to rob him of his wits. His eyes were staring. He frothed at the mouth, while the cruel lips curled back from a row of fangs as yellow as his own skin. And how he shrieked! Then he suddenly dropped back on to the deck, and they saw him beckoning to his comrades, rushing at those nearest him and dragging them along with him by main force. He drove them with threats from his weapon to the halyards, and shouted at them as they hauled at the rigging.
'Going to set sail on her,' said the Professor, raising his head now that a greater distance separated the two vessels, and the shot had ceased to hail upon the one on which he and his party had taken refuge. 'Well, two can play at that game. I'm not much of a sailor myself, but Alphonse knows something about other things besides cooking and valeting. Eh, mon ami?'
'Parfaitement; the Professor has a memory. Alphonse can certainly sail a boat, though he has never attempted much with one of these native craft. But the thing shall be done. Will monsieur be good enough to order the hands to come to the rigging?'
It was remarkable how swiftly the gloom lifted, now that the dawn was actually at hand. A second or so before it had seemed certain that the two vessels drifting slowly apart would soon be out of sight of one another. But though the distance sensibly increased David could still see men lining the rail of the enemy. He could still hear frantic shouts, while now and again a muzzle-loader belched forth its contents, the flame of the discharge showing less redly than on former occasions. Then the dawn arrived. The expanse of oily, yellow sea, hitherto invisible, widened on every hand, while a pinky redness towards the east told of an approaching sunrise. The Professor sucked with satisfaction at his weed and glanced aloft. Alphonse was swarming into the rigging, no doubt to inform himself of its arrangement. Then he came scuttling down, his frightful check shirt fluttering in the fresh morning breeze.
'It is easy, monsieur,' he said, with a bow, dropping on the deck at the Professor's feet. 'All is plain and straightforward. I shall set the sails with the help of our friends, and then I shall go below and see what can be done in the way of coffee and something to eat. Parbleu! but the inside needs attention after such a night There are things a man loves more even than fighting.'
He called loudly to the Chinese, and then, with David and Dick and the Professor to help him, soon got sail on the ship. A vast expanse of coarse canvas was soon stretched from the rigging, and catching the breeze caused the vessel to careen nicely. She gathered way, and was soon tearing away with white foam washing about her stern post. Meanwhile the pirates had crowded every stitch of canvas they could find on to their own ship, and came heading up a little in rear and on a parallel course with the one the Professor had so cleverly taken from them. As for the latter, his jovial, fleshy face shone with good humour and bonhomie as he stood at the tiller. Now and again he took his cheroot from his lips and regarded it affectionately, then he put it back between his fine, white teeth with such relish that one could see that he was decidedly enjoying it. In fact, Professor Padmore was proving himself a leader in more than one respect. For after all, beyond the power to command, such an one has need to show other virtues. Of what use even the most astute leader, if he be not confident even in the midst of acute danger? For confidence is as catching as is a display of fear. Men will run from a fight with little reason if there be one suddenly to set the base example and arouse needless alarm. And on the other hand even those possessed of no extravagant share of courage will stand firm if they have a leader who laughs at danger, who scoffs at the enemy, who openly exposes himself to bullet and shot. But here there were no cravens. David and Dick had proved their fortitude, while the four Chinamen were to be trusted entirely. But the odds were vastly against them, so great indeed that even bold men might have been intimidated. However, the Professor smoked as if he had forgotten the existence of the enemy, though now and again he cast his eye over his shoulder.
'Holding them nicely, I think, David. They're not likely to come alongside before breakfast's ready, and that'll be a comfort, for I confess to being ravenous. Just fancy a professor being anything so vulgar. But there you are, I admit to the vulgarity; this morning breeze spurs a man's appetite.'
He felt in his waistcoat pocket, and drew out a metal case, somewhat bigger than a watch. With a movement of the finger he sprang the lid open, and exposed the face of a compass.
'H-hm! North-north-east,' he said. 'That's our course. Not for a moment will I allow those ruffians to set me off it.'
Perhaps a quarter of an hour elapsed from the time when sail had been set before Alphonse put in an appearance. He came clambering to the deck, his enormous hat set far back on his head, and showing the stubbly growth beneath it. In one hand he bore a smoking coffee pot, and with it beckoned to the Professor.
'I have the honour to announce breakfast!' he exclaimed, in his most pompous manner, and with his most portly bow. 'There is a cabin below decks, not big, monsieur, not very clean either; but serviceable, and possessed of a table. There I have laid the things.'
The whole thing seemed so impossible, that as they squatted before a table not more than a foot high, and ate rashers of bacon which were steaming hot, David could hardly believe that but an hour ago they had been fighting desperately. The change in their circumstances was so extraordinary. It was so entirely unexpected, and withal, so fortunate. And here they were, satisfying the inner man, for Alphonse was an excellent caterer. The boxes which the Professor had brought with him contained a multiplicity of things, including cameras and other instruments necessary for exploration. And amongst them was one fitted with all the implements to make a field kitchen. There was a charcoal stove, as well as one designed for the use of kerosene under air pressure, an instrument with which a good-sized kettle of water could be made to boil within a few minutes. Then there were pots and pans innumerable, while other boxes contained stores of groceries and tinned goods sufficient to keep every member of the expedition satisfied for a considerable period.
'Now to discuss the position,' said the Professor, when he had swallowed a third cup of coffee and had begun to smoke again. 'Hung has just sent a report to inform me that we still hold our place ahead of those men who so dearly long to draw level with us. We sail, as I have said already, on a course which suits us exactly. That being so, we shall continue till we reach some port, where we will run in and demand protection, or until we meet with some other vessel. There are gun-boats in these waters at times, and we might have the fortune to hit upon one belonging to Great Britain, or to France or Germany. I fancy those rascals would quickly beat a retreat if that were to happen.'
'Meanwhile, perhaps, sir,' began David, 'we might as well see if, supposing the worst were to happen, there are means aboard to make those fellows keep their distance.'
'Cannon?' asked the Professor.
David nodded. 'That was my idea, sir,' he said. 'This vessel belongs to pirates; the chances are that they have some sort of weapons.'
'And we might make good use of them. Good! we'll make a search. Alphonse, we leave you here for the moment.'
They clambered to the deck hurriedly, to find the ship careening well to a freshening breeze, and bowling along merrily through a sea that was sunlit in all directions. Some distance astern, and now on a dead line with them was the other craft, white foam at her fore foot. Even her white decks could be seen as she canted over, while with the naked eye one could distinguish figures moving about on it. Suddenly Dick gave a shout of satisfaction, and pointed to a canvas cover at the back of the steersman.
'A long tom, or I'm much mistaken!' he cried. 'Covered up to keep the weather from it, and used only to bring some stubborn captain to his senses. Couldn't we manage——'
'I rather think so,' agreed the Professor, smiling gleefully. 'I rather fancy we might make use of that weapon, Dick. Strip the covering, and let us obtain a glimpse of it.'
It took but little effort to lift the cover which had attracted Dick's attention, and then, as they had suspected, there was a long, swivel gun cast in brass, and no doubt capable of throwing a shot some considerable distance.
'Then we'll put it in action,' decided the Professor. 'Not that I want to damage any more of those rascals; but there might be some accident to our rigging. Or, in a fresher breeze, which I fancy is coming, this vessel might prove slower than the other. We'll make the most of fairly smooth water and of our new possession; perhaps it will scare them.'
Once more the handy and invaluable Alphonse was in request. The natty little Frenchman seemed to have had a hand in almost everything. He could cook, as all knew, particularly his employer, while he was the tidiest of valets. Moreover, Alphonse could fight, and with a spirit that matched the Professor's. Now he showed his capacity as a gunner. He led the search for shot and powder, and then ranged himself behind the gun.
'Once I was a soldier, monsieur,' he said, 'and though I did not belong to the artillery, still I had to do with a gun; for I was in garrison where a mid-day gun was fired, and to me that duty fell. Oui, vraiment, we shall be able to manage. We must guess the charge of powder. Not too much at first, monsieur David; else there will perhaps be only pieces of us left for the pirates. We will watch where the ball strikes the water, and add more if necessary. You shall see; Alphonse will send those men a pill which will make them ill at ease and cause them to go elsewhere in search of a doctor. Ah, there is the powder; we have rammed it home. Now a piece of the sacking as a wad. Now the ball. Push with me on the rod and we will soon send it home.'
The practical little fellow slewed the muzzle of the gun round, and used the screw as he squinted along the sights. Already he had sprinkled powder on the touch hole, and presently announced that all was in readiness.
'I have laid it to be fired as we rise to the top of the swell,' he said. 'Now for a match with which to fire it.'
David had thoughtfully prepared a match, consisting of a candle end tied to a stick, and shaded by a paper hood which kept the wind from it. It was a makeshift affair, and the flame blew out twice in succession. Then the gun splashed out a stream of flame, followed by a dense volume of smoke, which, however, blew away instantly. Their ears were still tingling after the loud report when a jet of water was seen to rise a hundred yards in front of the pursuer. Instantly Alphonse tossed his hat into the air and shouted.
'Bon! Bon! The next time we will do it, yes,' he said. 'Now to sponge the gun clean, and then for a fresh charge.'
That second shot proved far more encouraging. The ball struck the surface just to one side of the vessel that was following them, and ricochetted some three or four times before it finally sank to the bottom. But the third shot plumped clear on to the deck of the enemy, causing considerable commotion.
'Bien, we have the charge at last, and with this long swivel the aim is easy,' cried the Frenchman. 'Let us try again.'
A roar of applause greeted the fifth shot, for though fired by amateurs it struck the mast of the pursuer, and as they watched, the Professor and his friends saw the rigging sway and come tottering over.