“Brig ahoy. Heave a rope here, and help me aboard,” he sang out.
“A man overboard!” exclaimed some one from the after-part of the deck.
“Pass a rope here; be smart now. Heave!”
“Who is it? who is it?” cried several voices.
“It’s I, Jack Rogers. Be quick, now, for I’ve had a long swim,” cried Jack. He soon got hold of the rope which was hove to him, and was hauled on board over the stern.
“What! Rogers, my dear fellow, is it you?” exclaimed Captain Hemming, as he grasped his hand. “Where have you come from?”
Jack told him, and urged that they should immediately board the junk he had left, and rescue the rest of the prisoners.
“My only doubt is, whether we can get alongside her,” answered Captain Hemming. “However, we will try. I am glad to engage in any work with cold steel; but, Rogers, I am sorry to say that our ammunition is almost expended, and though we will not yield as long as a man remains alive to fight, I look with apprehension to what may occur.” The brig was now approaching the junk, which fired away furiously at her; but this did not stop her progress, and before the pirates knew what was going to happen, she dashed alongside.
“Lash her to the junk. Boarders, follow me.” Jack had seized a cutlass, and, dripping with wet, he sprang on board by the side of his commander. “Alick, Captain Willock, friends, all get on board the brig as fast as you can,” he sang out.
Murray and the rest of the prisoners were ready enough to follow his advice. Seizing what weapons they could lay hands on, they cut down or knocked over all the pirates who opposed them, and soon gained the deck of the brig. The boarders, in the meantime, cleared the junk, the greater number of her crew who escaped their cutlasses jumping overboard and perishing in the sea. The seamen then hove overboard all the guns of the junk, and returned to the brig. They would have set her on fire, but had they done so, they would very likely have got burned themselves.
“That’s one enemy less, my lads,” cried Captain Hemming in a cheerful tone, though he felt anything but cheerful. “We must treat the rest in the same way.”
The pirates on board the other junks, discovering what had occurred, took very good care to keep out of the way of the brig.
Captain Hemming, therefore, spent the whole night in trying in vain to get alongside some more junks, and when morning dawned they appeared formed in a close circle round her as on the previous day. Those on board the Blenny had passed an anxious and harassing night; the prospect for the following day was gloomy indeed. The second lieutenant, a midshipman, and eight men had been killed, and twenty were wounded, many of them put out of fighting trim. Jack and his companions afforded, therefore, a very welcome addition to their strength. With daylight, the pirates began to fire away as on the previous day.
Rogers and Murray, however, now felt very differently to what they had done on the previous day. Then all the shots they saw fired were against their friends; now, the few Captain Hemming ventured to let fly were against their enemies. At length only three rounds remained on board. The brig ceased firing. The pirates thought that the time for boarding her simultaneously had arrived, and, gliding up, closed their circle round her.
In vain all on board looked out for the sign of a breeze. Not a cloud was in the sky—the sea was like glass. The sweeps were therefore again manned, and she advanced as fast as they could urge her towards the approaching line. The pirates came on, thinking that she would fall an easy prey into their hands.
“Reserve your fire, my lads, till we are close to them,” cried the captain. “Now give it them.” The broadsides of the brig were poured into the junks, which had ranged up on either beam, with terrible effect. One junk went down, and another was left without a cull to impel her, and with a third of her crew killed or wounded.
Still the pirates were undaunted. On they came, again to receive another broadside. But one round of ammunition now remained. The junks moved away to a short distance, to hold a consultation, it seemed. The result was to renew the attack on the brig.
“We’ll give our last dose, lads, to that big fellow, who is, I suppose, their admiral,” cried Jack, who had taken command of the guns on one side, in place of the lieutenant who was killed.
With a cheer, the men obeyed, and the big junk reeled from the effect of their fire. The opposite broadside was discharged at the same time. And now the brig was unarmed; but she had still stout hearts and sharp cutlasses on board, and, grasping the latter, the crew prepared to defend her to the last.
* * *
* * *
Chapter Thirty Two.
The brig still holds out.—Captain Hemming calls on his crew to fight to the last.—More foes come on.—Boats are seen approaching.—A breeze springs up.—The junks fly, and their crews dispose of themselves in an unsatisfactory manner.—Jack and Murray find themselves on board a junk.—Turn into Chinese, and take a cruise.—Meet another junk.—Are about to engage.—Recognise a friend, but are not recognised.—The midshipmen go to the rescue of the French ladies.—Their guides escape.—Jack chases a Malay in the water.
The Chinese pirates now made sure that the brig was their own, though so severe was the lesson she had given them that they showed a considerable disposition to approach her with caution. Still, as they drew closer and closer round her, and she no longer continued to fire, they grew bolder in their proceedings. Hitherto, the crew of the Blenny were not aware that their powder was exhausted. Captain Hemming thought it better to tell them. “My lads,” he exclaimed, in as cheerful a tone as he could assume, “we have run short of powder, but as I take it, no one would dream of striking to these cut-throats; we’ll show them that British seamen know how to use their cutlasses.” The men gave a hearty cheer, to show that they responded to their commander’s appeal. Still there were fearful odds against them. The pirate junks pressed on, and though the gallant tars would have despised the crews who manned them, still, from their very numbers, they might prove overwhelming.
“My dear Jack,” said Alick in a low voice, “I never thought it would come to this; but it seems that the enemy will get the better of us, after all. We’ll render a good account of them, however, before that.”
“We will,” said Jack, drawing in his sword-belt a hole tighter, and clutching his cutlass with a firmer grasp. “That big fellow will be alongside us in half a minute. But, I say, what are those?” He pointed, as he spoke, through an opening between two of the junks. All eyes were turned in the same direction. Several dark objects were seen on the water. They were boats. The foam thrown up by their bows glittered brightly as the rays of the sun fell on it, showing the rate at which they were coming on.
The British crew gave an involuntary cheer as they caught sight of them. They had no doubt they were friends. So intent had been the pirates on capturing their prey that they had not yet discovered the approach of the boats. The sight gave fresh energy to the British seamen. The big junk at length got alongside the brig, and from her lofty bulwarks down poured the pirates on the deck of the latter; but though they got there, they had reason to wish themselves back again, for the British cutlasses made very speedy work of them, and not one in ten escaped with their lives.
Still, even the bravest of the English tars wished that the boats would arrive, for two more huge junks ranged up, one on the Blenny’s quarter and another on her bows, and they had to divide to repel the pirates who swarmed on their sides. Another and another junk came up, and soon joined outside of the others, so that the pirates had the power of throwing a continual stream of boarders on to the deck of the brig. Had they not known of the approaching boats, hope would certainly have forsaken the crew of the Blenny. A few musket cartridges remained, with which the marines kept up a fire on the denser masses of pirates. The smoke they produced, added to that of the guns from the pirates, threw so thick a veil over the scene that the expected boats were no longer visible. More than once Captain Hemming pulled out his watch to ascertain how time sped, and then again had to lead on his men to repel a fresh attack. Several times the British were almost over-powered, and the most resolute bravery alone could have saved them.
Suddenly some sharp reports were heard close to them. The masts of several of the junks were observed to be receding, and then arose above the din of battle three hearty British cheers. The hard-pressed crew of the Blenny responded to it, but they had to exert every nerve and muscle to keep the enemy at bay. There were more shouts and shots, and then came shrieks and cries and the clashing of steel, and Terence Adair, with little Harry Bevan, was seen, followed by a party of seamen, cutting their way along the deck of the nearest junk, driving numbers of pirates before them, till they reached the point in contact with the brig, when, with a cry of joy, Terence and Harry leaped down on her deck. The meeting of the friends was brief indeed, but cordial, and then once more they separated, each with their followers, to attack in return the junks which pressed round them.
At this juncture the brig’s royals were seen to bulge out for an instant; there was an evident movement among the junks; the shouts and hurrahs of the British seamen were redoubled; the shrieks and cries of the Chinese increased. The mass of junks surrounding the brig began to break away. Those inside now seemed to be in the greatest hurry to escape. Mr Cherry’s countenance, even in the heat of battle, looking jovial and rosy, was now seen, as he fought his way with his boat’s crew from deck to deck of the junks, driving their crews into the sea. No quarter was asked by the desperadoes, and the British seamen were not much inclined to give any.
The roar of guns was heard. It was the frigate which was now coming up with a rattling breeze, firing at the flying junks. The pirates made the most desperate efforts to escape. They cut and slashed away with their axes in the most frantic manner at the grapnels which they themselves had thrown on board the brig, and at the ropes which secured them to each other; and, at length, those who could not free their junks began cutting their throats, blowing out their brains, jumping overboard, or disembowelling themselves; while others, in the madness of their desperation, fired into their magazines, or threw torches into the holds of their vessels, in the hopes of burning their foes with themselves.
In this last amiable intention they did not succeed as well as they expected, for, as the junks were by this time pretty well separated, though some blew up and some burned, a great number were captured by the boats. The frigate now got up to the scene of action, and her shot as she passed them sank several more of the junks which might have escaped, and crippled others, which the boats succeeded in capturing.
Jack and Alick had, meantime, with half a dozen followers, boarded a big junk, the crew of which made a most desperate resistance. While engaged in driving the enemy overboard, or otherwise disposing of them, the midshipmen perceived that the junk, which had all her sails set, had got free from the brig, and was driving rapidly away from her. They had very severe work, for when the pirates saw themselves free from the brig they made a stand, which nothing but the most determined courage could have overcome. Again and again the midshipmen and their followers charged them. At last the chief, with most of his officers, was killed, and the rest began to give way. The remainder finding this, and knowing that there was no chance of escape, began getting rid of their lives in the way which has been already described, the process being considerably aided by their conquerors, till the last gang of them, with terrific shrieks, went overboard together. As to the English seamen attempting to save the lives of any of them, that was impossible, for they themselves even would not allow it.
“Hollo!” cried Jack, as the last party of them disappeared, and left the deck clear of all but the dead or dying; “where are we?” Well might he ask the question, for the junk had been driving away before the wind, and had by this time got nearly a couple of miles away from the brig. “At all events, we have got an independent command,” he continued, when he had ascertained the state of affairs; “and, Alick, I vote we take a cruise by ourselves, and capture some more of the enemy. You and I look like Chinamen already, and we can easily rig out our men in some of the clothes of these fellows, and so I have no doubt we shall be able to get alongside without their suspecting us.”
Murray thought the notion not a bad one, and the men were delighted with it, very soon transforming themselves into fierce-looking pirates, pigtails and all, for they very rapidly cut off the latter appendages from their conquered foes.
Their next business was to throw the dead men overboard, and to bind up the wounds of those who still lived; but those who had strength tore off the bandages as fast as they were put on, and were evidently intent on quitting the world. The midshipmen did all they could to prevent them by keeping all weapons out of their reach: but one fellow got hold of a knife and stabbed himself to the heart; another blew out his brains with the pistol which he drew out of a comrade’s pocket; and a third, after his wounds had been bound up, and he had a little recovered his strength, took the opportunity of scrambling overboard. If Jack and Alick would have allowed it, the seamen, on observing this, would have thrown the rest of the prisoners after them.
“What’s the use of coopering up these chaps, if that’s the way they goes for to behave to themselves?” exclaimed Dick Snatchblock, the boatswain’s mate, as he caught another fellow by the leg who was attempting to do the same. “Keep quiet you, I say,” and he dealt him a box on the ears which knocked him flat on the deck. They now made sail after three junks nearest to them. The whole fleet were scattered far and wide to every part of the compass.
“I wish that Hemming and the other fellows on board the brig knew where we were,” observed Jack; “we shall be reported dead or missing.”
“They will value us so much the more when we make our appearance,” answered Murray. “But, Jack, look at that junk! Her crew seem to have more spirit than the rest of the scoundrels. They do not seem to be in such a hurry to run away.”
“They take us for friends,” observed Jack. “Perhaps we have got hold of the admiral’s ship, and they probably are bound to wait for him. We shall undeceive them, I guess, pretty soon. See all the guns ready there, fore and aft. We’ll astonish them when they get near us.”
The two junks drew closer and closer. They were well within range of each other’s guns. Jack was on the point of giving the order to fire, when, who should jump up on the bulwarks of the stranger but Paddy Adair. Jack jumped up also and waved his hat. He forgot that he looked like a Chinaman, and that all his crew were similarly disguised. A broadside from Paddy’s junk, and a rattling fire of musketry reminded him of the fact. Happily the shot flew high, but he got the upper tip of his ear taken off. He jumped down again on the deck. “What shall we do? We’ve no ensign with us. How shall we let Paddy know who we are?” he exclaimed. “If he were an enemy, I shouldn’t care, but to be shot by one’s friends is too bad.”
