“Perhaps we may find a tablecloth, or some sheets, or something of that sort,” suggested Murray.
Nothing of the sort was to be found; and they were expecting every moment that Adair would send another broadside into them, when Jack bethought him that perhaps a pair of white trousers would answer the purpose of a flag of truce. A pair which had been exchanged for a Chinaman’s nether garments was run up at the peak, and every other flag was hauled down. This had the desired effect, for Adair did not again fire. As soon as the two junks got within hail, Jack shouted out, “Paddy, ahoy! Paddy, my boy! don’t be after blowing up your friends, if you love them.”
Terence jumped up again on the bulwarks, and peered eagerly at the big junk.
Jack and Alick then showed themselves, and the two vessels were soon alongside of each other. Very little time was lost in greetings, and it was quickly arranged that they would again start off to secure two or three more junks before they returned. As, however, during the time they had been approaching each other the enemy had got considerably in advance, and as the frigate at the same moment began to fire guns to recall her boats, they agreed that they ought to return. Another reason which had still more weight with them was, that they had several of their men wounded, for whom they wished to get assistance.
They at once, therefore, hauled their wind, but they had considerable difficulty in beating up towards the frigate, till they bethought them of lowering the junks’ leeboard, when they found them sail wonderfully well to windward. Before dark the captured junks were assembled under the guns of the frigate and brig. The reception the midshipmen met with on board the frigate was cordial in the extreme. All rejoiced, fore and aft, that Rogers and Murray had once more turned up.
“Well, it’s a mighty satisfaction to be lost, for the sake of the pleasure it affords one’s friends to see one back again,” observed Terence; “and, old fellows, I knew you would come back, somehow or other; I always said so; astride of a dolphin if in no other way, though Harry here and some of our friends would not believe me.”
“I am very glad you were right, Paddy,” said Jack. “But we haven’t done with the pirates yet. The villains have carried off two ladies, and some seamen, and we must be after them.”
“We shouldn’t lose time either,” observed Murray. “We should tell the captain, and get him to send off an expedition at once to search for them.”
All agreed to this; so Jack and Alick instantly went to the captain’s cabin and made their report. On hearing it, Captain Grant, without loss of time, organised an expedition, which was placed, as had been the former one, under the command of the indefatigable Lieutenant Cherry. Captain Willock volunteered his services, as did his men, and Terence got leave to accompany it with Jack and Alick.
The wounded men were in the meantime removed from the brig; she was furnished with a supply of powder, and fresh hands were sent to her from the frigate. Captain Hemming was then ordered to cruise in whatever direction the boats might go, to render assistance if necessary. He and his officers were glad of the opportunity, that they might inflict a further punishment on the pirates, should they fall in with them. The question now arose as to the direction in which they should proceed. Captain Willock suggested that they were not likely to be very far off, and, as he knew the haunts of the pirates, he undertook to act as pilot.
In spite of the attempts of the pirates to destroy themselves, several had been secured alive and unwounded. Two of the most intelligent, and who seemed most willing to be communicative, were selected to accompany the expedition, and they were made to understand by signs that if they assisted in discovering the prisoners, they should be handsomely rewarded. Their little pig-eyes glittered when they saw the gold held out to them, and there appeared to be little doubt that they would try to earn it. One fellow, however, made a clutch at it at once, and intimated that he should like to receive the reward first and do the work afterwards.
“Catch a weasel asleep, old fellow,” said Paddy, who stood by, making a significant gesture, which the Chinaman seemed to understand fully, for his eyes twinkled more than ever, and he laughed heartily, as if he thought his proposal a very good joke.
Jack and Alick, having washed off the stains of gunpowder and blood with which they were pretty well covered, and re-assumed their proper uniforms, declared themselves ready to proceed. They laughed at the notion of wanting rest.
“Let us get back the old lady, and the young lady, and the other prisoners, and then we will turn in and take a spell of twenty-four hours at least,” exclaimed Jack, as he jumped into his boat.
The American master went with Mr Cherry, as did also the interpreter belonging to the frigate, as without him they could not hope to do much. The three midshipmen had each the command of a boat. They all kept close together, steering to the south-east, for which point the wind was favourable. Light, hazy, blue hillocks, indicating islands, lay away to the south-east. The brig, having caught up the boats, took them in tow and stood towards the islands, till she got close enough in to be visible from the shore. She then cast them off, and they stood in alone.
It was quite dark before the boats reached the land. They pulled noiselessly along till they reached a sheltered bay, into which they ran, and brought up under a high, rocky point, where they might lie concealed till the return of daylight should enable them to proceed on their expedition. They had passed several such nights since they had come into the China seas, and many more on the coast of Africa, so that there was nothing very particular to interest them. One officer at a time and two men in each boat were directed to keep watch while the rest went to sleep.
It was Jack’s middle watch. It is not surprising, considering all the fatigues he had gone through, that he should be very drowsy. Still, he did his utmost to keep awake. He kept pinching himself and rubbing his nose, and then he lit a cigar and tried to smoke; but, in spite of it, he was conscious that more than once he indulged in a loud snore. His head nodded, too, just like that of a person who unfortunately falls asleep in church.
He had kept the prisoner who had been committed to his side. The man appeared to be fast asleep. Jack, in spite of his drowsiness, became conscious that something was moving close to them. There was a splash. He started up. The prisoner was not in his place. At a little distance off a round object popped out of the water. In an instant Jack, giving a loud shout, was overboard and darting away in chase of the man. The shout he gave and the noise of his plunge woke up the people in the other boats, only in time, though, to see the other Chinaman swimming away in the direction taken by his countryman. On this all the boats slipped their cables and made chase, though there appeared a great probability that in the darkness the pirates would effect their escape.
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Chapter Thirty Three.
The Chinaman swims, and so does Jack, who forgets that there are sharks about.—The seamen catch one guide, and a shark catches another.—Fall in with more junks.—Pursue them into a bay.—Destroy boats on shore.—Land.—A parley.—The guide attempts to escape, and is shot.—An attack on the pirates, who fly.—Search for the French ladies.—The ladies discovered in unfeminine attire.—The fair Cecile becomes less fair in Jack’s eyes.—They are restored to their friends,—An old acquaintance, but an altered man.
A swim in the dark through waters where sharks abound, and in chase of an enemy who may very likely be armed with a sharp creese, is far from an agreeable amusement. Away swam the pirate, and after him swam Jack. “If he has a knife, it won’t be pleasant,” he said to himself. “However, I must be cautious as I get up to him. Ah! there he is. Now, old fellow, what have you got to say for yourself?”
Jack was within about a couple of yards of the Chinese. The man turned his head to look over his shoulder. Jack darted on. At that moment Jack saw an object in the pirate’s hand, gleaming from the bright light of a star hitherto obscured. It was a creese. The man turned round to meet him and plunge it into his body; but at the moment he did so Jack dived down, and, coming up on the other side of him, caught him by the legs with one hand, while with the other he grasped the arm which held the weapon. His great difficulty was to prevent the pirate from changing the creese from his right hand to his left. While thus desperately struggling, Jack observed two dark heads close to him, with the most fierce and malignant countenances. The men were probably armed with creeses. Jack expected every moment to feel the sharp blades running into him, when the shouts of his friends alarmed his foes, and they darted away in the hopes of securing their own safety.
Terence and Alick, meantime, naturally felt very anxious for Jack’s safety. They shouted loudly his name.
“All right,” he sang out; “I have got a fellow, but he is as slippery as an eel, and very hard to hold. Lend a hand here, do.”
The tone of his voice showed that he was struggling hard with his prisoner. His friends dashed after him with their boats, but his own boat, of which Needham was coxswain, had already got up to him, and were hauling him and the Chinese on board.
“Look after the other two fellows. They are away there,” he shouted, never for a moment losing his presence of mind.
Alick’s boat darted after one, Terence’s after the other. It was not likely that the men could have got very far; but a black head at midnight on the world of waters is not very discernible. Murray, as his boat pulled on, kept his eyes about him on either side. He caught sight of a head. “There he is,” he cried, leaning forward and making a clutch at the pirate. A creese flashed up as he did so, and he got a cut in his arm which was intended for a more vital part. The next instant the man had disappeared; but as his object was to escape, and not to get drowned, he had to come up again to breathe. As he did so, he got his creese ready to give another plunge with it; but the seamen were not quite so green as he supposed, and this time they were ready with the boat’s stretchers, and, as he lifted up his arm, he got a blow which sent his formidable weapon to the bottom, and well-nigh broke his arm. This prevented him from diving, and the next instant he was, in spite of his struggles, hauled into the boat, and he found himself lashed with his hands behind him to the afterthwart.
There was another prisoner to be accounted for. Terence told his crew not to make a noise as they went in chase. The man was the strongest of the three prisoners. He had taken a circuit, hoping thus to escape unobserved to the shore. It occurred to Terence that this was what very likely one of them would do, and thus before long he caught sight of the man’s head, as he swam rapidly through the water. “The fellow swims beautifully,” thought Terence; “I’ll let him enjoy himself a little longer.” The noise made on board the other boats deceived the Chinaman. He fancied that he was not pursued. “We must catch him now,” thought Terence, after an interval, and he made a sign to his men to give way, when a loud shriek was heard, the pirate’s arms were seen to rise up above his head, and then down he went, like a shot, beneath the waves. Terence shuddered. “Jack Shark has caught him,” observed one of the crew; and as they pulled over the spot they could see the water still bubbling and agitated, as if some violent struggle was going on beneath its surface. Then all was quiet. The monster had dragged off his prey to be devoured at his leisure.
“I’m heartily glad it was not Jack Rogers,” said Terence, as on pulling back he recounted what had occurred.
“Thank you,” answered Jack. “It was certainly a terrific risk I ran; but as the fellow had escaped through my negligence, I was determined to catch him at all costs.”
How the pirates had managed to conceal their creeses was a wonder which no one could solve, though the seamen declared that they believed they had kept them hid away inside their throats, for they could not have had them anywhere else. After all the noise that had been made there was little hope of concealment, so Mr Cherry ordered the squadron of boats to pull out of the bay, and to proceed farther along the shore to the eastward.
Scarcely had they got round the rocky point which had concealed them than they saw right before them a dozen or more dark objects, which, after watching for some time, they made out to be as many large row-boats. They hoped that they were not perceived; so Mr Cherry ordered them to pull back under the shadow of the cliff. On came the boats. It was pretty certain that they were pirates, and that by some means having discovered they were there, their purpose was to surprise them. The guns in the bows of the boats were loaded, as were the muskets which each man had by his side; and the oars were kept out, so that at a moment’s notice they might give way after the enemy. As Paddy remarked, “They looked like four huge centipedes ready to dart out on their prey.”
The row-boats must have been too far off at the time of the chase of the three prisoners to have heard the shouting, so they probably hoped to catch the British asleep. Mr Cherry was in doubt whether he should attack them unless they were aggressors. They might, after all, be only harmless traders. They glided on pretty rapidly. Soon they had rounded the point, and were making for the spot where the boats had been, when those on board them discovered the Englishmen. They stopped, and then came dashing on towards the point.
“They are enemies,” cried Mr Cherry; “give it to them, my lads.” A sharp fire of grape, accompanied by musketry from the four boats, right into the bows of the junks, had the effect of arresting their progress. They could not tell how many more boats there might be behind those they saw.
“Reload your pieces, my lads, as fast as you can—quick!” shouted Mr Cherry. It was done before the pirates had recovered from their confusion, and when they once more advanced, a second dose was ready for them. This was given with such good effect that they pulled round to escape. The commanding officer, observing this, ordered his boats to advance. On they dashed, the men loading and firing as they could, till they reached the junks. Then, each boat selecting an antagonist, the seamen leaped on board, and with their cutlasses very soon drove the crew overboard. None of the pirates would yield, and not a prisoner was taken. As some time was expended in this engagement, the remainder of the junks escaped. Where they had gone it was difficult to say in the darkness; but Jack Rogers told Mr Cherry that he thought he had seen them steering for the bay.
Into the bay, therefore, the boats proceeded, and pulled round and round it. In vain they searched, however, and at last Mr Cherry ordered them to bring up and wait till daylight. As soon as it was dawn it was “Up anchor and out oars,” and away they pulled again. They had not gone far before they discovered the boats run up on the beach deserted by their crews. Paddy Adair and Jack were for dashing in at once; but the more prudent lieutenant called them back. He first ordered that all the guns should be loaded and pointed towards some suspicious-looking bushes on a height above the beach, and then directed Terence to pull rapidly in towards the boats, and to set them on fire. The other boats advanced more slowly, two at a short distance to the right and two to the left of him.
