That this was a possibility all very quickly saw, for as the fleet of prahus and the six open boats approached one another the latter were seen to be manned by men in naval dress, while in the bows of each a swivel-gun was carried. Indeed, as if to show the strangers that their arrival at Sarawak would be contested, a spout of flame and smoke shot out from one of the guns at that moment, and a ball came hurtling across the forefoot of the schooner. A second followed swiftly, ricochetting across the water, and then hulling the vessel, striking with a thud which could be heard far away.
"And now come the bullets," said Tyler with a smile, as the patter of musketry broke the silence, and the water was splashed beside the schooner. "But the mistake has gone far enough, and we must let them see their error. Stand aside, John, and just tell Li Sung to warn the others to get under cover. I will go forward and shout to them."
Running into the bows, he sprang upon the rail there, and with one hand holding the rigging so as to retain his position, waved a piece of sail-cloth to the men who were approaching.
"Friends!" he shouted at the top of his voice. "Don't fire any more, or you will be killing those who are coming here to ask for your protection."
His words carried easily across the water, and almost at once an officer was seen to rise to his feet.
"Cease fire!" they heard him shout. "Now, surround that schooner, as she seems to be the leader, and train your guns upon her. You can lie off so as to be out of range of their spears, but do not be so far away as to make a rush impossible. I will go closer in, and see who it is that called to us."
Careless of the fact that he might have been running into a trap, the officer gave an order for the boat to be pulled closer in, and then stood in the bows awaiting the moment when he would be able to go aboard the stranger. As for Tyler, with a shout to attract John Marshall's attention, and a wave of his arm, he had caused the latter to throw the schooner into the wind, a movement which was at once imitated by those in command of the other vessels. Then in his quaint costume, consisting of an old coat which had been made for a man of a smaller size than himself, and with the remains of his old disguise about him, he stood at the top of a rope-ladder which was lowered over the side.
"Eh! what's this?" demanded the officer as he scrambled over the rail. "And who are you who sail into the river at the head of a fleet which we could not help but take for pirates? Why, you're a youngster, surely, and an Englishman!"
"Tyler Richardson by name," responded our hero, stepping forward with his hand held to his forehead in salute. "Gazetted to the Dido, sir, and pursued by pirates on my way to join my ship."