CHAPTER XIX
An Attack upon the Stockades
"Back again! We scarcely expected you, and a load of anxiety is lifted from my mind," cried the captain of the Dido in hearty tones as Tyler swarmed to the deck of the war vessel, and, leaving Li Sung in the prahu made fast to the gangway below, went striding to the poop. "Come, tell me the news, for I am eager to hear it. Here we are, you see, at the rendezvous appointed, and I may say that all are eager to be moving. Let us get down into the cabin and have a chat."
Seizing the Chinaman, who had boarded the vessel, by the hand, Captain Keppel wrung it with enthusiasm, and then, ere he led the way to his cabin beneath the poop, took a step backwards, the better to be able to survey the gallant young fellow who had so willingly undertaken to ascend the Sarebus and gain tidings of the enemy. As for the crew of the Dido, they were not slow to guess what was happening, and, remembering the fact that two Chinamen had so recently taken possession of a prahu, much to their mystification, and that the young fellow who had so recently joined them had been absent ever since, they recognized that this Chinaman who had just come aboard in his tattered and travel-stained garments must be the same. For some moments they waited watching the interview upon the poop. Then, as their commander was seen to grasp the stranger by the hand, their excitement was roused to the highest.
"Took 'im by the 'and!" shouted one lusty tar, lifting an enormous palm to shade his eyes from the sun. "Then if that don't prove that that feller ain't a Chinee after all, well—bust me!"
He paused for a moment to find an expression adequate for the occasion, and then, changing his plug to the other cheek, looked round at his comrades.
"It's the young orfficer what come aboard a few days gone back," he whispered hoarsely. "Him what arrived at Sarawak with the fleet of prahus and a crew of darkies. Strike me! but what's he been up to this time?"
"Been sailing up the river Sarebus," shouted John Marshall, the boatswain of the old schooner, who had taken up his quarters on the Dido for the time being, instantly recognizing Tyler as he stood there on the upper deck. "He's been risking his life again. He's been after them 'ere pirates and the Dutch bloke as I told yer about. Here, let's give him a rouser. One, two, now all together!"
Thanks to the fact that John Marshall had a busy and a ready tongue, the crew of the Dido, and indeed the greater part of the inhabitants of Sarawak, had long ere this gained news of all the adventures which had befallen Tyler on his way to join his ship, and now that something more had happened, and they gathered the fact that this lad—for he was little more than that—had dared to ascend the river and spy upon the pirates themselves, their enthusiasm knew no bounds, and, leaping forward at John's shout, they rent the air with their cheers, repeating them till Captain Keppel advanced to the rail and lifted his hand to ask for their silence.