The old gentleman went aft and took his stand by the wheel. “Put your helm down, my man; look out, Captain Kelson! Let draw the head sheets! Meet her with the helm; meet her!”
The Mystic came up in the wind, the head sails flapped; I watched my chance, got a good sight with the gun, which was loaded with a solid shot, and pulled the lock-string!
As the smoke blew to leeward I sprang on the rail, and as our ship payed off and the sails filled, the foremast of the leading proa snapped off a few feet above the deck and fell overboard with a great crash, dragging with it the heavy lateen sail!
“Good shot, Kelson!” shouted Captain Archer from the poop; “that fellow has got his hands full of work and is out of the game for the present!” And our men set up a hearty cheer at this sudden and unexpected discomfiture of our adversary.
We supposed that the other proa would heave to and go to the assistance of her companion, but that evidently was not her intention, for she passed her without pausing, and with her sweeps out and heavily manned she bore rapidly down upon us.
I ordered the starboard gun run over on the port side and tried several shots at the approaching proa, but, although I hit her once, I did not seem to inflict any very serious damage, so I had both guns loaded with shrapnel and langridge, and determined to have the fight out at closer quarters.
Stationing both my officers and the carpenter, who was a splendid shot, on the quarter-deck with rifles, I ordered them to pick off the men who seemed to be the leaders, and then waited for the approach of the proa.
When she had crept up within easy rifle range, I luffed the ship up, as before, and getting a deliberate aim at the crowded deck, depressed the guns and fired them at the word, both at once, point blank, reloading and repeating the dose before the smoke of the first discharge had cleared away.
The effect of this murderous fire, at such close quarters, upon the crowd massed upon the proa’s deck was terrific, and the slaughter was frightful. Yet, by some strange chance, the captain, a tall, vicious-looking Malay, stripped to the waist and waving a naked kreese to encourage his followers, had escaped uninjured, and was shouting to his men, to rally them, with the evident intent of boarding us.
Captain Archer had meanwhile filled our ship away, but the wind was light, and before we had fairly gained headway the proa, with sweeps out, shot under our starboard quarter, and a grapnel thrown from her caught in our mizzen channels.