Middy and Ensign

by George Manville Fenn

Men fell rapidly on either side, but while the Malays had three or four to leap into the places of those who went down, every wounded Englishman weakened the force terribly by his loss.

Still there was no sign of flinching, the men giving way solely from being forced back by the numbers that pressed upon them.

Three times over by a determined rally did the lieutenant strive to force the enemy back, but in vain; and the last time he nearly lost his life, for the Malays made at him at once, and in his efforts to avoid them he slipped and fell.

With a yell of triumph a couple of the enemy dashed at him spear in hand, when there was a sharp double report from a rifle, and one leaped in the air to fall flat on the deck beside his intended victim, the other staggered back and retreated to the rear.

Those shots were fired by the young chief Ali, who coolly reloaded his piece, and stood watching Bob Roberts, whose excitement was intense.

He had forgotten Dick and his instructions to the old sailor in the fierce passions of the fray, and poor old Dick had gone down almost at the first rush, to crawl afterwards under the bulwarks, where he bound up his head, and lay watching the fight as he strove more than once to join in.

But each time old Dick essayed to rise, a terrible sickness came over him, and he sank back trying to recall some order he had received from the midshipman, but unable to make out what it was.

He fainted away twice in his efforts to get up, and then lay back, sick at heart, and with just enough consciousness left to know that the fight was going against the English, and that he had it in his power to change the fortunes of the day.

“What was it Mr Roberts told him to do? What was it Mr Roberts told him to do?”

That was the question he wanted solved, but the sense had all seemed to escape out of the cut in his head, so he told himself, and the more he tried to recall what it was, the more did he grow confused, and at last he lay there helpless, listening to the yelling of the Malays, and the cheers and shouts of the comrades he could not help.