“Certainly, sir, they may; but I don’t think they will. They won’t come to close quarters so long as they have got bulwarks to fight from behind and the guns to tackle us when we show. They think that we can’t face the pieces. Well, I don’t say as we are very ready to when there’s another way round, but we haven’t got long to wait before we must make another move, for the sun’s down behind the trees, and I shouldn’t be sorry if it was to come on a fog.”
But no fog came, only darkness the blackest of the black, and the few stars that peered out only looking strangely dim.
The wind had fallen soon after the sail had been lowered and the mast laid well out of their way. One of the balls of spun yarn they had in the locker had been brought into use, cut into lengths, and the oars secured so that they could not slip away when they were left to swing, and at last under cover of the night the next part of Joe’s programme was begun.
It was harder work than had been anticipated, for though the current close in shore was slack, it was very difficult to keep at a respectable distance from the bank as they glided down-stream, while every now and then there was a swirl in the water suggesting that one of the great reptiles had been disturbed.
But still the adventurers progressed, and their leader was keenly on the alert, looking out for the lights of the anchored vessels, ready to raise his false alarm as soon as he got abreast.
But he looked in vain; the Spaniards had taken the precaution to cover their riding lights, and Joe Cross was about to draw his bow at a venture, when a sharp shock which made the boat thrill suggested that they had struck upon a floating tree trunk, washed probably out of the bank during the past flood.
But the next moment they were aware that the boat’s stem had come in contact with one of the crocodiles, which gave a tremendous plunge and began to send the water flying in all directions as it beat heavily upon the surface with its tail.
“Starn all!” roared Joe Cross involuntarily, and then recollecting himself, he roared out, “Pull, lads! Pull for your lives!” For a light suddenly appeared some thirty or forty yards to their left, followed by another lower down the river.
There was the buzz of voices upon the anchored vessels’ decks, and Joe kept on yelling wildly to the men to pull, the noise and excitement being increased by the reports of muskets fired at them in a hurried ungoverned way, the flashes of light giving them faint instantaneous glimpses of the vessels and the faces of the men on board.
“Steady, my lads, steady! Ease off,” said Joe, “gently. We have got to come back again, you know, so we needn’t go too far. Two or three cables’ lengths is plenty. How do you think we’re getting on, sir?”