Tony Briotti greeted him. "Look."
Rick's eyes followed the archaeologist's pointing finger. Off to the southeast, on a sea tinted pink from the rising sun, he saw the low lines of the Swift Arrow. Chahda was on his way!
Zircon bellowed, "Watch it!" He echoed his words with the flat slap of a pistol shot. The first vinta had reached the group and was standing only a few feet offshore. Others were crowding in behind it. Rick got ready to shoot again, and saw that the Torres boy, a bloody handkerchief tied around his upper arm, was throwing rocks with his good hand. Tony Briotti followed suit, picking up large chunks of lava and slamming them into the pirate craft.
Rick spotted a rifleman in the nearest vinta and sent a broadhead arrow at him. The arrow passed between the pirate's arm and side, but pinned him by his shirt to the vinta mast. Rick quickly nocked another arrow and waited for a clear shot.
Behind him, Scotty's rifle spoke once, twice, then a third time. Yells from beyond the spit of land showed that the pirates had tried to come at them overland. Rick hoped Scotty's single rifle would be enough. At least his pal was shooting from cover, while the pirates were in the open.
A vinta tried to approach and Rick sent an arrow into the helmsman's shoulder. The vinta sheered off and collided with another.
It was only a question of time before the pirates were forced ashore by their very numbers. Rick knew that his small group wouldn't last long, not against barongs and krises. He shot again, and took a pirate rifleman out of the action. Zircon's heavy automatic picked off the first pirate that tried to climb ashore, and slammed him back onto his fellows.
Tony Briotti aided the sudden pile-up of pirates with a chunk of lava the size of a basketball. Sudden screams of pain and rage came from the mass of struggling Moros.
Other vintas had pulled into shore farther away and Rick saw pirates scrambling up the rock unhindered. He got two with arrows, then Scotty fired from his vantage point and drove them to cover.
Above the Moro battle cries and screams of rage Rick suddenly heard the horn blast of the Swift Arrow. He looked up in time to see Chahda driving at full speed, parallel with the beach. As the Hindu boy drew close, the Swift Arrow's saluting cannon suddenly erupted a load of tacks into the cluster of vintas. The pirates scrambled to cover against this new menace as the MTB swept by. The terrific bow wave lifted the vintas high and sent them crashing into one another. Two of them turned over.