“A large canoe—two of ’em—three—four—there’s a whole fleet of canoes closing in round us, sir.”
“Where away?” demanded I, unceremoniously breaking away from the general and dashing forward to the topgallant forecastle, up the ladder of which I scrambled with considerable loss of shin-leather.
“There, sir, d’ye see ’em?” responded Jones, sweeping his arm in a wide circle as he pointed into the fog wreaths that were whirling round us.
The fog and the darkness together rendered it extremely difficult to see anything, but by dint of peering I at length distinguished several shapeless dark blotches at a distance of about fifty fathoms from the ship, arranged apparently in the form of a wide semicircle on the side of her opposite to that on which lay the sandbank. Jones, however, was not quite right in his statement that they were closing in upon us, for they appeared to be lying quite stationary, or at least were only paddling just sufficiently to avoid being swept away by the sluggish tide that was running. But there was very little doubt in my mind that we had very narrowly escaped an ugly surprise, and I was by no means certain that we might not yet look to be attacked. My view of the situation was that the natives had gathered about us in the hope that, in the fog and darkness, they might be able to steal alongside and climb aboard in such overwhelming numbers as to secure possession of the deck and overpower us by taking us by surprise, and that they had been restrained from making the attempt only by the sounds of bustle and activity that had accompanied our endeavours to get the ship afloat.
“Lay down from aloft all hands at once!” shouted I, sending my voice pealing up through the fog to the figures that were to be dimly-seen sprawling on the yards and dragging at the heavy festoons of canvas. “And you, Jones, find me a musket as smartly as you can.”
“Musket, sir? Ay, ay, sir! here’s one,” answered the man, fishing one out from some hiding place and thrusting it into my hand. Lifting the piece to my shoulder I levelled it in the direction where the canoes seemed to be congregated most thickly, and, aiming so as to send the bullet flying pretty close over the heads of the savages, pulled the trigger. I distinctly heard the “plop” of the bullet as it struck the water, but beyond that all was as still as death. Meanwhile, at my call, the men aloft had come sliding down the backstays and were now mustering on the fore-deck awaiting further instructions. And at the same moment the general came forward to announce that he had quietly called the men passengers, who would be on deck in a moment, bringing their firearms with them.
“I will place myself at their head, Grenvile,” he said, “and if you will tell me how we can most helpfully assist you I will see to the details of any task that you may assign to us.”
“A thousand thanks, general,” answered I. “You, perhaps, cannot do better than muster your men on the poop, and if you detect any disposition on the part of the canoes to close in upon the ship, fire into them without hesitation. This is no time for half-measures; we must deal decisively and firmly with those fellows, or we shall find ourselves in a very awkward predicament.”
“Right; I agree with you there, and you will not find us wanting, I hope,” responded Sir Thomas, as he turned to walk away aft.
“Simpson, San Domingo, and Beardmore, come up here on the topgallant forecastle,” called I; and at the call up came the men, with the inevitable answer of “Ay, ay, sir!”