“Five hundred yards,” answered I; “but I believe she is nearer than that.”
“I think so, too,” agreed Sir Edgar. “You fired too high, captain. I shall sight for three hundred,”—going to the binnacle, and uncovering the hood for a moment to do so. He waited perhaps a minute; then raised the rifle to his shoulder, paused a second or two, and, taking advantage of a strong and prolonged gleam of sheet lightning, fired. A shrill scream from the proa told us that his bullet had found a mark, and almost immediately afterwards she fired her gun again, the shot this time striking somewhere aloft, for we distinctly heard the thud of the bullets against the spars.
“We score first blood, at all events,” composedly remarked Sir Edgar. “As for the enemy, it is evident that they have not altered the elevation of their piece since they first fired, and it is fervently to be hoped that they will still forget to do so. If that last shower of bullets had fallen on deck, captain, I am afraid it would have been bad for both of us.”
“Very possibly,” I agreed. “Still, those small, short guns, such as she appears to carry, scatter tremendously, and we might have the lead flying thick all round us, and still not be hit. Now, I wonder whether I shall have better luck this time.”
I certainly had, for the sharp report of my weapon was instantly answered by quite an outcry on board the proa—a kind of compound yell made up of several distinct sounds, leading to the conclusion that my bullet had fallen in the thick of a group, and wounded several.
“Why, captain, you are improving,” observed my companion approvingly. “If I could but manage to do the same, now—”
Crack! went his rifle, and the sound was followed by two distinct cries—a scream and a howl—manifestly uttered by different voices, and we thought we heard the sound of a heavy fall on the deck, but a sharp peal of thunder at the same moment prevented our being sure of this. While we were reloading they fired their brass gun once more, and again the charge flew high overhead—luckily for us, for the bullets seemed to be flying closer together this time. Then they began pelting at us with their gingals, first treating us to quite a respectable fusillade, and then blazing away, every man for himself, as fast as they could load and fire; some of their bullets singing past us so closely that I inwardly congratulated myself upon my wisdom in ordering everybody under cover.
And new, one after another, the remaining proas opened fire upon us with their brass guns, although certainly not more than two of the entire fleet were yet within range; while the vivid lightning flashed and tore athwart the heavens in continuous coruscations, and the thunder crashed and rattled and rolled and boomed overhead and all round the horizon in such terrific detonations that they absolutely caused the ship to perceptibly tremble and vibrate with the tremendous volume of sound.
At length the proa that had initiated the attack upon us closed to within a hundred yards, steering for our port quarter, with the evident intention of sheering alongside us somewhere about our mizzen-rigging. They were working ten sweeps on board her—five of a side—and calculating that each sweep required at least four men to handle it (for they were very long and heavy), I concluded that she would have, all told, at least sixty men on her deck, a formidable number to oppose with our small force on board the barque. I was not much afraid of them so long as we could keep a few fathoms of water between them and ourselves, but should they once succeed in gaining a footing upon our decks, a very few casualties on our side would suffice to determine the issue against us.
It was, accordingly, to prevent this that I had set my wits to work in conjunction with those of the mate, when we had first seen reason to anticipate an attack, my plan being to utilise our fire engine as a means of defence, and I had given instructions to have it prepared in a manner that I hoped would convert it into a really formidable weapon. The time had now arrived, or at least was close at hand, when an opportunity would be afforded us to test its efficacy; I therefore ordered it to be run aft as far as the capstan, and cautioned the two men, who had been told off to work it, to stand by the brake-handles. I had already fully explained my idea to the mate, and he now took in his hand the long brass nozzle—the tow attachment round the jet of which was by this time thoroughly saturated with oil—and prepared to act as circumstances might demand. Meanwhile the pirates had ceased to fire their brass gun, and the fusillade from their gingals had slackened considerably, thanks, no doubt, to the indefatigable manner in which the baronet and I had plied our rifles upon them.