To tell his story would require no slight amount of time, and he proposed that it be delayed until a more fitting moment, for he, in turn, was eager to learn the reasons of the colonists’ sudden departure; therefore he said:
“Inasmuch as your leaving the island has caused me no slight amount of uneasiness and mystification, and can be told more quickly than my story, suppose you first explain. This evening you shall learn the particulars of my reign, for during at least half of my stay here I have been king of the apes.”
“It will require but a few words to clear up what has seemed a mystery if, as I presume, you have already seen the log-book.”
“I have, and the last page in it contained an account of the pirates’ warning which was found on the beach.”
“Exactly,” the captain replied. “In regard to that, Mr. Clark evidently overlooked the weapon on the previous day, for before nightfall we saw the Malay fleet in the offing. It was composed of so many proas that to give battle would have been the height of foolishness, and in the least possible time we embarked on the Reynard, slipping her cables and standing out to sea. It was better to lose our property than run the risk of losing our lives.
“The people were making preparations for a ball, and no work was being done on the plantation, therefore it was possible to embark in less than an hour from the time of the first alarm; but to save any of the household goods was out of the question. The papers relating to the settlement of the island I intended to take with me; but in the hurried departure they, like a great many other things, were forgotten until it was so late that to return for them would have been the height of imprudence, and we abandoned everything with the faint hope of recovering the property on our return.
“A running fight could be made provided we succeeded in preventing the pirates from boarding us; and with a ten-knot breeze we dashed through the fleet without receiving any injury. They opened fire as a matter of course; but those scoundrels do not count upon a fight at long range, because their weapons are not calculated to do much execution from a distance.
“We were not idle. Every gun of the six we had on board was trained with good effect, and before they could crawl out of range we sank three proas. Two more of the crafts were disabled, and one was so splintered about the hull that before we were out of sight her crew took to the boats. It was a lesson which I fancy they will not forget for some time; and now that we are to have such an increase of numbers, it will be a very long while before the pirates, either from Sooloo or Magindinao, dare to pay us a visit.
“We made Batavia in due course of time, took on more colonists, and arranged for a large number to follow. They will be here in a few days, and I have returned to complete our work; but I fancy quite as much has been destroyed by the apes as would have been had the pirates landed, although I am surprised at seeing these magnificent thoroughfares, which must have cost no small amount of time and labor.”