The man thus addressed, the best marksman on board, immediately obeyed, and sent the fin flying from its place.
'They're all mostly like that,' Captain Thorne observed to his companion. 'I'd back them to beat five times their number.'
While the guests were being entertained in the cabin, quantities of fruit, yams, sweet potatoes, a small bag of coffee, and a few other gifts were passed from the 'State-Barge' to the 'Alert.' In return, two bags of ship biscuit, several pots of jam, some tins of preserved vegetables and milk were given by the skipper, three old muskets and some powder were also presented to the chief.
As by that time the sun had set, and a nice evening breeze set in, Kalli Lal took leave of his master, and with all his retainers the latter returned ashore.
All plain sail was promptly set on the barque. The hands mustered at the windlass, and to the chanty chorus:
'Blow, boys, blow, for California row,
There's plenty of gold in the land, I'm told,
On the banks of Sacramento,'
the anchor was cat-headed and 'fished.'
To a good five-knot wind the barque presently swung away from the densely-wooded island whereon Captain Thorne and his companions had experienced such stirring and strange adventures. The 'Alert' soon cleared its western end, and in the swiftly-deepening night gloom presently lost all trace of it.
Kalli Lal made himself perfectly comfortable on board, and also proved an excellent pilot, since with accurate knowledge of every adjacent island he took the vessel safely through a channel in which no other British ship had, perhaps, ever floated, and after a splendid run brought her to anchor near Singapore.