"Will you be convince now?" said Quacco, slowly and solemnly. "Will Massa Brail,"—turning to me, and handing a slender wand, about ten feet long,—"will good Massa Brail be convin"——
Spin—another arrow-like affair quivered in the mast close beside us. It had passed sheer between the first lieutenant and me.
"Ah, ah, ah!" exclaimed Quacco in a mighty great quandary—"dere is anoder—anoder spear—mind, gentlemen—mind, gentlemen, mind, or a whole feet of war-canoe will be aboard of you before you can look round."
"Men!" shouted Lanyard, "keep a bright lookout; there are native canoes cruising all about us, and close to, in the thick mist there. Peer about, will ye? Small-arm men, stand to your tackling—clear away both guns. Hush—what is that?"
"Nothing," said Sprawl—"I hear nothing but the rushing of the river, and the groaning and rubbing of the boats alongside against the gunwale."
"But I do," said Pumpbolt.
"And so do I," said Mr Marline. "There is the splash of paddles as plain as can be—there"——
"Where?" said De Walden.
"There," said Binnacle—"there;" and, at the very instant, I saw the dark prow of one canoe emerge from the fog, the after-part being hid under the thick, but moon-illumined haze. Presently another appeared close to her, but less distinctly; both assuming a wavering and impalpable appearance, like two large fish seen, one near, and the other farther off, in muddy water.
"Mr Marline, fire at that fellow nearest us."