Throughout the forenoon Dommett smoked a short black pipe incessantly, though he kept his eyes shifting, looking frequently for signals from the Gannet and the island, both towards the path and along the shore.
There was no sign or sound till about one hour after noon, when we both heard a faint noise like a musket being fired afar off. We listened alertly, but no other sound was heard.
"'Tis one of the men who has fallen over his piece, perchance," remarked the sailor as he refilled his pipe, ramming the weed down with his little finger.
Hardly had he made the flint and steel to work when there was another noise, like the distant crashing of brushwood. The sound came nearer, so we both stood up, the boat-keeper thrusting an oar into the water so as to keep the longboat off shore.
Nearer came the sound, till at length a man appeared, torn and bleeding, and spent with running. It was one of the Gannet's men--the bos'n's mate,--and, throwing himself into the boat, he lay like a log.
"Pull yourself together, man," shouted Dommett, shaking the man in his anxiety. "What's amiss? What's amiss?"
"Push off for your life!" he panted. "It's all up; we are all undone!"
This was all he could say. Nevertheless we shoved off, and waited at about a boat's length from the mouth of the creek--waited for any stragglers who might appear.
Nevertheless no more of our men appeared, though a musket was fired at us from the brushwood, followed by an irregular volley. At the whiz of the bullets, though they passed well above us, I threw myself on the bottom of the boat; but the firing had the opposite effect on the bos'n's mate, for, cursing horribly, he raised himself and seized an oar. Dommett had already done likewise, and before the volley could be repeated we were well out of range, though throughout the whole time we were under fire the man still kept his pipe firmly between his teeth.
Then they called upon me to take an oar, and feeling miserably ashamed of myself I got up, and, as well as my hand would allow, I rowed with them. By a special providence we made the gap between the reef in safety, then rowed slowly, for the longboat was an unwieldy craft, towards the Gannet.