"That's done it," muttered Fielding. Then aloud he exclaimed, "Don't fire a shot till I give the word. Keep close."
A hail of bullets rattled against the outside of the conning-tower, followed by an intermittent patter as the leaden hail beat against the formidable walls.
Receiving no reply, and not knowing that the defenders possessed firearms, three or four men made a deliberate rush towards the gap that gave access to the "brain of the ship." The foremost man Fielding brought down with a bullet through his thigh. The others fell in a heap over their comrade's prostrate body, lying still in deadly fear till they mustered sufficient courage to crawl back to their friends. Again the firing broke out, but without effect.
After a while one of the attackers placed his cap on the end of the capstan bar, and, bearing it well in front of him, crept softly up to the entrance, another man, armed with a keen knife lashed, to the end of a pole, standing ready with his crude yet formidable weapon to slash at any of the occupants who might be enticed to make a cut at the decoy.
In the semi-gloom, for outside a few lanterns had been brought up and placed in position where they might be of service to the attackers, the defenders caught sight of a white object carefully advancing inside the entrance of the conning-tower. It was the seaman's cap.
Unguardedly Cardyke was on the point of dealing the intruder a heavy blow with a brass bar, which he had detached from some mechanism, when Oki, with characteristic shrewdness, noticed that the forward motion of the object was jerky and undecided. The Japanese general's hand clutched the midshipman's wrist, warning him to be on his guard. Closer and closer came the decoy, till almost the whole of the cap was in view.
Suddenly falling flat upon the floor Oki extended his right arm and fired. The shot, aimed slightly upwards, caught the decoy-bearer just below the knee, and brought him to the deck, while his companion, letting his weapon clatter from his nerveless grasp, ran shrieking from the spot.
Realising that they had a hard nut to crack the pirates hesitated to close, but an intermittent fire was kept up, with the idea of preventing any of the defenders from leaving their well-nigh impregnable fortress.
This state of affairs continued till dawn. Then there was a lull in the firing, and Juan Cervillo's voice was heard demanding instant surrender, otherwise a dynamite fuse would be thrown into the conning-tower and blow its defenders to atoms.