Had a thunder-bolt fallen amongst them, they could not have been more surprised. Doubtless, many were wounded, and probably some killed. At all events, the whole of the crew, not fewer than forty or fifty men, who, a moment before, crowded the deck, disappeared in a marvellous manner; sheltering themselves behind the bulwarks, or lying flat on their faces. They were so completely taken by surprise, that their junk was left without a helmsman; her sails flapped in the wind; and, as we were still carrying all sail and keeping on our right course, they were soon left a considerable way astern.
Another was now bearing down upon us as boldly as his companion had done, and commenced firing in the same manner. Having been so successful with the first, I determined to follow the same plan with this one, and to pay no attention to his firing until he should come to close quarters. The plot now began to thicken; for the first junk had gathered way again, and was following in our wake, although keeping at a respectful distance; and three others, although still further distant, were making for the scene of action as fast as they could. In the mean time, the second was almost alongside, and continued giving us a broadside now and then with their guns. Watching their helm as before, we sheltered ourselves as well as we could; at the same time, my poor fellows who were steering kept begging and praying that I would fire into our pursuers as soon as possible, or we should be all killed. As soon as they came within twenty or thirty yards of us, I gave them the contents of both barrels, raking their decks as before. This time the helmsman fell, and doubtless several others were wounded. In a minute or two I could see nothing but boards and shields, which were held up by the pirates to protect themselves from my firing; their junk went up into the wind for want of a helmsman, and was soon left some distance behind us.
While I was watching this vessel, our men called out to me that there was another close on our lee-bow, which I had not observed on account of our main-sail. Luckily, however, it proved to be a Ningpo wood junk like ourselves, which the pirates had taken a short time before, but which, although manned by these rascals, could do us no harm, having no guns. The poor Ningpo crew, whom I could plainly see on board, seemed to be very much down-hearted and frightened. I was afterwards informed that, when a junk is captured, all the principal people, such as the captain, pilot, and passengers, are taken out of her, and a number of the pirates go on board and take her into some of their dens amongst the islands, and keep her there until a heavy ransom is paid, both for the junk and the people. Sometimes, when a ransom cannot be obtained, the masts and spars and every thing else which is of any value are taken out of her, and she is set on fire.
Two other piratical junks which had been following in our wake for some time, when they saw what had happened, would not venture any nearer; and at last, much to my satisfaction, the whole set of them bore away.
Now was the time for my heroical companions to come from their hiding-place, which they did with great alacrity, hooting and yelling as the pirates had done before, and, in derision, calling on them to come back and renew the fight. The stones, too, were now boldly seized and thrown after the retreating junks, reaching to almost a tenth part of the distance; and a stranger who had not seen these gentry before would have supposed them the bravest men in existence. Fortunately the pirates did not think proper to accept the challenge.
With the captain, pilot, crew, and passengers, I was now one of the greatest and best of men in existence. They actually came and knelt before me, as to some superior being, and expressed their deep and lasting gratitude, which, however, did not last long. The sun was now setting, in all his glory, behind the hills of Fokien, and many of the more devout amongst the passengers and crew did not fail to bow low in adoration and thankfulness to this supposed deity for their escape out of the hands of the pirates. Shortly after nightfall we arrived at one of the safe anchorages, where the mandarins are too strong for the lawless bands which infest the other parts of the coast.
On the following morning we again got under weigh, and proceeded the whole day without molestation. In the evening we arrived at another safe anchorage, or place of rendezvous; but the security at this place consisted in the number and strength of the junks actually at anchor there, and not in the fear which the pirates entertained for the government. When we reached this place the night was fine, and, as it was nearly full moon, it was almost as light as clay. The tide too was just turning in our favour; and as I was most anxious to proceed on our voyage, I did every thing in my power to induce them to go on. It was of no use, however; for as soon as we reached the anchorage, and found a large fleet of junks, the anchor was dropped, and they determined to stay there all night. I felt very much annoyed, but saw it was no use to grumble, and went quietly to bed. In less than an hour from this time, and before I had fallen asleep, hearing a stir upon deck, I inquired what was the cause, and found that we were getting under weigh. This was agreeable news; but as I could not imagine what had caused them to change their minds so soon, I went upon deck to see what was going on. Our people, it appeared, had gone to sleep the moment our anchor was down; shortly after this, the other junks, which, it turned out, were only waiting for the rise of the tide to enter some river in the vicinity, had all weighed anchor and gone off. All on board were now in great consternation, lest the pirates should come down upon us whilst at anchor, and no time was lost in getting it up and proceeding on our voyage, much, of course, to my satisfaction.
On the following day, late in the afternoon, when I was laid up in my bed with fever, the captain came hurriedly down, and informed me that another fleet of pirates were in sight, and evidently lying in wait for us. I was obliged to get up, ill as I was; and when I got on deck I could see, by the aid of my telescope, six junks coming out from amongst the islands under the main land, and evidently bearing down towards us. This time I was not so sceptical as the last. After having once seen these rascally vessels, there was no mistaking others of the same class, as they came sneaking out of the bays. Their clipper-built hulls, the cut of their sails, their raking masts, and the crowd of fellows who lined their decks, all told the business they were after. It was therefore evident that we must prepare for another encounter.
It now struck me that perhaps I might be able to deceive the pirates with regard to our strength, as I was afraid that I might not again be so successful with them, particularly if they found out that there was only one foreigner on board: knowing that they have a great dread of foreigners and their guns, my object was to make them believe that there were a number of us, and that we were well armed. For this purpose I got up all the spare clothes I had, and put them on the least Chinese-looking Chinamen on board. At the same time I desired them to collect all the short levers which they use for hoisting their sails, and which at a distance would look not unlike fire-arms, particularly if the deception was assisted by the report of a double-barreled gun. Every thing looked promising, and I thought my recruits were likely to be of some service to me; but when the nearest pirate, who had been coming fast down upon us, gave us a broadside, it was too much for my Chinamen, who were instantly panic-struck, threw down their arms, and ran below; and, added to this, I had again to threaten the men at the helm, who seemed half inclined to follow the example of the others: so I now prepared for the worst.
The pirates came on, firing at intervals as the others had done, and I followed my former plan of watching their movements until they were near enough for my gun to tell upon them with fearful precision. Their shot was now flying about our ears and riddling our sails, and they came on in their usual noisy manner, perfectly unconscious of what I had in store for their reception. For the last time the helm of the nearest junk was put down, when we instantly fell flat on our faces and allowed the shot to pass over us. As soon as their last gun was fired, and before they had time to load again, I poured the contents of my gun amongst them fore and aft, raking the deck as I had done before. This took them completely by surprise; and as we were still under a heavy press of sail, we were soon a considerable way ahead of them. Two others of the fleet came up and fired some shots at us; but the whole of them evidently imagined that a number of foreigners were on board of our junk, a belief which doubtless had a great deal to do with the success which attended my efforts. At length, darkness coming on, they gave up the pursuit and bore away from us, and in two hours more we arrived at a safe anchorage. The fever, which I had scarcely felt during all this excitement, now returned with greater violence, and I was heartily glad to go below and turn into my bed.