The party who had remained in the fort had made good progress in strengthening it, and we now felt ourselves prepared for the pirates’ reception.
“We shall have no difficulty in beating them back,” I observed to Mr Thudicumb, “with a fort like this for our protection.”
“I hope not, Walter,” he answered; “but they are fierce and desperate fellows, and they may use means for our destruction which we little expect. Still it is our duty to be prepared and to fight to the last. We can do no more!”
“But if they conquer us what will Emily and Grace and the poor Frau do?”
“We must leave that in God’s hands, Walter,” answered the mate. “We must fight like men, and not yield while life remains. If we are all killed, he will take care of the helpless ones who are trusting in him.”
Tanda at this time had not returned, and we were once more afraid that he had been caught by the pirates. At length my uncle’s anxiety to ascertain what was going on made him resolve to set out to try and get sufficiently near them to watch their movements. I begged to accompany him.
“If you do, you must promise one thing—to keep behind me; and should I be captured, to make your escape, and carry back news to the camp of what has occurred,” he observed.
I of course willingly gave the promise he desired. While we were speaking, we saw, rising in the distance, a thin column of smoke. It rose higher and higher in the sky. All those in the fort gazed anxiously towards it.
“They have discovered the house, and set it on fire,” observed Mr Hooker. “Oh, what treasures they are destroying—the ignorant savages! and yet, I am afraid, under similar circumstances our own countrymen would not behave much better. They are not likely to appreciate such treasures more than these dark-skinned Asiatics.”
“I am not quite so certain that that is the house on fire,” observed Mr Sedgwick, after watching the smoke for some time. “I should not be at all surprised if it was the brig that is burning. The smoke, in this clear atmosphere, is seen a long way off; and though my house would burn rapidly enough, I scarcely think it would send up such dense volumes as are now ascending to the blue sky. What do you think, Mr Thudicumb? It appears to me that the smoke is somewhat to the right of the house, and further off?”