“And now, my kind Frau,” said Mr Sedgwick, coming down, “perhaps you will look at my little hurt. You are the best doctor of the party, and it strikes me that I have a bullet somewhere in my shoulder.”
“Well, then, you lie down there,” she said, placing him on the ground, and kneeling down by his side after he had taken off his coat and shirt. “Let me see. Yes, here is the hole the bullet came through.”
I looked, when, to my surprise, I saw a little blue mark, scarcely larger than a pea, and could not believe that a bullet had passed into it.
“Yes, it come in there,” she continued; “I see. Hillo! here it is, though;” and she touched a large lump which appeared just behind the shoulder. “Oh, I got knife. Now you no squeak out, sir;” and taking a sharp knife from her pocket, she made a cut across the flesh, when out popped the bullet almost into the mouth of the faithful Tanda, who had followed his master, and was eagerly watching the operation. An abundant supply of cool water was then applied, and plasters put on. “There, you stay quiet a little, sir, and you soon get well,” she said; “but stay, I want to pull out the bit of shirt that go in—not much, though.” Indeed, the hole in the shirt was not much larger than that in the flesh; but still it was evident that some portion had been torn away. My uncle could hardly refrain from crying out as the Frau probed the wound. She, however, succeeded in finding the piece of cotton. Fortunately the jacket had flown open at the moment, so that nothing else had gone in. “There, you healthy man; you be well in a few days—no fear,” she said.
Seldom has a desperate battle been fought with so few casualties on one side, though, to be sure, a third of our party might have been put down as wounded. We had reason to be thankful; but still I could not help dreading that the Malays might return. Mr Sedgwick was about to despatch Tanda, when Mr Thudicumb proposed that we should hoist our post, and endeavour to ascertain what was the cause of their flight. By means of the coir-rope we had prepared, it was soon hoisted up, and stepped in its place more securely now than at first, because there was no necessity for again lowering it. Roger Trew was very speedily at the top.
“Hurrah!” he shouted; “hurrah! The prows are shoving off to sea, pulling away like mad! Yes, there’s the reason too—a large square-rigged, white-sailed vessel coming round the point. By her look, too, she is English; and they know pretty well that if they were to be caught by her, their day of pirating would be over. Hurrah! hurrah!”
As may be supposed, we were all eager to mount to the top of the post, and have a look at the stranger. Mr Thudicumb with his spy-glass followed Roger.
“Yes, there is no doubt about it. She is a British man-of-war; and I daresay she has been cruising in search of these very fellows. They are all off, though; yes—five, six, eight prows, making their way to the eastward. She will see our flagstaff on the rock, I hope, and send in here. But I forgot; the pirates carried that away.”
Thus he continued making his observations. We all stood eagerly round him, though the ocean was hid from us.
“She has caught sight of the prows,” he exclaimed, “and is making more sail. They are, however, well to windward of her, and I am afraid she will have a hard job to catch them up. Perhaps she will make a tack in here; and if so, she will see us.”