“Lash her to the junk. Boarders, follow me.” Jack had seized a cutlass, and, dripping with wet, he sprang on board by the side of his commander. “Alick, Captain Willock, friends, all get on board the brig as fast as you can,” he sang out.
Murray and the rest of the prisoners were ready enough to follow his advice. Seizing what weapons they could lay hands on, they cut down or knocked over all the pirates who opposed them, and soon gained the deck of the brig. The boarders in the meantime cleared the junk, the greater number of her crew who escaped their cutlasses jumping overboard and perishing in the sea. The seamen then hove overboard all the guns of the junk, and returned to the brig. They would have set her on fire, but had they done so, they would very likely have got burnt themselves.
“That’s one enemy less, my lads,” cried Captain Hemming in a cheerful tone, though he felt anything but cheerful. “We must treat the rest in the same way.”
The pirates on board the other junks, discovering what had occurred, took very good care to keep out of the way of the brig.
Captain Hemming, therefore, spent the whole night in trying in vain to get alongside some more junks, and when morning dawned they appeared formed in a close circle round her as on the previous day. Those on board the Blenny had passed an anxious and harassing night; the prospect for the following day was gloomy indeed. The second lieutenant, a midshipman, and eight men had been killed, and twenty were wounded, many of them put out of fighting trim. Jack and his companions afforded, therefore, a very welcome addition to their strength. With daylight the pirates began to fire away as on the previous day.
Rogers and Murray, however, now felt very differently to what they had done on the previous day. Then all the shots they saw fired were against their friends; now the few Captain Hemming ventured to let fly were against their enemies. At length only three rounds remained on board. The brig ceased firing. The pirates thought that the time for boarding her simultaneously had arrived, and gliding up closed their circle round her.
In vain all on board looked out for the sign of a breeze. Not a cloud was in the sky—the sea was like glass. The sweeps were therefore again manned, and she advanced as fast as they could urge her towards the approaching line. The pirates came on, thinking that she would fall an easy prey into their hands.
“Reserve your fire, my lads, till we are close to them,” cried the captain. “Now give it them.” The broadsides of the brig were poured into the junks, which had ranged up on either beam, with terrible effect. One junk went down, and another was left without a scull to impel her, and with a third of her crew killed or wounded.
Still the pirates were undaunted. On they came, again to receive another broadside. But one now remained. The junks moved away to a short distance, to hold a consultation, it seemed. The result was to renew the attack on the brig.
“We’ll give our last dose, lads, to that big fellow, who is, I suppose, their admiral,” cried Jack, who had taken command of the guns on one side, in place of the lieutenant who was lolled.