The Three Midshipmen

by William Henry Giles Kingston

Terence and Alick, meantime, naturally felt very anxious for Jack’s safety. They shouted loudly his name.

“All right,” he sang out; “I have got a fellow, but he is as slippery as an eel, and very hard to hold. Lend a hand here, do.”

The tone of his voice showed that he was struggling hard with his prisoner. His friends dashed after him with their boats, but his own boat, of which Needham was coxswain, had already got up to him, and were hauling him and the Chinese on board.

“Look after the other two fellows. They are away there,” he shouted, never for a moment losing his presence of mind.

Alick’s boat darted after one, Terence’s after the other. It was not likely that the men could have got very far; but a black head at midnight on the world of waters is not very discernible. Murray, as his boat pulled on, kept his eyes about him on either side. He caught sight of a head. “There he is,” he cried, leaning forward and making a clutch at the pirate. A creese flashed up as he did so, and he got a cut in his arm which was intended for a more vital part. The next instant the man had disappeared; but as his object was to escape, and not to get drowned, he had to come up again to breathe. As he did so, he got his creese ready to give another plunge with it; but the seamen were not quite so green as he supposed, and this time they were ready with the boat’s stretchers, and, as he lifted up his arm, he got a blow which sent his formidable weapon to the bottom, and wellnigh broke his arm. This prevented him from diving, and the next instant he was, in spite of his struggles, hauled into the boat, and he found himself lashed with his hands behind him to the after-thwart. There was another prisoner to be accounted for. Terence told his crew not to make a noise as they went in chase. The man was the strongest of the three prisoners. He had taken a circuit, hoping thus to escape unobserved to the shore. It occurred to Terence that this was what very likely one of them would do, and thus before long he caught sight of the man’s head, as he swam rapidly through the water. “The fellow swims beautifully,” thought Terence, “I’ll let him enjoy himself a little longer.” The noise made on board the other boats deceived the Chinaman. He fancied that he was not pursued. “We must catch him now,” thought Terence, after an interval, and he made a sign to his men to give way, when a loud shriek was heard, the pirate’s arms were seen to rise up above his head, and then down he went, like a shot, beneath the waves. Terence shuddered. “Jack shark has caught him,” observed one of the crew, and as they pulled over the spot they could see the water still bubbling and agitated, as if some violent struggle was going on beneath its surface. Then all was quiet. The monster had dragged off his prey to be devoured at his leisure.

“I’m heartily glad it was not Jack Rogers,” said Terence, as on pulling back he recounted what had occurred.

“Thank you,” answered Jack. “It was certainly a terrific risk I ran; but as the fellow had escaped through my negligence, I was determined to catch him at all costs.”

How the pirates had managed to conceal their creeses was a wonder which no one could solve, though the seamen declared that they believed they had kept them hid away inside their throats, for they could not have had them anywhere else. After all the noise that had been made there was little hope of concealment, so Mr Cherry ordered the squadron of boats to pull out of the bay and to proceed farther along the shore to the eastward.

Scarcely had they got round the rocky point which had concealed them than they saw right before them a dozen or more dark objects, which, after watching for some time, they made out to be as many large row-boats. They hoped that they were not perceived; so Mr Cherry ordered them to pull back under the shadow of the cliff. On came the boats. It was pretty certain that they were pirates, and that by some means having discovered they were there, their purpose was to surprise them. The guns in the bows of the boats were loaded, as were the muskets which each man had by his side, and the oars were kept out, so that at a moment’s notice they might give way after the enemy. As Paddy remarked, “They looked like four huge centipedes ready to dart out on their prey.”

The row-boats must have been too far off at the time of the chase of the three prisoners to have heard the shouting, so they probably hoped to catch the British asleep. Mr Cherry was in doubt whether he should attack them unless they were aggressors. They might, after all, be only harmless traders. They glided on pretty rapidly. Soon they had rounded the point, and were making for the spot where the boats had been, when those on board them discovered the Englishmen. They stopped, and then came dashing on towards the point.