Part 16

Jones's man seemed to be giving the most trouble, so I tore up a handful of coarse grass and stuffed it in between his jaws. Then, Jones holding him by the neck all the time, I unwound a long sash or belt he had round his waist and bound his arms. Jones bound his feet together with his knife lanyard, and he lay perfectly still like a log, not making a sound.

Then I crept over to help the Commander, but his man was as limp as a rag, and it was an easy job to gag him and secure his arms and legs.

"Now for the boat, boys," whispered the Commander, and we crawled to the landing-place, keeping well down so as not to show up in the light from the fire. We wriggled along, got hold of the boat's painter, hauled the boat alongside, and slid over the side into her.

There was a pair of oars in the boat and some rude rowlocks, but good enough. I was just going to shove her off into the stream when the Commander gave a chuckle, as if he had had a sudden inspiration, and said softly: "Get her close in to the bank. That's it; now haul her along."

We hauled hand over hand till we came opposite the spot where the two sentries lay gagged and bound. The Commander and Jones sprang ashore, leaving me alone in the boat, and presently reappeared out of the darkness and bundled first one and then the other into the bottom of the boat, both sliding down like sacks of potatoes.

We then let the boat drift down with the ebb tide, which was already setting out strongly, till the Commander with a couple of strokes sent her in under the bank again, where we lay in absolute darkness just above the landing-place.

"What is he going to do?" I thought. He kept chuckling to himself, so I knew that everything was all right; but why did he not get away as quickly as he could? I was tremendously anxious to know, and expected every moment that one of the fellows at the bottom of the boat would commence yelling.

We waited there, crouched down beneath the bank, till we could hear the guard-boat coming back. It ran alongside the other landing-stage, the crew talking sleepily. Presently the light came down the zigzag path again, jerking more than ever, and the steam-boat shot across into the light of the sentry fire and bumped against our jetty. It was hooked on, the bowman helped the European up the steps, and then, of course, the sentries were discovered to be missing.

The flow of language was pretty strong, I can tell you, and the European staggering about in drunken anger round that glowing fire was not a pleasant sight. He called out to the coxswain, and that man jumped ashore. Why he wanted him was very easy to see, for he could hardly stand without support, and leant heavily on him. Like this the three disappeared round the corner, and the boat was left with no one but the stoker in her.

"Now drop alongside and board," chuckled the Commander. "You take the helm, Jones, I'll manage the stoker, and Glover, you cast off the ropes."

In a moment we had shot out from the bank, and were alongside the steam-boat before the scared stoker knew we were there. The Commander laid him out in the bottom of the boat with a crack over the head with a stretcher he had found in the boat. Jones jumped aft, secured the boat's painter, unhooked the stern rope, and got hold of the helm. I sprang across her bows and unhooked the bow rope, the Commander opened the steam-valve, the propeller flew round (it went astern for a moment, but the Commander found the reversing-lever and threw it over for "ahead"). I shoved her bows off for all I was worth, nearly falling overboard doing it, and by the time I had recovered myself we were away with the boat, and our two gagged sentries, towing behind us.

Jones steered her bows round till we were in the middle, and then I wondered how ever we were going to find our way through the twisting channel.

The tide was sluicing us out as fast as it had borne us in that morning. The glare of the fire was shut out as we rushed round the corner into the channel, into absolute pitch darkness. You could almost feel the intense darkness, and I was horribly scared lest we should smash into a rock, so hung on like grim death for fear of being knocked overboard.

But then the Commander stopped the engines, and we simply drifted between the wall faces of those two forts, only standing by to shove her off if she had hit up against anything. But we were well in the middle, well in the grip of the current which was running like a millstream, swinging us round and round like a cork, and all we could do was to hold our breath and trust to being safely swept out to sea.

The only noise was the bubbling of the current, till suddenly the stoker in the bottom of the boat let fly a most piercing yell which echoed from side to side. The Commander was on top of him in a moment, and must have caught him by the neck. We could see some lights moving overhead. Somebody called out, and I jumped aft to help the Commander.

"Go back, Glover, and stoke; shove a little coal on at a time. I can manage him, and we shall want all our steam when we get outside."

I had never done such a thing before in my life, but it wasn't difficult to find a shovel, and I lifted the furnace door open, and by the light of the furnace saw where the coal was stored. I threw some on, as far back as I could, and shut up the door again, but already the alarm had been given. On each side of us I could hear men shouting and see lights hurrying up and down, and that one flood of light from the open door must have just showed them where we were.

Sentries began letting off rifles, and the shouting redoubled.

We were half-way through by this time. We began to feel the motion of the sea beneath us, and, unless they had a search-light ready, or we ran on a rock, we were almost out of danger.

They _had_ not a search-light ready, and we _never_ ran into a rock, but in two minutes knew by the dancing of the steam-boat and the wall of blackness that appeared behind us that we were clear of the channel and out at sea.

Suddenly the darkness was lit by vivid flashes and with horrid ear-splitting bangings--the batteries commenced firing at us from both sides of the entrance.

I was horribly frightened at first, for I thought that they must be able to see us, but I was quite wrong--they were simply firing blindly. One little shell hit the water behind us, and, bursting, showed us up for a second, but nothing else came near, and in a minute or two they ceased firing. The Commander opened out the steam, and the little steam-boat jumped nimbly along, dancing about like a duck, and taking in a lot of spray over her bows as she breasted a tide rip[#].

[#] Tide rip. This is a jumbling sea caused by the wind blowing against a strong tide.

We ran out of the tide rip in a short time, and then the stoker began groaning again, so we bound his legs and arms with rope so that he should not jump overboard. As we were doing this a search-light began sweeping the sea, then another from quite a different quarter, and we knew that Mr. Parker and Mr. Lang were looking for us.

The lights swept past us once or twice, lighting us up sufficiently for us to see each other's faces, but they were too far off for the destroyers to spot us, and presently they switched off and we were in darkness again.

With the danger over I began to feel how frightfully hungry and thirsty I was, and how cold. My feet and legs were warmed by the furnace fires, but the cold spray had soaked me through and through.

Perhaps the Commander was feeling the same, for at length he said, "I'm not going' to stay out here all night," and told Jones to steer towards where we had seen the nearer search-light.

I threw on some more coal. The glow of the fires did not matter now, and we rummaged round and found a lantern, but there was no candle in it.

Then the Commander handed me an oil-can, and I threw some of it through the furnace door, shutting it again very quickly. There was a great rush of smoke, and a flame shot out of the funnel three or four feet high.

It lasted only a few seconds, however, and then I threw in another, and then a third lot of oil.

"They've seen us, sir," Jones sang out. "One of them has hoisted position lights." And, sure enough, two bright little lights, one above the other, shone out.

Jones steered towards them, a search-light began sweeping round, swept past us, came back again, and steadied itself on us for a few seconds. We all yelled as hard as we could and blew the whistle, the light was switched off, and in a couple of minutes the black outline of one of the destroyers appeared as we ran alongside in her lee.

The crew cheered wildly, strong arms helped us on board, and by the light of a lantern I saw the cheery red face of Mr. Parker and Toddles too, of all people, looking white and scared.

They took us down below into the warm ward-room, got our things off, wrapped us in hot blankets, and gave us food.

Pat Jones was brought down too, much against his will, for there was no fire anywhere else, and we three sat and warmed ourselves and ate, till I slid off my chair, coiled myself in a corner next the stove, too sleepy even to answer Toddles's questions, and went to sleep. What a sleep that was!

*CHAPTER XIX*

*Cummins Captures One Gun Hill*

Cummins will Take the Risk--A Landing-Party--Glover Lands as A.D.C.--A Night Landing--Climbing Up-hill--We Rush the Hilltop--The First Mistake--Preparations for Defence--We are Discovered

When the dinghy with Commander Cummins, Glover, and the petty officer Jones had disappeared into the gloom, "No. 3" went back to her usual position for the night.

As dawn was breaking Mr. Parker brought her back opposite the forts, and waited with steam raised for full speed, in order to dash off out of range directly the Commander returned from spying out the forts. As the shadowy, indistinct outlines of the island became clearer, and the low-lying rocks at the entrance gradually took on a definite shape, he and Collins looked anxiously for the return of the dinghy, but could see no sign of it whatever.

He still maintained his position in the hope that the Commander was lurking behind some rock, and therefore was invisible from the destroyer, until the light gradually became so strong that he was himself able to localize the positions of most of the guns, and almost immediately afterwards knew by the running to and fro, and the shouting of men in the batteries, that "No. 3" had been observed from the two forts.

With his hand on the engine-room telegraph, Parker waited in the most keen suspense, and it was not till the forts opened fire and twice nearly struck "No. 3" that he recognized the uselessness of remaining where he was, and the imminent risk of being sunk, rang for "full speed ahead", and darted out of danger.

It was these shots which the Commander and Glover had heard from the rocky ledge inside the harbour.

To remain anywhere near the entrance was impossible, and Parker knew that the dinghy itself dare not put off from land in daylight, so, trusting that the Commander would find means of concealing himself during the day and of escaping next night, he had steamed to the rendezvous and reported the events of the night to Captain Helston.

Helston's discomfiture was great, and his mind all the more perturbed, because on Cummins he now undisguisedly relied for the successful termination of his schemes, and, in his absence, was unable to suggest any course of immediate action.

Nothing was done, though the squadron, as may be imagined, kept anxious eyes on the entrance to the harbour during the whole day, and vainly hoped to see the little black dinghy shoot out from the land, standing by, with guns trained on the forts, to open fire and cover its escape.

With feelings of the greatest anxiety, anxiety shared by every officer and man in the squadron, the bigger ships drew off again at night and left the two destroyers to return inshore, with extra injunctions to keep a good look-out.

The relief next morning when "No. 3" joined the rendezvous, towing the two pirate boats and signalling that she had the Commander's party on board uninjured, was therefore very great, and when the Commander steamed alongside the _Laird_ in the captured steam-boat, her crew, scenting some extraordinary adventure, broke into cheers as the little man complacently climbed the accommodation-ladder and reported himself to Captain Helston, who was nervously awaiting him on the quarterdeck.

They went down below immediately, whilst officers and men crowded round the after gangway and along the side to get a view of the steam-boat--the first trophy they had won from the pirates--and to ask rapid questions from the blue-jackets of "No. 3", who now formed her crew.

"We don't know nothing about it," said the temporary coxswain. "We sees a flare, they having thrown oil on the fires, and turns our search-light on 'em, and in a few minutes alongside she comes as cool as you please--the Commander working the engines 'imself, Mr. Glover adoing stoker, an' Pat Jones a-steering of 'er, with a boat be'ind 'em chock-full o' 'arf-dead Chinamen."

"What has become of the dinghy?" somebody asked.

"It ain't come back, that's all we knows, an' ever since we've been bobbing about in this 'ere craft on our lonesome."

Meanwhile, down in the Captain's cabin, Cummins was giving an account of all that had happened since he had left the _Laird_. Helston's face dropped when he mentioned the 12-inch gun mounted on the hilltop, but the Commander with a decisive gesture and a glitter in his eyes said: "That is the key of the whole island, sir, and I'm going to capture it to-morrow morning if you will let me. After getting back to 'No. 3' I took a short rest, and, an hour before sunrise this morning, put a crew into the steam-boat, saw that they had plenty of coal and water, left them in charge of the other boat we had captured, and went round in 'No. 3' to the south of the island, to the foot of the hill. The sea was quite calm, and I went inshore in a Berthon boat, discovered a place where I can land, waited till there was enough light for me to make certain that it was possible to scale the hill-slopes, and then came away again, without, as far as I know, being seen. I steamed back, picked up the steam-boat and joined you. That is the reason why I am rather late at the rendezvous. If you give me fifty men, sir, I will scramble up and capture that gun without firing a shot.

"Risk, sir!" he continued as he saw indecision and doubt in Helston's face; "there are no risks. At the worst I can but destroy the gun and come back. At the best I can maintain myself there till you can reinforce me, and then we have the whole island at our mercy. These Chinese are not soldiers, sir, they are mere coolies, and will never face us. The men on board the ships are probably not much better."

Cummins with all his skill had made two mistakes. The gun, as you will learn later, did not effectively command the whole harbour, and the coolies were not by any means to be despised.

The Commander had all his plans cut and dried. Fifty men, with two days' rations in their haversacks, were to go aboard "No. 3" at sunset. Two hours before sunrise next morning he would land them at the foot of the hill, scramble up, and rush the gun. During this time "No. 2" was to demonstrate in front of the entrance, play her search-light on the forts, fire her guns, and distract their attention.

At daybreak the _Sylvia_ was to be close in under the foot of the hill and be prepared to land another fifty men from the _Strong Arm_, with the _Sylvia's_ two Maxim guns, plenty of ammunition, water, and provisions.

If the first party did not succeed in capturing the gun, or, after having captured it, could not maintain their ground, Cummins would fall back under cover of the guns of the _Sylvia_ and "No. 3", destroying the big Chinese gun, if possible, before he left.

If, however, he found himself able to maintain his position on the top of the hill, he would signal for the _Strong Arm's_ party to land.

"Once get that gun to bear on their ships and we shall drive them out to you, sir," he concluded, "and I have no fear of the result then."

"With a hundred men away," answered Helston doubtfully, "it may not be so easy."

"I shall take the marines, sir; none of the big guns are manned by them, either on board here or on board the _Strong Arm_. You know they have complained often enough about that; but I have always had this eventuality in my mind, and they will, therefore, not be so much missed in a general action."

Helston paced nervously up and down his cabin. "What will happen if the weather breaks?"

"It all depends on the weather, sir, I allow that, but such a risk one must face, and personally I am prepared to face it. Remember that you have but a month to capture this island."

"I know it, Cummins, I know it," replied Helston; and then turning suddenly with some of his old fire and animation said, "I tell you what, I'll go myself."

This was the last thing in the world that Cummins wanted.

"There'll be a lot of climbing, sir, and with your disabled arm you will be extremely handicapped; and when I drive these fellows out to sea your place will be aboard your ship in command of your squadron."

"Yes, yes, you are right; you always are, for the matter of that," he added bitterly, and his voice rising as the excitement of coming action elated him. "We shall both get our promotion. I promise you that if I get mine you shall have yours."

Lowering his voice he added, "You said the other day, Cummins, that there was not much chance of winning a wife here. I don't talk about these things, but my promotion would win me a wife."

"I think mine would also, sir--I pray it would," answered Cummins in a grave voice. Both men shook hands for a moment--dropped them--Cummins stuffed his into his pockets--both looked foolish.

"By the way, sir," stammered the Commander confusedly, "I never told you that one of these prisoners was dead when we took him out of the boat last night. It was the man Jones caught around the neck. I rather fancy young Glover, in gagging him, stuffed grass down his throat. We dropped him overboard. Glover does not know the real cause."

"Better not tell him," said Helston.

Jenkins interrupted further conversation by announcing breakfast.

* * * * *

The news that a party was to be landed quickly spread through the squadron, and there was intense excitement on the lower deck and the most extraordinary rumours. The yarn spread that the Commander, Glover, and Jones had cut their way through the whole of the pirates, disabled the guns in the forts, killed any number of men (sometimes as few as ten were mentioned), and after running the most awful perils had captured the steam-boat from alongside the _Hong Lu_ and brought her and a host of prisoners out under fire. When they knew that the Commander himself was going in charge of the party, every man and boy wanted to go with him, and every few minutes men would knock at his cabin door and say, scratching their heads and shuffling their feet uneasily, "Please, sir, begging your pardon, sir, but I'd be much obliged if you'd give me a chance ashore, sir."

All day long the equipment of the party was being prepared, rations stowed, water-bottles and water-breakers filled, leather gear fitted, pouches filled with ammunition, and the thousand and one requirements of a landing-party carefully arranged.

During the forenoon the Commander, accompanied by A Tsi, had gone across to "No. 3" and interviewed the prisoner.

From the sentry whom he had knocked on the head (he had not throttled him as had Jones his man) he learnt that a broad path ran right along the crest of the hill and led straight towards the gun. As far as the man knew--and he seemed quite willing to tell all he knew--there were no earthworks round the gun, and no guard was left there at night.

Before he went back to the _Laird_ he asked Glover if he would care to land with him as his "doggy", as they call a commander's A.D.C. in the navy.

"Ra--ther," said Glover, dancing with joy, and went joyfully back with him to the _Laird_ to make preparations, and only too delighted to be able to relate to his chums his adventures of the last twenty-four hours.

Later in the day he could be seen, surrounded by his admiring and envious mess-mates, wriggling from side to side to get glimpses of himself in the broken remnants of the looking-glass in his sea-chest cover.

He had his haversack, water-bottle, and field-glasses slung from one shoulder, a rolled-up blanket went round the other, a revolver holster hung from his cartridge-belt, and a carefully sharpened cutlass (in place of a dirk) was at his side.

Quite a formidable object he looked, and he admired what he could see of himself immensely.

Two things marred his perfect happiness. One was, that neither Mellins nor Toddles was going to land; the other was, that he had to leave behind the greater part of his home-made cake.

"An ill wind that blows nobody any good," said Mellins gloomily, as he transferred the remainder to his own chest.

* * * * *

Directly it was dark the landing-party "fell in" on the quarter-deck. Helston made them a little speech, and then they were sent across to "No. 3", the rest of the ship's company crowding aft to see them over the side and wish them luck. Helston did not like the look of the weather, and said so; Cummins did not either, but kept that to himself, and only wanted to get away from the ship before orders were countermanded. For once he was as nervous as a woman. Directly, however, "No. 3" steamed away in the dark and had lost touch with the Flag-ship, all fear and anxiety left him, and he could have whooped for joy.

He called the men aft, said a few words to them, explained exactly what he wanted them to do, and finished by saying: "You have ten hours to get through aboard here. Sleep, boys, sleep all you can; you'll want it before you've finished."

But the marines were all young men--most of them Cockneys; not one had ever been under fire before, and the prospects of a fight at daybreak made sleep impossible for them. In little groups they lay down wherever they could find shelter from the cold night wind, smoking their pipes and talking with subdued excitement.

The officers lay on the ward-room deck and tried to sleep, but even they failed to do so.

Cummins himself was on deck practically the whole night, for the sun had set behind a very angry-looking bank of clouds, and the breeze showed signs of increasing and veering to the south.

A strong southerly breeze would make it almost impossible to land on the southern shore of the island, and it was this tendency of the wind to veer to the south'ard which gave him so much anxiety.

At two o'clock in the morning it was blowing quite fresh from the south-west. It was raining very heavily, with strong gusts of wind, and the outlook was most unpromising.

Parker, in dripping oil-skins, reported the barometer still falling, and for a while Cummins almost decided to abandon the enterprise.

Fortunately the wind, an hour later, went right round to the north-west, the stars came fitfully out, and a young moon, in the intervals of drifting clouds, gave light enough to see occasionally the outlines of the island.

"Carry on, Parker, the elements are with us," chuckled the Commander.

"They won't be for long, sir; the glass is still falling."