_ CHAPTER TEN. HOW BOB ROBERTS WAS NOT DROWNED
For a few minutes it was a question of whether the boat would be swamped or no, as she lay beneath the great bamboo screen, which completely paralysed the efforts of the crew. The prahu was still floating with the stream, and the boat being dragged along in her wake, while, awaking now to a sense of their assailants' position, the Malays hurriedly thrust out sweeps, and others fired, and hurled their spears, a couple of dozen of which stuck in the bamboo mat. Dick in the stern, and a couple of the men in the bows, however, began a steady fire at the prahu, loading as rapidly as they could, while the men amidships cast off the awkward canopy, and, half stunned, but panting with rage and excitement, the lieutenant once more gave his orders.
"Oars, lads!" he cried, "and give way. We shall have 'em yet."
"Boat ahoy!" came from out the darkness.
"Why, that's young Roberts, sir," cried Dick. "Ahoy-oy-oy."
"Help here!" came from the stern again.
"We shall lose the prahu," cried the lieutenant.
"But we must have Mr Roberts, sir," cried old Dick, excitedly. "Give the word, sir--starn all--and we'll overtake her arterwards."
"Starn all, my lads, and do your best."
"Ahoy!" came once more, faintly, out of the darkness.
"We're going away from him," cried the lieutenant. "Pull round, my lads," he cried, seizing the tiller. "Now then, steady. Be smart there with a boat-hook. Roberts, ahoy!"
"Help, help," came again, from somewhere astern now, for the poor fellow was growing weak.
For as he had plunged down, with the thought of the great reptiles uppermost in his mind, Bob Roberts had felt a chill of horror run through him that seemed for the moment to rob him of all power; but as he rose to the surface again, and felt that he could breathe, he struck out manfully in the direction of the firing; but in his confusion, after swimming for a minute, he found from the noise behind that he was making for the stockade, and he turned hastily to swim after the boat.
It was no light task, dressed as he was. He had a sword in his belt, and on the other side a revolver, and his first thought was to rid himself of them; but a strange feeling of dislike to parting with his weapons made him put off the act of throwing them away until he should feel that he was sinking; so, guided by the flashes of the pieces that were being fired, he swam lustily in the direction in which he felt the boat must be.
He called for help several times, but his voice was not heard by those to whom he appealed; and as he felt himself being left behind, a cold chill of horror once more seized upon him, making his limbs seem heavy as lead, and paralysing his efforts in a way that was terribly suggestive of death.
Thoughts of the great slimy monsters being at hand to seize upon him, sent his blood rushing to his face in a way that made him giddy, and for a few moments he felt half mad with fear; but calling upon his manhood, he mastered the nervous trepidation.
"'Taint English--'taint game," he cried aloud, with the water at his lip; and checking the frantic desire to beat the surface with his hands in the natural last effort of a drowning creature, he swam steadily on, hailing the boat at intervals, but more and more feebly, as his despair increased; for he felt that he was only a lad, and that his life was a mere nothing compared to a successful capture of the prahu.
"They have gone after her," he groaned, as he uttered a despairing hail. And then the bright light of hope seemed to cross the darkness, for he heard a shout in reply, and then other answering hails to his cry for help, and he knew now that it was only a question of holding out till the boat could reach his side.
Shouts came again and again out of the darkness, and he answered--each time more feebly, for his strength was ebbing fast. He could see the stars flashing in the water, and he fancied he could hear the splash of oars, and the sounds of voices; then, too, he heard the crackle of distant musketry, and the roar of one of the boat-guns. Then, as if he were in a dream, he could hear some one close at hand hailing him--but he could not answer now, only swim feebly on, with his clothes, and the weapons, and cartridges in his pouch, dragging him down.
Then the stars above, and the stars on the water, seemed to be blotted out, and he was in utter darkness--strangling, but swimming still, beneath the stream. Then he seemed to see the stars again in a dim way, and he heard a shout; but he could not reply, for all was dark once more; and lastly, in a dim misty state he felt a spasm, and a sensation of being dragged beneath the water, and he thought that one of the reptiles of the river had seized him; and then he knew that he was lying in the bottom of the boat, and someone was pouring brandy between his lips.
"I just ketched the glint of his white face under the water," said a voice which seemed to be Dick's, "and ketched hold of his jacket. It was a near touch, and no mistake."
"Give way, my lads, give way!" was the next thing Bob Roberts heard; and as if in a dream he made out that they were rowing fast in chase of the prahu, which, with all her sweeps out on either side, was going rapidly through the water, her object being to get down to the tidal way at the lower part of the river, where there were mangrove-fringed creeks and inlets by the hundred, offering her a secure hiding-place from her indefatigable assailant.
"We shan't never ketch her, sir," growled Dick.
"No," replied the lieutenant, sharply, "but we'll hang on to her to the last. How far are we now from the steamer?"
"Not two miles, I should think, sir."
"Make ready then, marines," he cried, "and fire after her; hit her, if you can. Two fire at a time--mind, slowly and steadily. They will hear it on board, and be on the look-out, and if they don't sink her as she goes by them, why, it's a wonder."
Almost directly after there was the report of a couple of rifles, and then two more at half-minute intervals, while right on ahead, in the darkness, they could hear the heavy beat of the prahu's sweeps, and knew that she was going more rapidly than they.
"How are you now, Roberts?" said the lieutenant, kindly.
"Coming round, Mr Johnson," said Bob. "Thank-ye for picking me up."
"Keep your thanks for to-morrow, Roberts," said the lieutenant, bitterly. "How vexatious to make such a mess of the affair?"
"There's another one a-coming, sir," said Dick, softly. "You can hear the oars beating right behind us, sir."
The lieutenant listened.
"There must be a great curve in the river here," he said, "one that we did not notice in the fog."
"Then it's a precious big curve, sir, that's all I can say," exclaimed old Dick; "for if that ain't t'other prahu coming down, with all sweeps out, I'm a Dutchman."
"They never can have failed the same as we have," exclaimed the lieutenant, listening. "No--yes--no. You are right, Dick, my man. Cease firing there. Make ready, my lads, and we'll plump every shot we have into this one as she comes abreast, and then lay the boat alongside, and board her in the confusion. Be ready, my lads, and then, you know, down with your rifles. Cutlasses must do it afterwards."
A few minutes of intense excitement followed, during which time every man sat with his finger on the trigger, listening to the regular beat of the prahu's long oars as she came sweeping down at a rapid rate, evidently bent upon making her escape, like her consort, out to sea.
"If we only had a bow gun," muttered the lieutenant. "No you be still, Roberts," he continued; "you are weak and done up."
"I think I could manage a rifle now, Mr Johnson," said the lad, with his teeth chattering from cold.
"I don't," was the abrupt reply. "Now, my lads, not a sound; we have a disgrace to wipe out, and this prahu must be ours."
By this time the long swift boat was rapidly approaching, quite invisible to the little party of English, but audible enough; and they waited eagerly till it seemed as if she was bearing down upon them, when, with a short, sharp warning first to be ready, the lieutenant gave the word _Fire_! when about fifteen rifles went off almost like one, their flashes lighting up the darkness for an instant, and displaying close upon them the long dark prahu, with a long bank of oars, coming down fast.
"Oars! Give way!" shouted the lieutenant; and almost as he spoke, the prahu changed her course so rapidly that there was but little rowing needed, for instead of avoiding them, the vessel came right at the English boat, trying to run her down, being so nearly successful that she ripped her down to the water's edge just by the bows. There was a crash of breaking oars; but the Malay boat dashed rapidly away, leaving the English helpless and sinking on the river.
"Catch this boat cloak," cried the lieutenant who was ready enough in the emergency. "Stuff it in, and one of you sit back against it."
"It'll take two on us, sir," cried the man, who rapidly obeyed orders, and to some extent checked the rush of water.
"Two of you begin baling," cried the lieutenant next; and then, as he saw that all their efforts would only just keep them afloat, "There, my lads," he said, "we've done our best. One more volley and then I think we had better run her ashore."
Another volley was fired, to give warning to the steamer that there was something extraordinary on the way, and then the boat's head was turned to the shore; but as they found that by constant baling they could just keep afloat, the lieutenant altered their direction, and they rowed on, with the gunwale nearly level with the water's edge, and proceeding very slowly, but ever carried by the stream nearer to the steamer and the isle.
"A nice night's work, Roberts," said the lieutenant dolefully, as they sat deep in the water that washed from side to side; "lost both prahus, and got the boat crippled."
"But we haven't lost any men, sir," said Bob, by way of comforting him.
"No; but several of the poor lads are wounded. There's only one thing that would give me any comfort for my ill-luck, Roberts, and that is to hear--"
"There's the 'Startler' a-talking to one, sir," cried Dick, forgetting discipline in his excitement, as the boom of a big gun not very far-off met their ears. "There she goes again, sir," he continued, as there was another shot, and another, and another, all showing that the captain had heard the firing and been prepared.
A couple more shots were heard, and then all was silent till the boat slowly drifted by the lights of the island, answering the sentries' challenges, and then sighting the lights and open portholes of the steamer, to whose side they managed to struggle, answering the challenges as they approached.
In spite of all their efforts, it was doubtful whether the boat could have floated another minute, but on reaching the side the falls were hooked on, and she was slowly run up to the davits, with the water rushing out, the lieutenant then reporting his ill-success to the captain.
"Not one man killed, though," he said.
"How many wounded?"
"Six, sir, but only slightly."
"Mr Johnson, I hope the other boats have done better," said the captain. "I'm afraid you will not get any promotion on the strength of this job."
"No, sir," said the lieutenant dolefully. "But did you sink either of the prahus?"
"Sink them, no," said the captain, testily. "I don't believe they were either of them touched; they went by us like the wind. There, go below all of you, and get into dry clothes." The captain went forward to see that the look-out was doing its best; while the prahus were safely making their way to a mud creek, where the chiefs who commanded them felt that they could laugh at any force the English might send to redeem the failure of the past night; and to work such mischief in the future as was little imagined at the time. _