CHAPTER VIII.
During the rest of the day preparations were actively carried on for thenight's work. The fifty marines and a hundred bluejackets were to takepart in the landing expedition; the ammunition to be carried was rangedalong the deck, and the men told off for the various work there wasto be done, some being allotted to carry stretchers and surgicalrequirements for the wounded. The first lieutenant was to command theparty, having with him the third lieutenant, the master's mate, andthe two senior midshipmen; besides, of course, the marine officers. Dr.Horsley was also to accompany them. Some cartridges were made up withpowder and musket bullets for two of the brass guns captured, in orderthat, if the Malays succeeded in landing, they might meet with a hotreception. It was decided that no carriages should be taken for them,but that they should be simply laid on the sandbags.
The party on shore had kept up a fire all day at the forest. The yellsof defiance which at times rose showed that the Malays were in greatforce all round its edge. Towards evening all on shore returned tothe ship. As soon as it became absolutely dark, the anchor chain wasunshackled, and a buoy being attached to the end, it was noiselesslylowered into the water. Then the screw began to revolve, and the vesselgradually backed down the river. All lights had been extinguished, andno sound from the forest showed that the movement had been observed.A mile lower down the ship was turned, the screw began to revolve morerapidly, and at half speed she ran down to the junction of the twobranches of the river, and steamed up the other arm until within half amile or so of the village at the mouth of the creek. Then a light anchorwas let go, the boats were lowered, and the landing party took theirplaces in them; the oars were all muffled, and keeping close to theright bank of the river, they rowed up until past the village, and thencrossing, entered the mouth of the creek, and rowed up it until theyreached the spot where the landing had been effected on the previousnight.
Half a dozen men provided with well greased saws first landed under DickBalderson's command, and cleared a passage six feet wide to the path;then the landing began in earnest. The guns were first put on shore, andcarried bodily to the path; the rest of the marines and the bluejacketsthen landed, each carrying, in addition to his arms and ammunition,a gun cartridge, or a box of rifle ammunition, and a couple of emptysacks. As fast as they landed they proceeded up the path. Dick Baldersonled the way, and the men were directed to step as closely as they couldto each other. As they arrived near the pool, each deposited his burden,and then went back to assist to drag up the guns and carriages.
Scarcely a sound was heard during the operation. Their feet fellnoiselessly on the soft earth of the track, and no one a few yardsaway would have guessed that a hundred and fifty men were engaged inlaborious toil. There was far more noise than there had been the nightbefore on board the prahus, an incessant jabber being maintained, andvoices rang high in excitement as the men discussed the destruction ofthe town and the orders that had been received for a portion of them toland on the following morning and take part in the annihilation of thewhites if they entered into the forest. As soon as the two heavy gunswere placed upon their carriages, just behind the screen of bushes, thegreater portion of the men were sent back as far as the point wherethey had landed, there to fill the sacks with earth from the bank of theriver, a number of shovels having been brought for the purpose.
Several large bundles of bamboos, cut into lengths six feet long, andsharpened at both ends, had been among the articles taken up to thebattery, and while most of the men were engaged filling and carrying thesacks of earth, some were employed in constructing chevaux de frise, tenpaces on each side of the spot where the battery was being constructed.The bamboos were set diagonally a foot and a half into the soft earth,and bound together by being lashed to strong poles running along them.These fences extended from the edge of the bushes by the water to thetrees. The forest behind was so thick and entangled with creepers thatthere was little fear of an attack being made from that quarter.
Accustomed to work in the darkness, the sailors had no difficulty incarrying out the operation, and before morning broke the battery wascomplete. It was six feet high on the side facing the water, with twoembrasures for the guns, four feet high on the sides covered by thechevaux de frise. The front face was twenty-five feet in length, thesides forty. Morning was breaking as the work was finished, and breadand cold meat were served out, with a full ration of grog. By the timethese were consumed it was broad daylight; for there is little twilightso near the equator.
"Now for it, Dick," Harry Parkhurst said, as the lieutenant gave thesignal for all to rise and take their places. Filing out of the battery,the marines lined the bank on one side, and the sailors, other thanthose who were to work the guns, on the other. Some of the sailorsclimbed over the front wall and with their jackknives cut away theboughs in front of the guns. There was silence on board the prahus,where the Malays had dropped off to sleep a couple of hours beforedaylight. Mr. Ferguson himself superintended the laying of the guns,seeing that each was most carefully trained upon the waterline of aprahu. As the distance was some seventy or eighty yards, he had littledoubt that the two vessels aimed at would be sunk at once. When he wasthoroughly satisfied, he drew back and gave the order to fire.
The two reports sounded as if one, and were mingled with the explosionof shells as they struck the prahus exactly on the waterline. There wasa momentary silence, and then a wild hubbub of yells of surprise andfury, while a loud cheer broke from the British, as they saw the successof the shots. Almost instantly the two craft struck began to settledown, and in a minute disappeared, the water being covered with theheads of the crew, who were swimming to the other prahus. The gunsof these had evidently been kept loaded, for before the two eighteenpounders were again ready, a fire was opened by the four craft, one ortwo balls striking the sandbags, while the rest went crashing into theforest behind. Every shot from the British guns struck the prahus, butnone effected such damage as the first two fired.
"They are taking to their boats, Ferguson," the doctor, who was standingbeside him, said.
"Yes, but I fancy they have no thought of giving it up at present; theyare going to make a dash at us. They can still work their guns and spareany amount of men to attack us."
The next minute, indeed, a dozen boats, crammed with men, shot roundfrom behind the prahus.
"Grape now," the lieutenant ordered, while, at the same moment, themarines and seamen, who had hitherto been silent, opened fire from underthe bushes, beneath which they were enabled to obtain a view of what wasgoing on.
Two of the boats were sunk by the discharge of the grape; but theothers, without checking their course, pushed on.
"Quick, lads, give them another round before it is too late."
The guns were loaded with incredible quickness, and two more of theboats were shattered, their swarthy occupants striking out for theshore, making for the most part towards the battery, as did the boats.Twenty of the sailors and as many marines were at once called in fromthe bank to aid in the defense of the battery, and a desperate conflictwas presently raging here and along the bank, the Malays, swarming up,striving to force their way up through the embrasures, or to climb thesandbags; but as fast as they did so, they were cut down or bayoneted byits defenders. Those trying to land at other points were impeded by thebushes, and numbers were killed; but they pressed on so furiously thatat last Mr. Ferguson, who had been moving backwards and forwards alongthe line, thought it best to call the men in, and in a minute or twothe whole party were collected in the little fort, and ranged along thesides.
With furious yells the Malays came on, and although swept by volleys ofmusketry reached the bamboos, which they strove in vain to pluck upor climb. In the meantime the eighteen pounders had never ceased theirfire, the sailors working them steadily, regardless of the fight thatwas going on on either flank. Here the little brass guns did goodservice; each time they were fired the recoil sent them tumbling fromthe top of the sandbags, only, however, to be seized
, sponged, andloaded, by the four sailors in charge of each, and then lifted to theirplace again, crammed with bullets to the muzzle, in readiness to checkthe next charge of the Malays. Suddenly their yells redoubled, and wereanswered by similar shouts from the forest.
"The rajah's troops have come up," the first lieutenant said to themarine officer; "our position is getting serious. Do you think that wecould make our way back to the boats without great loss? We have sunktwo of their craft, have badly damaged the others, and inflicted veryheavy loss on them."
"It would be a very risky operation; but it might be done, Ferguson.Listen!"
There was a fresh outburst of shouts, this time on the path by whichthey had come. Evidently a number of the newly arrived Malays had struckinto it by some other track from the town.
"That settles it," the lieutenant said shortly; "we must fight it outhere. It is lucky we have a fair stock of ammunition, and can keep itup for some hours yet. You see, the sailors have not had to use theirpistols yet, and they will astonish those fellows if they do manage toscale the sandbags."
For another half hour the fighting continued. Again and again the Malaysfell back, but only to return to the attack with fresh fury, and thedefenders had been obliged to betake themselves more than once to theirpistols. The two heavy guns were now removed from their position to thesides, for the attack by boats had ceased entirely, and the destructionof the prahus was of less importance than the defense of the little fortfrom the attacks on its flanks. The operation began just as the Malaysmade one of their retreats, and by the time they returned, the guns wereplaced in their new position, their muzzles peeping out from among thesandbags, while the embrasures on the water face had been closed by bagstaken from the upper line. The effect of the fire at such close quarterswas to drive the Malays flying into the forest. Shortly afterwards thesound of chopping was heard.
"The beggars are trying to cut a path through the jungle to our rear,Dick," Harry Parkhurst said.
"Obstinate brutes! But I don't think much of that, Harry: they will geton well enough until they arrive within twenty or thirty yards of us,when we can pepper them so hotly that they will soon get sick of it."
At this moment there was the report of a heavy gun, and a shell crashedthrough the forest fifty yards in the rear of the fort. Loud yells ofrage and alarm rose from the Malays, while a hearty cheer broke from thedefenders of the fort. Closely following, came the sound of another gun,and then a rain of grape, some of which whistled over the fort.
"Keep yourselves well down behind the sandbags, men," LieutenantFerguson shouted; "the captain knows that we have shelter, and willsweep the Malays out of the forest round us. That shot must have donegreat execution among the Malays on the path between us and the boats."
The guns of the ship kept up a heavy fire, searching the wood for somedistance round with shell, and pouring volleys of grape into the treesnear the battery. Presently the fire ceased.
"I fancy they have all bolted, Dick," his comrade said; "after the firstfive minutes we have not heard a sound. I wonder what the prahus aredoing?"
A minute later the lieutenant said, "Mr. Morrison, take a dozen men andmake your way along the path until you get to the boats. I hope theyhave escaped. If they are within hail go on board, and report to thecaptain that we have sunk two of the prahus, and that for the presentthe Malays who have been attacking us have made off. Say that largenumbers of them have gone on board the four prahus, and that I am aboutto open fire upon them again."
As soon as the mate had left, parties of men were set to work to shiftthe guns to their old positions, and fire was again opened upon thepiratical prahus, who replied, as before, with their little guns. Avery few minutes later a shell flew overhead, and fell in the water nearwhere the craft were anchored. Another and another followed quickly.Intense excitement was manifest on board the prahus, and almostimmediately their cables were cut, oars got out, and at a great ratethey started down the creek.
"The place has got too hot for them altogether, Harry; they think itbetter to run the gauntlet of the ship's guns than to be sunk at theirmoorings."
Scarcely had the prahus issued from the pool, than the guns of the shipwere heard.
"I am afraid that some of them will get away, Harry. The beggars row sofast that there won't be time to give them more than one broadsideas they pass. If the ship is aground, which is likely enough, for thecaptain pushed up farther than we thought possible, they will be prettysafe when they have once got past her."
Presently the guns were heard to fire in rapid succession. Loud yellsand cries followed; then came shouts of triumph and defiance; thenall was still, save that a few cannon shot were discharged at regularintervals.
"They have got one of the guns round to fire over the stern, Dick.There, it has stopped now; evidently the prahus have got round the nextcorner. It is a pity that any of them should have escaped, and theywould not have done so if the Serpent had remained at the mouth of thecreek; but I suppose the captain became anxious at the continuation ofthe heavy firing here, and so came up to our help. It is lucky hedid so, for, though we might have beaten them off, they were in suchtremendous force that I fancy it would have gone hard with us in thelong run. I was beginning to think so myself, Harry."
Dr. Horsley had been busy enough from the time that the fighting beganin earnest. Ten men had been killed by balls that had passed through theembrasures, or by kris or lance wounds, and twenty-eight others had beenmore or less severely wounded. A quarter of an hour after the firingceased, Captain Forrest himself, with the mate, rowed into the poolin one of the cutters, and landed at the end of the path close to thebattery.
"I congratulate you on your success, Mr. Ferguson," he said, shakinghands with the first lieutenant; "it has been a very hot affair, and byMr. Morrison's report it was just as well that I decided to changemy plan and come up to your aid, though it has resulted in two of theprahus getting away."
"Then you sank two of them, sir?"
"No, indeed, we only sank one; the third went down just after we saw hercome out from the pool. Certainly we had not hit her, so that the honorof accounting for three out of six of the craft falls to you and yourparty. Well, Doctor, what is your report? I am afraid it is a bad one."
"Serious, indeed," he went on, after he had received the figures. "Stillit is much less than might have been expected from attacking such a hostof pirates. I am glad to hear that none of the officers are dangerouslywounded."
"Parkhurst had his forearm laid open with a cut from a kris, andBalderson had one of their spears through his ear. Dr. Horsley said ifit had been half an inch more to the left, it would probably have killedhim. Lieutenant Somers of the marines is more badly hurt, a spear havinggone through the thigh. It cut an artery. Luckily the doctor was closeto him at the moment, and clapped on a tourniquet, and then cut downto the artery and tied it. As he says, 'A delay of two minutes, and itwould have been all up with the young fellow.' Are the boats safe, sir?"
"Yes, the boat keepers pushed off a little way when the firing began inthe forest, and when they heard the shouts of a large party of theenemy coming along the path, they went out almost into the middle ofthe creek; and it was well they did, for many of the Malays came downthrough the path you cut, and would have riddled them with their spearshad they been within reach. The boat keepers acted very wisely; all ofthem got into the gig and towed the other boats astern, so that if theMalays came along, either in their prahus or in their boats, they couldhave cut them adrift and made a race of it down to the ship.
"Well, I think that there is nothing more to be done here. The men mayas well have a tot of grog served out, and then the sailors can marchdown to the landing place and bring up the boats and take the guns andwhat ammunition you have left, on board. Mr. Morrison will go backwith me to the ship; he has one of his arms broken by a ball from theprahus."
"I did not know that he was wounded, sir; he did not report it. I shouldnot have sent him if I had known it."
"It is just as well as it is, Ferguson; it will give me an opportunityof specially recommending him for promotion in my report. The assistantsurgeon temporarily bandaged his arm when he reached the ship."
"Is she afloat, sir?"
"No; I want you back as soon as possible. We shall have to get out theanchors and heave on them. We put on a full head of steam and drove hertwo or three hundred yards through the mud before she finally broughtup. I wanted to get as near to you as possible, in order to clear thewoods round you."
By two o'clock the whole ship's company were on board again, and setto work to get her off; but it was not until after some hours' exertionthat the Serpent was again afloat. She was at once turned round, steameddown to the mouth of the creek, and cast anchor opposite the village.