Chapter 7: The Fight With The Prahus.
Very frequently, in the days that followed, William Gale and hisfriend Hans talked over the possibility of effecting an escape; butthe difficulties appeared almost invincible. The various villageswhich, so far as the boys could understand, were scattered at somedistance apart, had little dealings with each other; and indeed,were frequently engaged in feuds. The particular people with whomthey lived had nothing whatever to do with the sea. They used--atleast so the boys understood, by their signs--to fish, at one time;but they had been robbed of their boats, and maltreated, by some ofthe cruising tribes who lived in villages on the coast, or oncreeks and rivers.
The possibility of escape seemed small, indeed. To escape they mustget on board a ship and, to do this, they must first go out to sea;and this could only be done in a boat of their own, or in one ofthe piratical prahus. The latter course could not be thought of,for the coast pirates were bloodthirsty in the extreme and, evencould they change their residence to one of the seaside villages,and gain the friendship of the inhabitants, they would be no nearerto their end. For as these go out to attack, and not to trade withEuropean ships, there would be no chance of escaping in that way.
Upon the other hand, they might build a boat of their own; but theyconsidered it improbable that the Malays would allow them todepart, for they evidently regarded their presence as a prodigy;and revered them as having miraculously arrived, at the moment whena great danger threatened the village. But, even should they beallowed to build a boat and depart, they knew not whither to go.They knew nothing of navigation, and were ignorant of the geographyof the Archipelago; and the chances of their striking upon the oneor two spots, where, alone they could land with safety, were sosmall that it would be madness to undertake the voyage.
For six months they lived quietly in the Malay village. The peopleinstructed them in the use of their blowguns, in which they arewonderfully skilful; being able to bring down a bird, sitting on alofty bough of a tree, with almost an unerring accuracy. They alsotaught them to shoot with the bow and arrow, and they found thatthe natives used the roots of various kinds of plants for food. Thetime did not pass unpleasantly and, had they known that it wouldlast but a few months, only, they would have enjoyed it much.
At last, after much deliberation, they determined that theywould--as a first step towards escape--construct a little boat,under pretense of wanting to fish. Accordingly one day, when outwith the chief and two or three of his men in the direction of thesea, they pointed there, and signified that they wished to gothere--for they had picked up a good many Malay words. The chiefshook his head, but they insisted in so authoritative a manner thathe gave way, and followed them.
When they reached the shore, they made signs that they wanted toconstruct a boat. Again the chief shook his head vehemently; andenforced his meaning by pointing along shore, and going through theaction first of rowing, then of fighting--intimating that theywould certainly be killed, if they ventured out, by the fiercecoast tribes. The boys nodded, to show that they understood what hewished to say but, pointing to the water a few yards from shore,went through the action of fishing; then, burdening themselves withimaginary fish, they pointed to the village, and showed that theywould supply it with food.
The Malays talked for some time among themselves. They had so vasta respect for the white men that they did not like to thwart theirwishes. The thought, too, of a supply of fish--of which they hadbeen long deprived owing to their feuds with some of the coastvillages--also operated strongly in favor of their yielding anassent and, at last, the chief made signs that he agreed and,pointing to the village, intimated that assistance should be givenin building a boat.
The next day, accordingly, ten or twelve men came down to the shorewith them. A tree was felled, the ends were pointed, and the wholeformed roughly into the shape of a canoe. Fires were lighted on thetop and, by dint of flame and ax, a hollow was dug out. Theoperation lasted three days, the men having brought provisions withthem, so as to avoid making the journey--two and a half hourslong--to and from the village each day. The boat, when finished,was but a rough construction; and would have excited the mockery ofany of the coast villagers, as they are expert boat builders.Still, it was amply sufficient for the purpose for which it wasintended--namely, for fishing inside the line of reefs.
It was heavy, and paddled slowly; and the lads had a strongsuspicion that the Malays had purposely made it more clumsy andunseaworthy than need be, in order that they should have notemptation to attempt a distant journey in it.
There was no difficulty about lines, the Malays being skilled inmaking string and ropes from the fibers of trees. The hooks weremore difficult but, upon searching very carefully along the shore,the lads found some fragments of one of the ship boats; and inthese were several copper nails which, hammered and bent, wouldserve their purpose well. The lines were ready on the day the canoewas finished and, as soon as she was launched, the chief and one ofthe other Malays, and the boys, took their seats in her.
The natives paddled her out nearly to the edge of the reef. Fourlines, baited with pieces of raw birds' flesh, were thrownoverboard. A few minutes passed--rather anxiously for the lads, whowere most desirous that the fishing should be successful, so as toafford them an excuse for frequently pursuing it. Then there was abite; and Hans, who held the line, found that it taxed his strengthto haul in the fish which tugged and strained upon it. When it wasgot into the boat, it proved to be some fourteen pounds in weight.By this time two of the other baits had been taken and, in lessthan an hour, they had caught upwards of thirty fish, most of themof considerable size.
The natives were delighted and, paddling to shore, the burden wasdistributed among the whole party, with the exception of the chiefand the two whites. Before starting, a young tree was cut down andchopped into lengths of a few feet each; and on these rollers thecanoe was hauled high up the beach. Then the party set out for thevillage; where their arrival, with so large a supply of food,occasioned great rejoicing.
After this, the boys went down regularly, every day, to fish. Atfirst three or four of the natives always accompanied them, underpretense of carrying back the fish; but really, as they thought, tokeep a watch over them. To lessen their hosts' suspicions,sometimes one or other stayed in the village. As time went on, thesuspicion of the Malays abated. The number of the guard waslessened and, finally, as the men disliked so long a tramp, some ofthe boys were told off to accompany the white men, and assist inbringing back their fish. They were in the habit of starting soonafter daybreak, and of not returning till late in the evening;accounting for their long absence by pointing to the sun.
The fishing was always performed immediately they reached thecoast. When they had caught as many as they and the boys couldcarry, these were placed in a large covered basket; which was sunkin the water close to the shore, to keep the fish in good conditionuntil they started. Then they would paddle about within the reefor, during the extreme heat of the day, lie in the boat, shaded bybunches of palm leaves. The Malay boys--who were set on shore afterthe fishing--were left alone; and amused themselves by bathing, orpassed the time asleep under the trees.
After the first day or two, it had struck the boys that it wasdangerous to leave the canoe high on the sand; as it would beobserved, even at a distance, by a passing prahu. Consequently adeep trench had been dug from the sea, far enough up to allow thecanoe, when floating in it, to lie below the level of the beach.Before leaving her she was, each day, roughly covered with seaweed;and might, therefore, escape observation by any craft passing at ashort distance from the shore.
In their expeditions along the reef, the boys discovered a passagethrough it. It was of about double the width of a ship, and ofamply sufficient depth to allow a vessel of any size to cross. Atall other points, for a distance of a mile or two either way--whichwas the extent of their excursions--the reef came very near to thesurface; its jagged points, for the most part, showing above it.
Sev
eral months passed, and still no sail which promised a hope ofdeliverance had shown over the surface of the sea. Scarce a daypassed without their seeing the Malay prahus passing up and downthe coast; but these always kept some distance out, and caused nouneasiness to the fishermen. They had, during this time, completedthe hollowing out of the boat; until her sides were extremely thin,and she was so light that she could be paddled at a high rate ofspeed.
They were both now expert with the paddle; and felt that if, in alight wind, a vessel should be seen off the coast, they would beenabled to row out and reach her. It might be, they knew, months oreven years before such a ship could be seen. Still, as there weremany vessels trading among the islands, at any moment an occurrencemight arise.
One afternoon, they had been dozing under their leafy shade whenWill, who first awoke, sat up and uttered a cry. Almost abreast ofthem, and but a quarter of a mile outside the reef, was a largebrig. The wind was light and, with every stitch of canvas set, shewas making but slow progress through the water. Hans leaped up,echoed the cry and, seizing their paddles, they rowed with alltheir strength away to the opening through the reef; passedthrough, and headed for the ship.
They now saw what they had not, at first, observed. At a distanceof some three miles astern were five large prahus, with their sailsset, and the banks of oars rising and falling rapidly. The brig waschased by the pirates.
The boys rested on their paddles, for a moment.
"They are more than a match for her, I am afraid," Will said. "Whatdo you say, Hans, shall we go on, or not?"
Hans made no reply. He was never quick at coming to a decision.
"We had better go," Will went on. "We can see whether they mean tofight, or not."
The boys were naked to the waist--for the thorns of the forest hadlong since torn in pieces the shirts which they had on, when theylanded from the wreck--and their skins were bronzed to a deepcopper color Still, they differed in hue from the natives of theisland; and the men on board the brig regarded them with somesurprise, as they approached it.
"Throw us a rope!" Will shouted as they neared her.
There was a cry of surprise from the crew, at being addressed inEnglish; but a rope was thrown, and the boys soon sprang on board.They saw, at once, that the ship was an English one.
"Hallo! Where do you spring from?" asked the captain.
"We were shipwrecked here, ten months ago," Will said, "and havebeen living with the natives."
"At any other time, I should have been glad to see you," thecaptain said; "but just at present, if you will take my advice, youwill get into your canoe and row on shore again.
"As you see," and he pointed to the prahus, "we are chased and,although I mean to fight to the last--for there is no mercy to beexpected from these bloodthirsty scoundrels--I fear the chances aresmall."
Will looked round and saw that the six cannons which the brigcarried--for vessels trading in the Eastern Archipelago are alwaysarmed--had already been loosened ready for action; and that a groupof men were at work mounting a long gun, which had just been raisedfrom the hold. Knowing the number of men that the prahus carried,Will felt that the chance of a successful resistance was slight.
There were about eighteen men on deck--a number larger than thebrig would carry in other seas, but necessary in so dangerous atrading ground as this. The prahus, however, would each carry fromeighty to one hundred men; and these, attacking at once fromopposite sides, would be likely to bear down all opposition.
Suddenly an idea occurred to him.
"Look, sir, there is a passage through the reef, there; with plentyof water and width enough for your ship. I can take her through.There is no other passage, for some distance. If you take herinside, and lay her across the channel, the prahus can only attackon one side; and you can place all your guns and strength there."
The captain at once saw the advantage of this scheme.
"Capital!" he exclaimed. "Take the helm at once, my lad.
"Ease off the sheets, men."
They were now nearly opposite the entrance, and the light wind wasblowing towards the shore. The captain ordered all hands to reducesail, only keeping on enough to give the vessel steerage way. Twoboats were lowered, and an anchor and cable passed into each and,as the brig passed through the opening, the rest of the sail waslowered.
The boats rowed to the reef, one on either side. The anchors werefirmly fixed into the rock and, one being taken from the head andthe other from the stern, the crews set to work at the capstan, andspeedily had the vessel safely moored, broadside on, across theentrance to the reef.
The Malay boats were now about a mile astern. They had ceasedrowing, when they saw the vessel headed for the land, supposingthat the captain was about to run on shore. When, to theirastonishment, they saw her pass the reef with safety, they againset to at their work.
The guns were now all brought over to the side facing the entrance,and were loaded to the muzzle with bullets. A number of shots,belonging to the long gun, were placed by the bulwarks; inreadiness to hurl down into the prahus, should they get alongside.The sailors--though determined to fight till the last--had, whenthe boys came on board, been making their preparations with thesilence of despair. They were now in high spirits, for they feltthat they could beat off any attempt of the enemy to attack them.
When the Malays were abreast of the ship, they ceased rowing anddrew close together, and evidently held a consultation.
The brig at once opened fire with her long gun, and the first shothulled one of the prahus, close to the water's edge.
"That's right, Tom," the captain said, "stick to the same craft. Ifyou can sink her, there is one the less."
Several more shots were fired, with such effect that the Malayswere observed jumping overboard in great numbers, and swimmingtowards the other boats--their own being in a sinking condition.The other four prahus at once turned their heads towards shore, androwed with full speed towards the ship.
They knew that the entrance, of whose existence they had beenpreviously unaware, was an exceedingly narrow one and, as theyneared the shore, could see--by the line of breaking surf--that itcould, at most, be wide enough for one to pass at a time,Accordingly one drew ahead and, discharging the cannon which itcarried in its bow, rowed at full speed for the entrance; anotherfollowing so close behind that its bow almost touched the stern.
"Train the guns to bear on the center of the channel," the captainsaid. "Let the three bow guns take the first boat, the other threethe second.
"Do you, Tom, work away at the two behind."
The prahus came along at a great rate, the sweeps churning up thewater into foam. The leading boat dashed through the channel, thesweeps grating on the rocks on either side. Her bow was but twoyards distant from the side of the ship when the captain gave theword. The three cannon poured their contents into her, sweeping hercrowded decks and tearing out her bottom. Great as was her speed,she sank below the water, just as her bow touched the side of theship.
Ten seconds later the command was again given; and a broadside, asdestructive, was poured into the second boat. The damage done wassomewhat less, and her bow reached the side of the ship. A dozenMalays sprang on board, as their boat sank under their feet; butthe sailors were ready and, with musket, pistol, and cutlass fellupon them, and either cut down or drove them overboard. The seaaround was covered with swimmers, but the ship was too high out ofthe water for them to attempt to board her; and the Malays at oncestruck out for the shore, the sailors keeping up the musketry fireupon them, until out of range.
The other two boats had not followed. The mate had plumped a shotfrom the long gun full into the bow of the first and--seeing thedestruction which had fallen upon their leaders--both turned theirheads and made for sea; the mate continuing his fire until theywere out of range, one shot carrying away the greater part of theoars, on one side of the boat previously struck. When at a distanceof upwards of a mile they ceased rowing and, for some time, layclose together. The men
of the injured boat were observed to bestopping the yawning hole in her bows, a few inches above the waterlevel; the other started off, at full speed, up the coast.
It was now evening, and there was scarcely a breath of wind. Themen crowded round the lads, and thanked them warmly for having beenthe means of saving them from destruction.
"I am afraid you are not out of danger, yet," Will said, as thecaptain shook him by the hand. "No doubt that boat has gone offwith the news and, before morning, you will have half a dozen freshenemies coming down, inside the reef, to attack you."
"If we had but a breath of wind, we might do," the captain said.
"I fear you will have none before morning; then it generally blowsfresh, for two or three hours. I don't know how far it is to thevillage which is the headquarters of the pirates. As far as I couldmake out, from the Malays with whom we have been living, it isabout six hours' walking; but the boats will row twice as fast as aman would walk through the forest. In that case you may be attackedat two or three o'clock in the morning, and you won't get thebreeze till after sunrise."
"Are there any other channels through the reef?" the captain asked.
"I do not know," Will replied. "We have never explored it very far,either way; but as I should think, from the action of the Malays,that they did not know of this, they might not know of any other,did it exist."
"Then," the captain said, "I will warp the brig out through thechannel again; and anchor her, stem and stern, across it outside.They will find it as hard to attack us, there, as they did before.Then, when the breeze comes, we will slip our cable and run for it.She is a fast sailer; and can, I think, get away from the pirates,even with their sails and oars. Besides, by shifting the long gunand two of the others to her stern, we can give it them so hotthat, even if they are the fastest, we may sicken them."
"I do not know, sir," Will said. "They would be likely to hangabout you, until the breeze drops; and then to attack you on allsides at once. If we could but keep them from coming through thechannel, in pursuit, we should be safe."
"Ah! But how on earth are we to do that?" the captain asked.
William Gale was silent for a minute or two.
"Have you plenty of powder on board the ship, sir?"
"Plenty--we use it for barter."
"It seems to me--" Will went on, "--that if, before sailing, youcould sink a couple of barrels of powder in the channel, with afuse to explode them, a few minutes after we had left; the Malayswould be so astonished, at the explosion, that they would notventure to pass through."
"Your idea is a capital one," the captain said, warmly; "but howabout a fuse which would burn under water?
"What do you think, Tom? Could it be managed?"
"I should think so, sir," the mate answered. "Suppose we take oneof those empty 30-gallon beer casks, and fill that up withpowder--it will hold ten or twelve of the little barrels--and thenwe might bung it up, and make a hole in its head. Over the hole wemight fix a wine bottle, with the bottom knocked out; and sofastened, with tow and oakum, that the water won't get in. Then wemight shove down through the mouth of the bottle, and through thehole below it into the powder, a long strip of paper dipped insaltpetre, to make touch paper of it. I don't know as a regularfuse would do, as it might go out for want of air; but there wouldbe plenty to keep touch paper alight.
"We could sling three or four 18-pounder shots under the bottom ofthe cask, to make it sink upright. Just before we slip our cables,we might lower it down with the boats; lighting the fuse the lastthing, and sticking in the cork. If we don't put too muchsaltpetre, it might burn for some minutes before it reached thepowder."
"It's worth trying, at any rate," the captain said; "but I fear itwould not burn long enough. I think that, instead of a bottle, wemight jam a piece of iron tube--six or eight feet long--into thehead of the cask, and cut a bung to fit it. In that way we couldget a good length of fuse."
This plan was carried out. A large cask was filled with powder; andan iron tube, three inches in diameter and six feet long, fittedinto it, and made water tight. A long strip of paper, after beingdipped in water in which gunpowder had been dissolved; was thendried, rolled tight, and lowered down the tube, until it touchedthe powder. A bung was cut to fit the top of the tube; a piece ofwash-leather being placed over it, to ensure its being perfectlywater tight. The top of the fuse was then cut level with the pipe.Several bits of iron were lashed to the lower end of the cask, tomake it sink upright; and the cask was steadily lowered into a boatlying alongside the ship, in readiness for use.
The sailors entered into the preparations with the glee ofschoolboys; but the machine was not ready until long after the shiphad been towed out again through the channel, and moored broadsideto it, just outside.