mychoice."
I told the sergeant.
"I don't want to lose sight of you, boy; but, of course, you will seemore of what is going forward if you go aboard the schooner, and youwill get more seamanship, too, than you will in this big ship."
I told Mr. Plumb, the next time I saw him, what the sergeant said.
"Of course, I knew he would," he answered, "and I will see about it,Jack."
Whether Master Dicky had anything to do in the matter or not, I do notknow; but I and Tommy Punchon were two of the boys selected to go onboard the schooner.
The whole squadron soon after sailed, and proceeded to the mouth of theCanton River, where they astonished the Celestials by blowing theirforts to pieces. The larger ships remained at the mouth of the river,while the smaller vessels, we among them, with a couple of steamers,were sent higher up. The Chinese did their best, of course, tobamboozle the diplomatists. However, those gentlemen saw enough to makethem advise all the foreign merchants living at Canton to leave theplace. They heard also that the Chinese had laid plans to destroy theEnglish ships, and that a large army was also collecting, to meet ourtroops, should they land. We, with several other small men-of-war,corvettes, and brigs, lay high up the river. Generally speaking, theriver is crowded with boats of every possible shape and fashion, movingup and down the stream. A vast number of people live in these boats,and merely go on shore occasionally to buy food, or to sell their fishor ducks, or the articles they may have brought from other places. Atthis time, however, not a boat was to be seen; they had all gone up thecreeks, out of the way of the barbarians. At length the sun setgloomily, the sky was overcast, and the darkness increased, till it wasdifficult to see far beyond the bowsprit end. Our people were allordered to remain on deck. The guns were loaded, and each man wasarmed. The boats were cleared, ready to be lowered as they hung at thedavits, at a moment's notice.
"Well, Jack, what do you think of it?" said Mr. Plumb, who came forwardwhere I was standing.
"I suppose something or other is going to happen," I answered, "but Idon't know what."
"Why, I will tell you," he said; "the Chinese think they are going tocatch a weasel asleep, but they are mistaken. They will find that theyhave only stirred up the British Lion with a long pole, and that he willnot only roar, but make a spring which will astonish them. I have beenanxious to have something to do, and I hope we are going to find it atlast."
Scarcely had he spoken, when the sentry from a vessel ahead of ushailed. He got no answer, it seemed, for he immediately fired.Directly he had done so, in the midst of the darkness, as it were, abright light burst forth, blazing away furiously, and revealing a numberof dark objects floating on the water. Instantly the drum sounded,beating to quarters. The Chinese had commenced their plan fordestroying the English ships by fire-rafts. The boats of the squadronwere seen immediately, pulling up the river, when, grappling the rafts,they towed them away clear of the ships. Some went on shore on onebank, some on the other. Some drifted down towards a village, thehouses of which they immediately set on fire.
Dicky Plumb had jumped into one of the boats, and I, without orders,followed him. We steered away towards one of the rafts which seemed tobe approaching the _Fawn_. Just as we got hold of it, it burst intoflames; but, in spite of the heat, we got it clear of the vessel, anddid not leave it till it was close in with the shore. And now, on allsides, were blazing up vast fires, some drifting about the river, otherson shore where the rafts had struck; their light exhibiting thepanic-stricken Chinese who had had charge of them, some trying to escapetowards the shore, others swimming down the stream, those who could notswim standing on the deck till driven overboard by the heat; all thetime a sharp fire being kept up at them by our marines, who, naturally,under such circumstances, showed them but little mercy. As the firstbody of fire-rafts had been towed clear, guns opened on us from theshore, the Chinese having erected several new batteries for thatpurpose. Now began the roar of artillery, though, in consequence of thedarkness, the Chinese, not being able to distinguish the vessels, tookbut bad aim. We also could only find out the whereabouts of theirbatteries by the light of their guns, and the reflection of the firefrom the burning houses on the shore. These showed us numerous Tartarofficers hurrying about, and endeavouring to rally and encourage theirmen to fight the guns. We managed, as did other vessels, to escapedamage, by alternately veering out cable and shortening it again, so asconsiderably to alter our position, and thus to deceive the Chinesegunners.
This sort of work continued till daylight. At length, when the sun rosein an unclouded sky, it exhibited to our sight a scene of havoc anddestruction on either side. On the banks were the wrecks of the stillburning fire-vessels; the batteries on shore knocked to pieces by ourshot; the suburbs of the town, and several of the villages, in flames;while, here and there, a spar knocked away on board the vessels, or someother trifling damage, showed how we had been employed during the night.One of our active little steamers, soon after daylight, was somedistance ahead, when a large junk made her appearance from round apoint, and began firing away. The steamer very quickly put the junk toflight, when, at a signal made, the boats of the squadron were orderedto proceed after her. In a few minutes, some twenty men-of-war's boatswere pulling away, as hard as the crews could lay their backs to theoars. I, as before, jumped into Dicky Plumb's boat, and she was awaybefore I was discovered. No sooner had we rounded the point I havespoken of, than a whole fleet of war junks and boats of all sorts werefound huddled together at no great distance. Instantly, we dashed atthem. Many of the junks had soldiers on board, who, as soon as they sawus coming, did their best to get on shore, shoving off in small boats asfast as they could leap into them. Some, in their hurry, felloverboard. A considerable number had thus made their escape by the timewe reached the scene of action. Some of the junks and boats werepulling away up the river. We, with other boats, made chase. The shotfrom the ships' launches quickly set many of the junks on fire. As soonas we got up to a junk, we examined her carefully, to ascertain ifanybody was on board, before we devoted her to the flames. In a shorttime, the whole water was covered with burning vessels, one after theother, those having powder on board blowing up with loud explosions. Inspite of our humane intentions, there are so many hiding-places on boarda Chinese junk, that nearly in every one several unfortunate fellows hadconcealed themselves. As the fires in creased, we saw them rushing upfrom below, where they would remain until no longer able to bear theheat on deck. Some then were seen to jump desperately overboard. Mostof these swam on shore without much difficulty; but others, whoapparently could not swim, remained clinging to the outside of the junkor the rudder. Here we saw them holding on till the junk blew up, orthe heat compelled them to leave their last refuge.
When we could, we took them on board, but there were so many junksburning together that this was not always possible, and consequently aconsiderable number must have perished. We had got alongside a boat,not knowing what was on board her, when Dicky Plumb leaped on to herdeck. I had followed him, when my eye caught sight of a little fizzingspot of light, just as if the end of a cigar had been thrown down. Isaw the fire slowly working its way on. In an instant, it occurred tome that it was a slow match. Seizing my friend by the arm, I leapedback into the boat.
"Hillo, Jack! what do you mean by that?" he exclaimed in an indignanttone.
"Shove off!" I shouted, "and pull away!"
The men guessed what it was, and the boat had not got ten yards off,when up went the Chinese craft, on board which we had been a momentbefore, shivered into a thousand fragments. There were a number ofsimilar boats near at hand, some of which caught fire, and blew up atthe same moment.
Happily, we escaped without much hurt. We found fifty of a similarcharacter, which had been prepared for the destruction of the Englishfleet. It was a curious scene--the Chinese craft, of all sizes,sailing, pulling, and paddling away in every direction, the Englishboats dashing here and there in
pursuit. Sometimes a Chinaman wouldblow up just as one of our boats got alongside, and then we had to pulloff after a different enemy. We had captured a good many junks, when,some way ahead, we saw what looked like a steamer. Though there was nosteam up, the wheels were paddling away. We managed, however, to get upto her, when overboard jumped a number of people; and, on reaching herdeck, we found that, though there were paddles outside, the inside hadonly wooden machinery, to be worked something like a treadmill by men.She managed, however, to go through the water at the rate of three orfour knots an hour. Several similar sham steamers were captured, whichhad been manufactured by the Celestials, for the purpose of overawing usbarbarians. The fighting for the day, however, was very far fromfinished. The troops had been landed, as well as the marines andbrigades of blue jackets, and were now busily employed in storming theforts