was that? Not an echo of the rifle-shots, surely; no, it was the
_boom_ of a distant gun, unless the ears of all strangely deceived them.
Whatever it was, the Malays also heard the sound, and, looking for an
instant in consternation at each other, wavered, turned, and fled.

"Hurrah!" cried Gaunt exultantly, "rescue is at hand. After the
rascals, and give them a lesson they will never forget!"

It was, perhaps, an imprudent thing to do, but away after the flying foe
went the four men, popping away with their revolvers, and so severely
galling the Malays that _sauve qui peut_ quickly became the word with
the latter, who now evidently thought of nothing but how to reach their
boats alive. One in his frantic haste stumbled and fell, revealing his
features to Gaunt as he did so. It was the wretch who had so cruelly
ill-treated little Percy on the night before. With a couple of bounds
the engineer was upon him. Wresting the creese from the fellow's hand,
Gaunt seized him by the collar and dragged him along the ground,
writhing, to a clump of canes growing close at hand. With his foot on
the man's neck to keep him down, the engineer then cut with the creese a
stout, pliant cane, lifted the wretch to his feet by main strength, and,
dropping his weapons to the ground and still retaining his grip upon the
fellow's collar, deliberately thrashed him until the cane was split to
ribbons and the clothes literally cut from his back, finally dismissing
him with a kick which--apart from the thrashing--it is safe to say, that
Malay will never forget so long as his life shall last. The unfortunate
wretch hobbled off with quite remarkable celerity--considering that
every bone in his body must have been aching--eager to overtake his
comrades, whose "way" had been very materially "freshened" not only by
the heat with which they were pursued but also by the booming of the
guns in the offing. But he was too late. When he reached the beach the
boats had shoved off; so, rather than remain where he was, the fellow
unhesitatingly plunged into the stream and swam off to the proa,
reaching her just in time to be hauled up over the side as, with slipped
cable and hastily-hoisted sail, the craft paid off and gathered way on
her road out to sea.

Gaunt followed more leisurely, for, in common with his three friends, he
had suffered somewhat in the _melee_--though, fortunately, none of them
were seriously hurt--and he reached the cove just in