ot far from me.
At first I thought it was a party of savages who had observed the
schooner, but I was speedily undeceived by observing a body of
natives--apparently several hundreds, as far as I could guess in the
uncertain light--bounding through the woods towards the scene of battle.
I saw at once that this was a party who had out-flanked our men, and
would speedily attack them in the rear. And so it turned out, for, in a
short time, the shouts increased ten-fold, and among them I thought I
heard a death-cry uttered by voices familiar to my ear.

At length the tumult of battle ceased, and, from the cries of exultation
that now arose from the savages, I felt assured that our men had been
conquered. I was immediately thrown into dreadful consternation. What
was I now to do? To be taken by the savages was too horrible to be
thought of; to flee to the mountains was hopeless, as I should soon be
discovered; and to take the schooner out of the creek without assistance
was impossible. I resolved, however, to make the attempt, as being my
only hope, and was on the point of pushing off when my hand was stayed
and my blood chilled by an appalling shriek in which I recognised the
voice of one of the crew. It was succeeded by a shout from the savages.
Then came another, and another shriek of agony, making my ears to tingle,
as I felt convinced they were murdering the pirate crew in cold blood.
With a bursting heart and my brain whirling as if on fire, I seized the
boat-hook to push from shore when a man sprang from the bushes.

"Stop! Ralph, stop!--there now, push off," he cried, and bounded into the
boat so violently as nearly to upset her. It was Bill's voice! In
another moment we were on board,--the boat made fast, the line of the
anchor cut, and the sweeps run out. At the first stroke of Bill's giant
arm the schooner was nearly pulled ashore, for in his haste he forgot
that I could scarcely move the unwieldy oar. Springing to the stern he
lashed the rudder in such a position as that, while it aided me, it acted
against him, and so rendered the force of our strokes nearly equal. The
schooner now began to glide quickly down the creek, but before we reached
its mouth, a yell from a thousand voices on the bank told that we were
discovered. Instantly a number of the savages plunged into the water and
swam towards us; but we were making so much way that they could not
overtake us. One, however, an immensely powerful ma