e three boats broadside-on to the
beach, and the next moment I was saluted by a shower of bullets and
slugs from some twenty jingals. For an instant the air all about me
seemed to be full of lead, but I was untouched; and, knowing that it
would take them a minute or two to reload, I wheeled about and, crossing
some half-dozen yards of open ground, took cover behind a convenient
rock.

As I did so the boats again wheeled into line abreast and, with their
crews excitedly jabbering and shouting to each other, dashed toward the
beach at full speed, the leader drawing a most formidable-looking sword
and waving it above his head, with shouts of encouragement to his men.
But, as I had foreseen, the boats advanced but a few lengths farther
when the two bigger ones stopped dead, having grounded, and several of
their occupants, unprepared for the sudden stoppage, toppled over
backward, causing great confusion among their comrades. At this moment
I whistled shrilly, whereupon Bowata and his merry men arose from behind
their ambush among the rocks and, taking deliberate aim, poured into the
boats a flight of arrows, every one of which must have told, so short
was the range, and so great was the confusion that ensued among the
Chinese. Meanwhile, the smaller boat, being of lighter draught,
continued to come stem-on for the beach. I was covering her, with my
rifle nicely resting in a notch of the rock in front of me, and as she
came fair end-on I pressed the trigger, and the two foremost oarsmen
collapsed on their oars, both of them evidently shot by the one bullet.
This naturally added to the confusion; but the leader, who appeared to
exercise great influence over his men, soon restored order and, shouting
a command to his followers, caused those in the grounded boats to leap
overboard, where, with the water nearly up to their waists, they paused
for a moment to discharge a second volley from their jingals; then,
tossing their cumbersome firearms back into the boats, they uttered a
yell, drew their swords, and came charging helter-skelter through the
water toward the beach.

This was the opportunity for Bowata and his party, who, with arrows
ready fitted to their bow-strings, again rose from behind the covering
rocks and let fly at the enemy. Some of the arrows missed their mark,
but about three-quarters of them were effective--one man, I observed,
receiving no less than three shafts in his body--and five of the enemy
fell, w