y had not been gained without considerable loss: a
marine had been killed, and three other men, besides Jack, had been
wounded, two of them so badly that they were unable to help in working
the vessel. This made Mr Evans not a little anxious, and he kept
looking out ahead, in the hopes of seeing the other boat coming to his
assistance. Jack also, who never failed to make good use of his eyes,
was not altogether comfortable, for he had observed in the openings
where he had before seen people, a much greater number, evidently
keeping a watch on the movements of the schooner. As long as she could
be kept moving, there was no great cause for fear; but should she get on
the mud, it was difficult to say what might happen. Jack was stationed
forward. At length the schooner entered a reach which ran nearly north
and south, and the wind enabled her to lay nearly down it.

"No sign of the boat yet, Mr Rogers?" sang out Mr Evans, from aft.

"No, sir," answered Jack; "but there are a number of dark objects in the
water which look remarkably like canoes. They seem to be waiting for us
at the end of the reach, where we must go about."

"We must run some of them down, and give the rest a taste of the
pirate's guns," replied Mr Evans. The guns were got forward, but
neither shot nor powder was to be found. Still undaunted, the seamen
and marines stood ready to receive the expected attack. Things looked
serious. Jack soon made out not less than twenty canoes full of men,
with a couple of large boats so posted that it would be almost
impossible to avoid them. The schooner was but a very little way from
the junction of the two rivers, and the other boat might come to her
assistance, but her best chance of escaping was by getting a strong
breeze, so that she might dash past the fleet of canoes before they
could manage to catch hold of her. There was a prospect of this. The
wind had for some time been blowing in fitful gusts, and now it came
down on them stronger than ever. To shorten sail was out of the
question, but in another minute Jack and his companions found that they
had more than the little vessel could well stagger under. That was all
right though. On she flew towards their enemies.

"Why, there is our boat among them," exclaimed Jack; "she must have got
down by some other channel. We shall have a hard tussle for it." The
critical moment was approaching. They could already see the faces of
their enemies, and m