n, and for the next minute or two
bayonet and cutlass were flashing in the evening sunlight as the
wretches who climbed on board were driven back.

While this was going on, the bell in the engine-room rang out again and
again, and we began to move astern to meet the three low junks, which,
undismayed by the fate of their comrade, came at us with their crews
yelling savagely.

Then there was a deep roar as the first gun belched forth its flame and
smoke, with the huge shell hurtling through the air, dipping once in the
calm sea, and crashing through one of the junks, to explode with a
report like the echo of the first, far beyond.

Captain Thwaites turned quietly and looked at me.

"Yes, sir?" I stammered.

"I said when the first gun was fired you could fetch my cap and sword,
Mr Herrick," he said quietly, and I ran down just as the second big gun
bellowed, but I did not see with what result. I heard the sharp, short
order, though, and another gun roared, and another, and another, as the
junks came well into sight; for each gun I heard the crash of the shell
hitting too, and the fierce yells of the men, as I dashed into the
cabin, seized cap and sword, and then ran back to the bridge, eager to
see the fight, and in my excitement forgetting to feel afraid.

But a heavy smoke was gathering over us and the junks,--two were
indistinct, though they were close aboard of us. Then, as the _Teaser_
glided astern, I saw that the third was smoking, while crash, crash, the
others struck our sides, and their crews grappled, hurled their
stinkpots on board, and began to swarm over the bulwarks.

But the guns were being steadily served with terrible effect; the few
poor wretches who reached the deck were bayoneted, and in how long or
how short a time I cannot tell, for everything seemed to be swept away
in the excitement; we steamed away out of the smoke into the ruddy
sunset, and there I saw in one place a mass of tangled bamboo and
matting, with men clustering upon it, and crowding one over the other
like bees in a swarm. There was another mass about a quarter of a mile
away, and I looked in vain for the third junk; but a number of her crew
clinging to bamboos, sweeps, spars, and what looked to be wicker crates,
showed where she had been. The last of the four, with her great
matting-sails hauled up to the fullest extent, was sailing away toward
the nearest island, and on either side they had sweeps over with two or
three