rn the cannon on the canoes!' Pearson shouted. 'Depress them as much
as you can, and give it them hot.'

"I had no time to look round, but half a minute later I heard one of the
cannon go off, followed by yells and screams from the water.

"'Train two of them along the deck,' I shouted, 'but don't fire until you
have orders.'

"The Malays were swarming up from the canoes and joining the crowd in
front of us, and I saw a rush of some of our fellows up on to the top of
the forecastle. We could make no way now, and it was as much as we could
do to hold our own. I fought on until I thought the guns were ready; then,
looking round, saw the two men standing behind them with lighted matches.

"'The cannon are trained to sweep the deck, Conklin!' but it was not until
I touched him and shouted in his ear again that the mate heard me.

"'Now!' Pearson yelled, 'throw yourselves on to them, cut down one or two
of the rascals, and when I shout 'Run!' get back behind the guns.'

"The thought of what was coming gave us fresh strength. We went at them
with a will, and drove them back a couple of yards. Then Pearson shouted
'Run!' and back we went aft as hard as we could tear, Pearson and I almost
dragging Conklin with us. As we passed between the guns, with the Malays
close at our heels, both men fired; the guns were crammed almost to the
mouth with bullets, and the execution was awful. In a moment we dashed at
them again, while the men forward, who had armed themselves with the
capstan-bars, ran down the ladder and fell upon them. In another minute it
was all over. The Malays who remained alive sprang over the bulwark, and
we discharged the remaining five cannons into the canoes, smashing up
numbers of them, and the rest paddled for the shore for their lives. We
had time now to look around. It was an awful sight. Over fifty Malays lay
dead, together with eleven of our men, besides the captain. If it had not
been for Pearson not a soul would have lived to tell the tale. After it
was over, we found that, as the crowds on deck had increased, most of our
old hands, who were the men that had taken the pistols, had gradually
gathered near the forecastle. Some of the others had joined them, and when
the outbreak came, they had for a time been able to make a stout
resistance, until one of their number, who was on the forecastle when the
fight began, shouted to them that we were training the cannon forward, and
they then made a rush up and