s wound, he had unscrewed one of the
little side-lights and was looking over the calm sunlit sea, when he
caught sight of a prau gliding along from the _Petrel's_ bows, and it
was evident that she was coming to attack simultaneously from the stern.

"Hah! that's it, is it!" said the major. "Hitting back and front too!
Confound that fellow! how badly he steers the boat!"

As he said these words he clapped his gun to his shoulder and fired.

The steersman fell, but it had no permanent effect, save to draw a
little shower of spears at the window opening, one of which passed
through and stuck quivering in the bulkhead. Then another man took the
steerer's place, and the prau glided by evidently to take her station
astern.

"We shall lose the boat, major," said the captain bitterly.

"Shall we!" replied the major. "Just take my place, sir, by the door.
I'm going to use my little hunting rifle now alongside of Gregory; and
if a man does reach that boat I'm going to know the reason why. I'm not
much given to boasting, but I can shoot straight."

He had already proved it to some purpose, and without a word the captain
took his place by the barricade, while the major went into his own cabin
and returned with a little double rifle and a pouch of ammunition.

"I did not want to use this," he said; "but things are growing serious."

The prau had by this time been rowed to its station, and from the stir
on deck it was now evident that the brass swivel-gun was being loaded
and preparations made to send a volley of missiles tearing through the
stern windows.

"That will be awkward, Gregory," said the major.

"Do a lot of damage, sir," said the mate coolly. "They are so low down
in the water that they can't send a shot along our floor. The charge
will go right up and through the deck."

"Well, at any rate I think I'll try and stop them."

"By all means," said the mate, and he watched keenly as the major knelt
down, resting his rifle on the sill and taking aim, but waiting.

All at once there was a puff of smoke, a sharp crack, and at the same
moment a deafening report from the prau, but the charge of missiles went
hurtling and screaming up through the mizen rigging and away over the
ship to sea.

The major's shot was more successful, for a man fell.

"He was a little too quick for me," said the major, reloading and
waiting for another chance. "Nasty work this!" he added; "but I suppose
it's necessary."

"Necess