m with the bayonet should they attempt to make a stand.

The order was quickly obeyed; the guns from the larger boats sent forth
so deadly a shower of missiles that the Arabs, who were coming down in
force to dispute their landing, took to flight, leaving many dead and
wounded. The difficulty was now to get on shore; the bottom was likely
to be muddy, the water tolerably deep. Murray and Adair, with their
boats' crews, were among the first to gain a footing on dry land. The
commodore was eager to be up with them, but, at the same time, was very
unwilling to get wet. Tom Bashan, having stepped out into the mud,
received orders from his chief to lift him on his shoulders and carry
him on shore. Tom, who had his musket in his right hand, did as he was
ordered by taking the little commodore up with his left arm and placing
him behind his back, where the brave leader of the expedition sat, his
head just above Tom's grinning countenance, while he waved his sword
with no little risk of cutting off his coxswain's nose, shouting in his
eagerness, "On, my lads! on! form on the beach as you land--skirmishers
to the front. Now let the brown-skinned rascals see what British
sailors are made of!"

The marines, who had landed by the time the commodore had been deposited
by Tom on the ground, formed in good order, with parties of bluejackets
on either flank. The Arabs appeared to be taken completely by surprise,
never apparently supposing that the British would leave their boats.
They had halted at some distance, and looked a formidable body, ten
times more numerous than those who were about to attack them; while the
commodore, nothing daunted, waving his sword and dashing forward,
shouted, "Charge, my lads! charge!"

The British bayonets gleamed brightly in the sun, as, with steady tramp,
the line of redcoats and bluejackets advanced at the charge. The Arabs
fired a round, the scimitars of their leaders flashing for a few
seconds, and then, unable to face the bristling wall of bayonets, their
courage gave way, and they fled helter-skelter for safety towards the
neighbouring woods. The English pursued them for some distance, firing
as they advanced, and halting only to give sufficient time to reload.
If they advanced too far, as the fort was yet unsubdued, there was a
risk of a sally being made from it and the boats being destroyed. The
commodore, carried away by his ardour, had already gone farther than was
wise. Discover