e
centre they should be a good distance from both of them. This was
satisfactory; for the bravest of men do not find it pleasant to be shot
at without the chance of getting at their enemies. Still Higson hoped
that they should be able to accomplish their object, and make their
escape again without loss. At length, having rounded a point over which
the masts of several vessels were visible, they saw before them several
long, high buildings, with a line of stacks in front of them, and a
collection of, apparently, private houses and cottages beyond, while in
front were between twenty and thirty vessels moored to the shore, and
lying so closely together that by setting fire to two or three the rest
must inevitably be burnt.

Without stopping the two boats pulled on, keeping close together, so
that Higson could give his directions to Green. He ordered him to pull
up alongside the farthermost vessels, and to board and set them on fire
as quickly as possible; which beneficent work being accomplished, he was
to come back and join him on the shore in front of the storehouses and
stacks. It could scarcely be supposed that so much property would be
left without protection; still no soldiers had been seen, and Higson
hoped that they might accomplish their object before any could come down
to oppose them.

"The truth is, I suspect," he observed to Archie, "the Russians have
depended on their fort at the mouth of the river, and it did not occur
to them that an enemy could force his way past it. The steamers may
have been lying much nearer the entrance than this, and had not time to
communicate with the village before they came down to attack us; the
chances are that the people on the banks, who saw them go down, fancy
that they sent us long ago to the bottom, and have no idea that we have
taken their fort."

"They must have heard, however, the sound of the vessel blowing up,"
observed Archie.

"If they did, they may have thought it was one of ours," answered
Higson, who had made up his mind that all was to go smoothly. The boats
soon got up to the place, when Green pulled away to perform his part of
the undertaking; while Higson steered for the shore. As he did so, a
rattling fire of musketry was opened on him from behind a small fort, or
earthwork, which he had hitherto not perceived. Probably the Russians
had only just then discovered that the approaching boats belonged to
their enemies. Not a man, however, was hit,