"Shove off!" cried Jack, seizing an oar; Dick and Jerry imitated him,
while the rest were reloading their firearms. The boat was but a few
yards from the bank when the Cossacks reached it, and had to pull up
sharp to avoid plunging into the water.

"Good-bye, old fellows!" shouted Dick; "you've had a hard scamper, and
now you may go back and look after your corn-stacks."

That these had not been put out was evident by the ruddy glare which
suffused the sky in the distance. On receiving another volley from the
boat, the Cossacks wheeled about and made their way over the marsh,
where, had Jack thought fit, they might all have been picked off in
detail; but he had from the first seen the wickedness of killing a
single human being unnecessarily, and now that they could no longer
impede their flight, he was glad to let them escape. Lest, however,
they might give notice to any armed Russian boats to proceed in chase of
the daring Englishmen, Jack ordered his crew to pull away as hard as
they could, so that they might possibly regain the ship before daylight.

They were not, however, free from danger, as the burning stacks would
put the people on the shores for miles round on the alert, and they
could scarcely expect to escape pursuit. Jack, by steering rather more
to the northward, escaped the bank on which they had before run, and he
hoped now to make a straight course across the water. The sandpit had
then to be passed before the boat could be launched into the more open
sea. Poor Jerry was so exhausted that it was some time before he could
handle an oar, so he employed the interval in trying to wash the mud out
of his eyes and nose.

The mist had again come down, and but a few yards could be seen ahead;
thus the crew were pulling on as hard as ever, when, before jack was
aware that they were near, the boat's bows grated against the sand,
which fortunately yielded easily or they would have been stove in.

"All hands leap out!" cried Jack; and the men, seizing the boat, began
hauling away, without stopping an instant, across the sand.

They had got very nearly to the water's edge on the other side, when Tom
shouted out, "See, sir, here come some Cossacks!"

It was fortunate that Tom had observed them; in another minute they
would have been up to the boat, but the men, giving her a shove which
sent her skimming away over the calm surface, leaped on board, and,
getting out their oars, pulled away at a rapid rate,