pinnace, owing to the great rise
and fall of tide, grounded on a coral reef, and Lieutenant Horton
and Mr. Brooke proceeded in one of the cutters to reconnoiter. As
they neared the s.w. point, they were met by six prahus, beating
their tom-toms as they advanced, and making every demonstration of
fighting. Lieutenant Horton judiciously turned to rejoin the other
boats; and the pinnace having, fortunately, just then floated, he
formed his little squadron into line abreast, cleared for action,
and prepared to meet his formidable-looking antagonists. Mr. Brooke,
however, whose eye had been accustomed to the cut and rig of all
the boats in these seas, discovered that those advancing were not
Illanuns, and fancied there must be some mistake. The Natunas people
had been trading with Sarawak, and he was intimately acquainted with
a rich and powerful chief who resided on the island; he therefore
raised a white flag of truce on his spy-glass, and from the bow of
the pinnace hailed, waved, and made all the signs he could to warn
them of the danger into which they were running; but a discharge of
small arms was the only reply he got. They then detached their three
smallest vessels inshore, so as to command a cross-fire, and cut off
the retreat of our boats; and the rest advanced, yelling, beating
their tom-toms, and blazing away with all the confidence of victory,
their shot cutting through the rigging, and splashing in the water
all around. It was an anxious moment for the Dido's little party. Not
a word was spoken. The only gun of the pinnace was loaded with grape
and canister, and kept pointed on the largest prahu. The men waited,
with their muskets in hand, for permission to fire; but it was not
until within pistol-range that Lieutenant Horton poured into the
enemy his well-prepared dose. It instantly brought them to a halt;
yet they had the temerity to exchange shots for a few minutes longer,
when the largest cried for quarter, and the other five made for the
shore, chased by the two cutters, and keeping up a fire to the last.

The prize taken possession of by the pinnace proved to be a prahu
mounting three brass guns, with a crew of thirty-six men, belonging
to the Rajah of Rhio, and which had been dispatched by that chief to
collect tribute at and about the Natunas islands. They had on board ten
men killed, and eleven (four of them mortally) wounded. They affected
the greatest astonishment on discovering that our boats belo