other hour and a half he reached the
coast of Borneo, whence for nearly three hours he saw beneath him an
almost unbroken sea of foliage, only one range of hills breaking the
monotony. Somewhat after midday he came to the straits of Macassar, at
the south-east extremity of Borneo. As he crossed these, he had an
unpleasant shock. The engine missed sparking once or twice when he was
half-way across the Straits, and he shouted to Rodier to loose the
life buoys in case it failed. There were several small craft beneath
him, so that he had no doubt of being picked up if the aeroplane fell,
unless, indeed, sharks "got in first," as he put it. But the
interruption of the sparking was only temporary, and he reached the
island of Celebes safely. Then he thought it merely prudent to descend
and overhaul the engine, though he deplored the loss of time. He
landed on a solitary spot where there was no likelihood of being
molested, and Rodier having cleaned the fouled plug that had caused
the trouble, they went on again.

They were sailing low over the deep bay formed by the two huge
tentacles that run south and south-east from the crab-like body of the
island, when suddenly, above the noise of the engine, they heard the
sharp crack of a shot, then two or three more. Glancing up the bay to
his left, Smith saw a large junk, its sails hanging limp, surrounded
by a number of small craft which from their appearance he guessed to
be praus. He had read many a time of the fierce Malayan pirates that
used to infest these seas, and was somewhat surprised to find that
piracy had apparently not been wholly suppressed. As a matter of fact,
European vessels no longer ran the same risks as of old, the Malays
having learnt by experience that sooner or later retribution was bound
to overtake them; but it was a different matter with Chinese junks. So
long as these could be attacked successfully and secretly, with no
witnesses to carry information to the outside world, there was little
risk in swooping down upon them. The celestial government did not
follow up piratical forays of this kind in seas distant from the
Empire itself; and the Malays were not likely to attack unless they
had a great advantage over their victim in point of numbers. A junk
might be seized and its crew massacred without the slightest whisper
of the event coming to civilized ears.

Smith saw the praus clustering round the junk like a swarm of bees. It
was impossible to doubt wh