ferating vehemently. What she was saying Tom could
only guess at, although he supposed she was insisting that his life
should be spared.

"Thank you, thank you!" he said, taking her hand, and putting it to his
lips. "You have saved my life this once, and I will do my best to
protect you, if I get clear altogether."

The effect of the Malay girl's speech had been to appease the savage old
captain, who at length stalked away at the head of his men towards the
fort, leaving Tom with the Malay girl and the party escorting her, and
some of the men who had captured him. Still Tom felt his position very
insecure. At any moment, should the pirates be defeated, they might, in
revenge, put him to death, and even should Jull lose his life, Tom
thought his protectress might probably turn against him from the same
motive. He did his best, however, to ingratiate himself with her.

As by this time the shot and shell were falling pretty thickly into the
fort, some of the former occasionally flying over it and coming
unpleasantly near the guard attending the Malay girl, they hurried her
on, taking Tom with them. He was willing enough to go, as he would
avoid the unnecessary danger he would otherwise have run had he been
carried into the fort. The guard consisted only of about a dozen men,
sufficient in number, however, to prevent Tom from making his escape.
What they intended ultimately to do with him he could not ascertain, but
he felt tolerably safe while with the Malay girl, who had already shown
her willingness to befriend him. He talked away to her, although, as he
could not speak a word of Malay and very few of Chinese, and she
understood a very small number of English phrases, he found it a hard
matter to make himself understood. "How can I prove my gratitude?" he
thought; and he considered what present he could make her. He felt in
his pockets; he could only find a few Chinese coins, a clasp knife, and
a pencil-case--the latter being merely plated, and somewhat battered,
was not very valuable. He then recollected there was a gold seal
attached to his watch-chain. This he offered to her, but she smilingly
put it back and showed him a variety of gold ornaments, which she
produced from a bag by her side;--how come by, Tom did not ask.

Their conversation, such as it was, was interrupted by the increased
roar of the guns, by which he guessed that the _Gnat_ and the boats were
hotly engaged with the fort and the fleet