uans in the bows to use the two foremost paddles. Pipes was
still on shore prepared to shove off the bow of the canoe before he
stepped on board, when pointing to the eastward, he exclaimed "Here
come!" The midshipmen, looking in that direction, saw a large body of
men approaching.

"Jump in, Pipes, jump in!" exclaimed Tom. "We must get down the stream
before the enemy reach the banks, or they may be peppering us more
warmly than we may find pleasant."

Tom was about to turn the head of the canoe in that direction, when
Desmond exclaimed--

"Look there, look there! what are those fellows about?" Three canoes
full of men were seen darting from behind some thick bushes out of
another small river which had not before been observed. They would
effectually prevent the escape of the midshipmen's canoe.

"We shall have a desperate fight with those fellows before: we can get
down the river," cried Desmond, "and they will have the assistance of
their friends on shore."

While Desmond was speaking and Tom was considering what was best to be
done, several men flourishing paddles in their hands were seen to rush
out of the huts.

"Dat way, dat way!" exclaimed both Nick and Pipes at the same time,
pointing up the river.

The sun was by this time on the point of setting, and Tom considered
that if they could keep ahead of their enemies until darkness set in,
they might then either find some place of concealment, or paddle
silently down during the night and escape observation. There was no
time to consider the plan proposed; they must either follow it at once,
or prepare for a desperate encounter.

"It is the only thing to be done," observed Desmond; and Tom, turning
the head of the canoe up the river, told his crew to paddle away for
their lives. They had scarcely got good way on the canoe, before the
men from the village began to launch theirs. More natives appeared, and
in two or three minutes the whole of the native fleet was in the water.

"They don't appear to have firearms, but they have got bows and arrows,"
said Tom, looking astern. "If we had a good English boat, the whole
fleet should not make us fly, but they might quickly capsize this canoe
and have us in their power. I fear that more than their arms. Paddle,
paddle, lads!" he shouted.

His crew did paddle, probably harder than they had ever done in their
lives. Poor Billy exerted himself until he was red in the face,
"puffing and blowing," as Des