Off to Sea: The Adventures of Jovial Jack Junker on his Road to Fame
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stood out oncemore from between them; we had, by this time, lost four or five of ourmen, three of whom were killed outright; and it seemed too likely, ifthe Malays were determined to overpower us, they would do so. Our youngcommander fought like a lion, and Dicky Plumb, I must say, fought like alion's whelp; no sooner did a Malay show his brown face over thebulwarks, than Dicky was at him; indeed, all hands were doing theirutmost. I will not boast of myself; in fact, if I had been ever sogreat a coward, I should have fought; for I felt very sure, and so dideverybody on board, that if we did not fight, we should one and all beknocked on the head. Directly there was a moment's cessation of firingwe had to run to the pumps, and to work away for our lives to keep thevessel from sinking. Again and again, however, the prows came round us,and no sooner had we beaten off one set, than others took their places.At length Mr. Ormsby was hit; he sank on the deck. Dicky and I, whowere standing near, ran to help him up.
"Don't give in, Mason?" he shouted; "fight to the last!"
"Are you much hurt, sir?" I asked.
"I don't know. Lend me a handkerchief."
The assistant-surgeon, who was fighting as furiously as any one, nowhurried up, and bound a handkerchief tightly round Mr. Ormsby's leg.
"Give me my sword again!" he exclaimed. "There is some fight in meyet!"
At that moment several fresh prows were making towards us. Every man onboard would be required to repel them. Our guns were, however, allloaded ready to give them a warm reception. In spite of the hot fire wepoured aboard them, on they came. Now one of them grappled us on thestarboard bow, while we had another on our quarter. And now, with loudshrieks and cries, the pirates began to spring upon the schooner'sdecks.
"Lads! we will sell our lives dearly?" exclaimed Mr. Ormsby.
"Yes; never say Die?" shouted Dicky Plumb, in a shrill voice.
The crew being divided, some went on the starboard bow and some on theport side, to repel the boarders. Still it seemed impossible that weshould drive them back altogether. The Malays, from the prow on ourbow, came pouring on board. Mr. Ormsby, with Ned Rawlings and DickyPlumb, made a dash forward to try and repel them. Just at that moment aloud, hearty British cheer saluted our ears. A blue light burst forthat our port bow, and a number of blue jackets were seen climbing up overthe bulwarks, led by no less a person than our gallant captain himself.We could scarcely believe our senses when we saw them; in fact, Ifancied it was a dream. They soon, however, by the way they treated theMalays who had gained our decks, showed us that their appearance was asatisfactory reality. In a few seconds the fore part of the vessel wascleared; and now, sweeping up, they soon drove off the pirates who wereleaping down on our quarters. In another instant, the prows were makingthe best of their way from us.
"We must not let them go free!" exclaimed the captain; and calling hismen into the boats, away they started after the prows. Meantime, wecould see the blue lights from the ship burning a couple of miles awayto windward. The surgeon had now time to attend to Mr. Ormsby's wound.I was looking out for Dicky Plumb. He was nowhere to be seen. Thethought came across me that he had been killed, or else that the Malays,as they retired, had carried him off. We, meantime, made sail andfollowed the boats. Four prows were captured. We could see their menjumping overboard as the boats dashed alongside. Daylight at lengthbroke. There lay the schooner, her decks bloody, her bulwarksshattered, and her rigging cut up. Portions of wreck floated round us.Not a human being, however, was to be seen. The four captured prows layclose together, and half a mile off was the old _Roarer_, standingtowards us under all sail. Captain Sharpe now came on board, andgreatly to my satisfaction Dicky Plumb came with him. He had slippedinto the captain's boat as he shoved off, as he said, to see a littlemore of the fun. The _Roarer_, we found, was on her way to Calcutta.As soon as we were again free of the pirates, the hands were again sentto the pumps. Mr. Ormsby had done his best to keep the crew ignorant ofthe condition of the vessel. It now became evident, however, that, pumpas hard as we could, she could scarcely be kept afloat. Captain Sharpewas convinced of this as soon as he returned on board. He at onceordered Mr. Ormsby and the other wounded men into the boats. Freshhands went to the pumps, but all they could do was in vain.
"All hands into the boats?" shouted our captain.
There was not a moment to lose. I got hold of Mr. Ormsby's sextant andchronometer, and scarcely had I leaped with them into one of the boats,than the schooner gave a plunge, and down she went, her pennantstreaming up, the last object seen as she disappeared beneath thesurface. The end of it, however, floated for a few seconds. She hadgone down, it was evident, in shallow water.
"Hillo! what is that buoy floating there?" asked the captain.
My heart gave a jump of pleasure.
"It's Mr. Ormsby's chest," I answered, and I told him what I had done.The launch and pinnace were ordered up, and in a short time the chestwas weighed and safely got on board, and I got highly praised for beingthe means of saving it. The surviving pirates being taken out of theprows, they were set on fire, and we watched them burning to the water'sedge, while we sailed away after their companions.
"What are we to do with these black fellows, I wonder?" I asked ofSergeant Turbot.
"Why, I suppose, Jack, they will all be hung, as a lesson to theirfriends," he replied, "not to go and do the same; but to my mind thesefellows are terribly hard to teach."
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
IN THE PIRATE STRONGHOLD.
The navigation of those seas is ticklish work, and we knew that unlessgreat care was taken, we might run the old _Roarer_ on a rock, as we hadthe little _Fawn_, with much more serious consequences--once hard andfast, we were not likely to get the old barky off again. A lookout wasstationed at the foretop mast-head, and at the fore yard-arms, to watchthe appearance of the sea, and give notice of any change of colour;while the hands were at their stations, ready to shorten sail, or tobrace the yards sharp up, should any danger appear ahead. Danger,however, was not likely to deter Captain Sharpe in any course which heconceived it his duty to follow.
"These pirates must be put down," I heard him observe to Mr. Blunt."The only way to do so is to follow them up whenever we can get tidingsof them, to burn their villages and their vessels, and to hang themwhenever we can catch them in the act. They understand no other kind oftreatment. I remember once, in the Mediterranean, capturing a Greekpirate. We let him go, as he showed a letter from the master of amerchantman, in which great gratitude was expressed for the way in whichthe Greek had behaved. We found, however, that the fellow had plunderedthe vessel of everything of value immediately after he had gotpossession of the letter. I caught him again the following year, andasked him how, after once he had been so generously pardoned, he couldthink of returning to his piratical ways.
"`Ah, signore,' he answered, `it is our nature. Had you hung me then, Ishould no longer have gone pirating.'
"We put an effectual stop to his career this time, and he submitted withthe most perfect grace; it was our business to hang him--it was his fateto be hung."
I did not forget our captain's remarks. I felt much pleased when Mr.Ormsby sent to desire that I might attend on him while he lay sufferingfrom his wound.
"I know that I can trust him to you, Junker," said the surgeon, "andtake care he has his medicine at the exact hour I mark down."
"I am thankful to have you by me, Jack," said Mr. Ormsby. "You havebehaved admirably, and I shall always be glad to render you anyassistance in my power."
I will not say that these remarks did not raise me somewhat in my ownestimation. I do not see how it could have been otherwise; and vagueideas of what I might perhaps become by-and-by, floated through my mind.I was the son of a marine only, but then he was a sergeant, and mymother was certainly a lady by birth, though she might have beensupposed to have lowered herself when she married my honest father."Well, well, that may be all nonsense," I thought over and over again,"and yet, if there is an opportunity, I wi
ll try to distinguish myself.I may, to be sure, get knocked on the head, and then there will be anend to the matter; but still, people do go through all sorts of dangers,and come out without even a scratch." All day long the _Roarer_ ran on,when towards evening we stood into a bay, where she brought up. It wassupposed that the pirates were hiding away in the neighbourhood, andduring the night a bright lookout was kept, lest any of the prows, notaware of our vicinity, might be stealing by. I sat up, as long as Icould keep awake, with Mr. Ormsby; but at length the surgeon sent me tomy hammock, he or one of the midshipmen taking my place. He, however,had a good deal himself to do, looking after the other wounded men.When the sun rose there was not a breath of wind, the water in the baylooking like a polished mirror, so clear, that we