Books: Among Malay Pirates
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G. A. Henty >> Among Malay Pirates
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"You cowardly hound!" Red George exclaimed. "Are you man enough to
do that to a man?"
"You bet," the gambler, who was a new arrival at Pine Tree Gulch,
replied; and picking up an empty glass, he hurled it at Red George.
The bystanders sprang aside, and in a moment the two men were
facing each other with outstretched pistols. The two reports rung
out simultaneously: Red George sat down unconcernedly with a streak
of blood flowing down his face, where the bullet had cut a furrow
in his cheek; the stranger fell back with a bullet hole in the
center of his forehead.
The body was carried outside, and the play continued as if no interruption
had taken place. They were accustomed to such occurrences in Pine
Tree Gulch, and the piece of ground at the top of the hill, that
had been set aside as a burial place, was already dotted thickly
with graves, filled in almost every instance by men who had died,
in the local phraseology, "with their boots on."
Neither then nor afterwards did Red George allude to the subject
to Dick, whose life after this signal instance of his championship
was easier than it had hitherto been, for there were few in Pine
Tree Gulch who cared to excite Red George's anger; and strangers
going to the place were sure to receive a friendly warning that it
was best for their health to keep their tempers over any shortcomings
on the part of White Faced Dick.
Grateful as he was for Red George's interference on his behalf,
Dick felt the circumstance which had ensued more than anyone else
in the camp. With others it was the subject of five minutes' talk,
but Dick could not get out of his head the thought of the dead man's
face as he fell back. He had seen many such frays before, but he
was too full of his own troubles for them to make much impression
upon him. But in the present case he felt as if he himself was
responsible for the death of the gambler; if he had not blundered
this would not have happened.
He wondered whether the dead man had a wife and children, and, if
so, were they expecting his return? Would they ever hear where he
had died, and how?
But this feeling, which, tired out as he was when the time came
for closing the bar, often prevented him from sleeping for hours,
in no way lessened his gratitude and devotion towards Red George,
and he felt that he could die willingly if his life would benefit
his champion. Sometimes he thought, too, that his life would not
be much to give, for, in spite of shelter and food, the cough which
he had caught while working in the water still clung to him, and
as his employer said to him angrily one day:
"Your victuals don't do you no good, Dick; you get thinner and
thinner, and folks will think as I starve you. Darned if you aint
a disgrace to the establishment."
The wind was whistling down the gorges, and the clouds hung among
the pine woods which still clothed the upper slopes of the hills, and
the diggers, as they turned out one morning, looked up apprehensively.
"But it could not be," they assured each other. Everyone knew that
the rains were not due for another month yet; it could only be a
passing shower if it rained at all.
But as the morning went on, men came in from camps higher up
the river, and reports were current that it had been raining for
the last two days among the upper hills; while those who took the
trouble to walk across to the new channel could see for themselves
at noon that it was filled very nigh to the brim, the water rushing
along with thick and turbid current. But those who repeated the
rumors, or who reported that the channel was full, were summarily
put down. Men would not believe that such a calamity as a flood
and the destruction of all their season's work could be impending.
There had been some showers, no doubt, as there had often been before,
but it was ridiculous to talk of anything like rain a month before
its time. Still, in spite of these assertions, there was uneasiness
at Pine Tree Gulch, and men looked at the driving clouds above
and shook their heads before they went down to the shafts to work
after dinner.
When the last customer had left and the bar was closed, Dick had
nothing to do till evening, and he wandered outside and sat down
on a stump, at first looking at the work going on in the valley,
then so absorbed in his own thoughts that he noticed nothing, not
even the driving mist which presently set in. He was calculating
that he had, with his savings from his wages and what had been
given him by the miners, laid by eighty dollars. When he got another
hundred and twenty he would go; he would make his way down to San
Francisco, and then by ship to Panama and up to New York, and then
west again to the village where he was born. There would be people
there who would know him, and who would give him work for his mother's
sake. He did not care what it was; anything would be better than
this. Then his thoughts came back to Pine Tree Gulch, and he started
to his feet. Could he be mistaken? Were his eyes deceiving him?
No; among the stones and boulders of the old bed of the Yuba there
was the gleam of water, and even as he watched it he could see it
widening out. He started to run down the hill to give the alarm,
but before he was halfway he paused, for there were loud shouts,
and a scene of bustle and confusion instantly arose.
The cradles were deserted, and the men working on the surface
loaded themselves with their tools and made for the high ground,
while those at the windlasses worked their hardest to draw up their
comrades below. A man coming down from above stopped close to Dick,
with a low cry, and stood gazing with a white scared face. Dick
had worked with him; he was one of the company to which Red George
belonged.
"What is it, Saunders?"
"My God! they are lost!" the man replied. "I was at the windlass
when they shouted up to me to go up and fetch them a bottle of rum.
They had just struck it rich, and wanted a drink on the strength
of it."
Dick understood at once. Red George and his mates were still in the
bottom of the shaft, ignorant of the danger which was threatening
them.
"Come on," he cried; "we shall be in time yet," and at the top of
his speed dashed down the hill, followed by Saunders.
"What is it, what is it?" asked parties of men mounting the hill.
"Red George's gang are still below."
Dick's eyes were fixed on the water. There was a broad band now of
yellow with a white edge down the center of the stony flat, and it
was widening with terrible rapidity. It was scarce ten yards from
the windlass at the top of Red George's shaft when Dick, followed
closely by Saunders, reached it.
"Come up, mates; quick, for your lives! The river is rising; you
will be flooded out directly. Everyone else has gone!"
As he spoke he pulled at the rope by which the bucket was hanging,
and the handles of the windlass flew round rapidly as it descended.
When it had run out Dick and he grasped the handles.
"All right below?"
An answering call came up, and the two began their work, throwing
their whole strength into it. Quickly as the windlass revolved
it seemed an endless time to Dick before the bucket came up, and
the first man stepped out. It was not Red George. Dick had hardly
expected it would be. Red George would be sure to see his two
mates up before him, and the man uttered a cry of alarm as he saw
the water, now within a few feet of the mouth of the shaft.
It was a torrent now, for not only was it coming through the dam,
but it was rushing down in cascades from the new channel. Without
a word the miner placed himself facing Dick, and the moment the
bucket was again down, the three grasped the handles. But quickly
as they worked, the edge of the water was within a few inches of the
shaft when the next man reached the surface; but again the bucket
descended before the rope tightened. However, the water had begun
to run over the lip--at first, in a mere trickle, and then, almost
instantaneously, in a cascade, which grew larger and larger.
The bucket was halfway up when a sound like thunder was heard, the
ground seemed to tremble under their feet, and then at the turn of
the valley above, a great wave of yellow water, crested with foam,
was seen tearing along at the speed of a race horse.
"The dam has burst!" Saunders shouted. "Run for your lives, or we
are all lost!"
The three men dropped the handles and ran at full speed towards the
shore, while loud shouts to Dick to follow came from the crowd of
men standing on the slope. But the boy grasped the handles, and with
lips tightly closed, still toiled on. Slowly the bucket ascended,
for Red George was a heavy man; then suddenly the weight slackened,
and the handle went round faster. The shaft was filling, the water
had reached the bucket, and had risen to Red George's neck, so that
his weight was no longer on the rope. So fast did the water pour
in, that it was not half a minute before the bucket reached the
surface, and Red George sprang out. There was but time for one
exclamation, and then the great wave struck them. Red George was
whirled like a straw in the current; but he was a strong swimmer,
and at a point where the valley widened out, half a mile lower, he
struggled to shore.
Two days later the news reached Pine Tree Gulch that a boy's body
had been washed ashore twenty miles down, and ten men, headed by
Red George, went and brought it solemnly back to Pine Tree Gulch.
There among the stumps of pine trees a grave was dug, and there, in
the presence of the whole camp, White Faced Dick was laid to rest.
Pine Tree Gulch is a solitude now, the trees are growing again,
and none would dream that it was once a busy scene of industry;
but if the traveler searches among the pine trees he will find a
stone with the words:
"Here lies White Faced Dick, who died to save Red George. 'What
can a man do more than give his life for a friend?'"
The text was the suggestion of an ex-clergyman working as a miner
in Pine Tree Gulch.
Red George worked no more at the diggings, but, after seeing the
stone laid in its place, went east, and with what little money
came to him when the common fund of the company was divided after
the flood on the Yuba, bought a small farm, and settled down there;
but to the end of his life he was never weary of telling those who
would listen to it the story of Pine Tree Gulch.
A BRUSH WITH THE CHINESE
It was early in December that H. M. S. Perseus was cruising off
the mouth of the Canton River. War had been declared with China in
consequence of her continued evasions of the treaty she had made
with us, and it was expected that a strong naval force would soon
gather to bring her to reason. In the meantime the ships on the
station had a busy time of it, chasing the enemy's junks when they
ventured to show themselves beyond the reach of the guns of their
forts, and occasionally having a brush with the piratical boats
which took advantage of the general confusion to plunder friend as
well as foe.
The Perseus had that afternoon chased two government junks up
a creek. The sun had already set when they took refuge there, and
the captain did not care to send his boats after them in the dark,
as many of the creeks ran up for miles into the flat country; and as
they not unfrequently had many arms or branches, the boats might,
in the dark, miss the junk altogether. Orders were issued that four
boats should be ready for starting at daybreak the next morning.
The Perseus anchored off the mouth of the creek, and two boats were
ordered to row backwards and forwards off its mouth all night to
insure that the enemy did not slip out in the darkness.
Jack Fothergill, the senior midshipman, was commanding the gig, and
two of the other midshipmen were going in the pinnace and launch,
commanded respectively by the first lieutenant and the master. The
three other midshipmen of the Perseus were loud in their lamentations
that they were not to take share in the fun.
"You can't all go, you know," Fothergill said, "and it's no use
making a row about it; the captain has been very good to let three
of us go."
"It's all very well for you, Jack," Percy Adcock, the youngest of
the lads, replied, "because you are one of those chosen; and it is
not so hard for Simmons and Linthorpe, because they went the other
day in the boat that chased those junks under shelter of the guns
of their battery, but I haven't had a chance for ever so long."
"What fun was there in chasing the junks?" Simmons said. "We never
got near the brutes till they were close to their battery, and then
just as the first shot came singing from their guns, and we thought
that we were going to have some excitement, the first lieutenant
sung out 'Easy all,' and there was nothing for it but to turn round
and to row for the ship, and a nice hot row it was--two hours
and a half in a broiling sun. Of course I am not blaming Oliphant,
for the captain's orders were strict that we were not to try to cut
the junks out if they got under the guns of any of their batteries.
Still it was horribly annoying, and I do think the captain might
have remembered what beastly luck we had last time, and given us
a chance tomorrow."
"It is clear we could not all go," Fothergill said, "and naturally
enough the captain chose the three seniors. Besides, if you did
have bad luck last time, you had your chance, and I don't suppose
we shall have anything more exciting now; these fellows always set
fire to their junks and row for the shore directly they see us,
after firing a shot or two wildly in our direction."
"Well, Jack, if you don't expect any fun," Simmons replied, "perhaps
you wouldn't mind telling the first lieutenant you do not care for
going, and that I am very anxious to take your place. Perhaps he
will be good enough to allow me to relieve you."
"A likely thing that!" Fothergill laughed. "No, Tom, I am sorry
you are not going, but you must make the best of it till another
chance comes."
"Don't you think, Jack," Percy Adcock said to his senior in a coaxing
tone later on, "you could manage to smuggle me into the boat with
you?"
"Not I, Percy. Suppose you got hurt, what would the captain say
then? And firing as wildly as the Chinese do, a shot is just as
likely to hit your little carcass as to lodge in one of the sailors.
No, you must just make the best of it, Percy, and I promise you
that next time there is a boat expedition, if you are not put in,
I will say a good word to the first luff for you."
"That promise is better than nothing," the boy said; "but I would
a deal rather go this time and take my chance next."
"But you see you can't, Percy, and there's no use talking any more
about it. I really do not expect there will be any fighting. Two
junks would hardly make any opposition to the boats of the ship,
and I expect we shall be back by nine o'clock with the news that
they were well on fire before we came up."
Percy Adcock, however, was determined, if possible, to go. He was
a favorite among the men, and when he spoke to the bow oar of the
gig the latter promised to do anything he could to aid him to carry
out his wishes.
"We are to start at daybreak, Tom, so that it will be quite dark
when the boats are lowered. I will creep into the gig before that
and hide myself as well as I can under your thwart, and all you
have got to do is to take no notice of me. When the boat is lowered
I think they will hardly make me out from the deck, especially as
you will be standing up in the bow holding on with the boat hook
till the rest get on board."
"Well, sir, I will do my best; but if you are caught you must not
let out that I knew anything about it."
"I won't do that," Percy said. "I don't think there is much chance
of my being noticed until we get on board the junks, and then they
won't know which boat I came off in, and the first lieutenant will
be too busy to blow me up. Of course I shall get it when I am on
board again, but I don't mind that so that I see the fun. Besides,
I want to send home some things to my sister, and she will like
them all the better if I can tell her I captured them on board some
junks we seized and burnt."
The next morning the crews mustered before daybreak. Percy had
already taken his place under the bow thwart of the gig. The davits
were swung overboard, and two men took their places in her as she
was lowered down by the falls. As soon as she touched the water
the rest of the crew clambered down by the ladder and took their
places; then Fothergill took his seat in the stern, and the boat
pushed off and lay a few lengths away from the ship until the
heavier boats put off. As soon as they were under way Percy crawled
out from his hiding place and placed himself in the bow, where he
was sheltered by the body of the oarsmen from Fothergill's sight.
Day was just breaking now, but it was still dark on the water, and
the boat rowed very slowly until it became lighter. Percy could
just make out the shores of the creek on both sides; they were but
two or three feet above the level of the water, and were evidently
submerged at high tide. The creek was about a hundred yards wide,
and the lad could not see far ahead, for it was full of sharp
windings and turnings. Here and there branches joined it, but the
boats were evidently following the main channel. After another half
hour's rowing the first lieutenant suddenly gave the order "Easy
all," and the men, looking over their shoulders, saw a village
a quarter of a mile ahead, with the two junks they had chased the
night before lying in front of it. Almost at the same moment a
sudden uproar was heard--drums were beaten and gongs sounded.
"They are on the lookout for us," the first lieutenant said. "Mr.
Mason, do you keep with me and attack the junk highest up the
river; Mr. Bellew and Mr. Fothergill, do you take the one lower
down. Row on, men." The oars all touched the water together and
the four boats leaped forward. In a minute a scattering fire of
gingals and matchlocks was opened from the junks and the bullets
pattered on the water round the boats. Percy was kneeling up in
the bow now. As they passed a branch channel three or four hundred
yards from the village, he started and leaped to his feet.
"There are four or five junks in that passage, Fothergill; they
are poling out."
The first lieutenant heard the words.
"Row on, men; let us finish with these craft ahead before the others
get out. This must be that piratical village we have heard about,
Mr. Mason, as lying up one of these creeks; that accounts for those
two junks not going higher up. I was surprised at seeing them here,
for they might guess that we should try to get them this morning.
Evidently they calculated on catching us in a trap."
Percy was delighted at finding that, in the excitement caused by
his news, the first lieutenant had forgotten to take any notice of
his being there without orders, and he returned a defiant nod to
the threat conveyed by Fothergill shaking his fist at him. As they
neared the junks the fire of those on board redoubled, and was
aided by that of many villagers gathered on the bank of the creek.
Suddenly from a bank of rushes four cannons were fired. A ball
struck the pinnace, smashing in her side. The other boats gathered
hastily round and took her crew on board, and then dashed at the
junks, which were but a hundred yards distant. The valor of the
Chinese evaporated as they saw the boats approaching, and scores
of them leaped overboard and swam for shore.
In another minute the boats were alongside and the crews scrambling
up the sides of the junks. A few Chinamen only attempted to oppose
them. These were speedily overcome, and the British had now time
to look round, and saw that six junks crowded with men had issued
from the side creek and were making towards them.
"Let the boats tow astern," the lieutenant ordered. "We should have
to run the gantlet of that battery on shore if we were to attack
them, and might lose another boat before we reached their side. We
will fight them here."
The junks approached, those on board firing their guns, yelling
and shouting, while the drums and gongs were furiously beaten.
"They will find themselves mistaken, Percy, if they think they
are going to frighten us with all that row," Fothergill said. "You
young rascal, how did you get on board the boat without being seen?
The captain will be sure to suspect I had a hand in concealing
you."
The tars were now at work firing the gingals attached to the
bulwarks and the matchlocks with which the deck was strewn, at the
approaching junks. As they took steady aim, leaning their pieces
on the bulwarks, they did considerable execution among the Chinamen
crowded on board the junks, while the shot of the Chinese, for the
most part, whistled far overhead; but the guns of the shore battery,
which had now slewed round to bear upon them, opened with a better
aim, and several shots came crashing into the sides of the two
captured junks.
"Get ready to board, lads!" Lieutenant Oliphant shouted. "Don't
wait for them to board you, but the moment they come alongside lash
their rigging to ours and spring on board them."
The leading junk was now about twenty yards away, and presently
grated alongside. Half a dozen sailors at once sprang into her
rigging with ropes, and after lashing the junks together leaped
down upon her deck, where Fothergill was leading the gig's crew
and some of those rescued from the pinnace, while Mr. Bellew, with
another party, had boarded her at the stern. Several of the Chinese
fought stoutly, but the greater part lost heart at seeing themselves
attacked by the "white devils," instead of, as they expected,
overwhelming them by their superior numbers. Many began at once
to jump overboard, and after two or three minutes' sharp fighting
the rest either followed their example or were beaten below.
Fothergill looked round. The other junk had been attacked by two of
the enemy, one on each side, and the little body of sailors were
gathered in her waist, and were defending themselves against an
overwhelming number of the enemy. The other three piratical junks
had been carried somewhat up the creek by the tide that was sweeping
inward, and could not for the moment take part in the fight.
"Mr. Oliphant is hard pressed, sir." He asked the master: "Shall
we take to the boats?"
"That will be the best plan," Mr. Bellew replied.
"Quick, lads, get the boats alongside and tumble in; there is not
a moment to be lost."
The crew at once sprang to the boats and rowed to the other junk,
which was but some thirty yards away.
The Chinese, absorbed in their contest with the crew of the pinnace,
did not perceive the newcomers until they gained the deck, and with
a shout fell furiously upon them. In their surprise and consternation
the pirates did not pause to note that they were still five to
one superior in number, but made a precipitate rush for their own
vessels. The English at once took the offensive. The first lieutenant
with his party boarded one, while the newcomers leaped on to the
deck of the other. The panic which had seized the Chinese was so
complete that they attempted no resistance whatever, but sprang
overboard in great numbers and swam to the shore, which was but
twenty yards away, and in three minutes the English were in undisputed
possession of both vessels.
"Back again, Mr. Fothergill, or you will lose the craft you captured,"
Lieutenant Oliphant said; "they have already cut her free."
The Chinese, indeed, who had been beaten below by the boarding
party, had soon perceived the sudden departure of their captors,
and gaining the deck again had cut the lashings which fastened them
to the other junk, and were proceeding to hoist their sails. They
were too late, however. Almost before the craft had way on her
Fothergill and his crew were alongside. The Chinese did not wait
for the attack, but at once sprang overboard and made for the shore.
The other three junks, seeing the capture of their comrades, had
already hoisted their sails and were making up the creek. Fothergill
dropped an anchor, left four of his men in charge, and rowed back
to Mr. Oliphant.
"What shall we do next, sir?"
"We will give those fellows on shore a lesson, and silence their
battery. Two men have been killed since you left. We must let the
other junks go for the present. Four of my men were killed and
eleven wounded before Mr. Bellew and you came to our assistance.
The Chinese were fighting pluckily up to that time, and it would
have gone very hard with us if you had not been at hand; the beggars
will fight when they think they have got it all their own way. But
before we land we will set fire to the five junks we have taken.
Do you return and see that the two astern are well lighted, Mr.
Fothergill; Mr. Mason will see to these three. When you have done
your work take to your boat and lay off till I join you; keep the
junks between you and the shore, to protect you from the fire of
the rascals."
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