sprang forth, by thelight of which the boat and raft were both distinctly visible, theformer with only five or six rowers aboard, the other following in tow,and crowded with armed men.
"The party on the rocks fire on the boat?" shouted Captain Ranken;"those in the shed on the raft!"
He was obeyed on the instant. Eight rifles cracked almost at the samemoment from the rocks. The steersman and two of the rowers dropped deadin their places. The other two flung themselves into the bottom of theboat, wounded, but not killed. Several also on board the raft fell intothe sea, or into their companions' arms, and a cry for quarter wasraised. But the next moment the voice of Bostock sounded loud andclear.
"Step into the water!" he cried. "We are already on the reef; it is notabove our knees."
He sprang out himself as he spoke, and began wading ashore, followed,after a moment's pause, by the other men. Several volleys weredischarged from the barricade and rocks, not without their effect,though the mark was now more difficult to hit. In a few minutes themutineers had found refuge, as the captain had anticipated, on the outerside of the barricade, which the besieged, if they may so be called, hadrun up for their own protection.
The riflemen were now called down from the rocks, and joined theircompanions in the shed. The fire not having been returned from eitherthe boat or the raft, no injuries had been sustained. But the situationof Captain Ranken and his companions still appeared to be almosthopeless; as the fight would now be carried on on almost equal terms,and the mutineers still outnumbered them in the proportion of four toone. It seemed most likely now that they would try to surround the shedon all four sides, firing through the crevices, which were as availableto them as to those within, and so soon pick off all the defenders. Butfor this light was necessary, and they were therefore waiting for themoon to rise.
While they were still waiting in anxious suspense, a stone with a paperwrapped round it was thrown through the open window. The captain pickedit up and read it. It had no name attached to it, but professed to comefrom the whole of the crew, except those with Captain Ranken. It statedthat the hut was completely surrounded, and that the assailants had thelives of all those within at their mercy. But they wished to avoidfurther bloodshed. If the five thousand pounds which had been removedfrom Mr Whittaker's cabin should be given up, together with all thearms in the possession of the besieged party, they would go quietly awaywithout hurting any one. But if this was refused, an attack would bemade as soon as the moon rose, and no man's life would be spared. Itwas added, that if no answer was sent before moonrise, that would beregarded as a refusal.
When the captain had finished reading, no one spoke for a while. Atlast McCarthy broke the silence,--
"Have you any idea, sir, of complying with their demand? You see theydo not ask--what we could not have agreed to--the surrender of MissVander Heyden."
"No," said Mr Whittaker; "and I do not think my employers would blameyou, if you did comply. I daresay we should all agree to bear someportion of the ransom."
Several of the others broke in together, declaring their willingness topay any portion in their power.
"What do you say, Mr Rivers?" asked the captain, observing that he hadnot spoken.
"I would pay my share, sir," answered George; "anything that is in mypower. But I fear it would be useless. The best hope these men have inescaping the penalty of their mutiny lies in our death. If we were tosurrender ourselves to them, as this letter proposes, I think they wouldmurder us in cold blood--all except--"
"You need not mention her name, sir," interposed Vander Heyden. "Butyou say well. I know the villain who leads these men; he is quitecapable of that, or any other atrocity. We had better die sword inhand, like men, than be stabbed like sheep."
"You speak only too truly, sir," said the captain. "Our choice liesbetween one kind of death or another; and I, for one, choose that of abrave man, who will have no trafficking with villains."
He looked round him, and read approval in every eye. "You are right,sir," said McCarthy briefly, and the others echoed the sentiment.
No one spoke for the next ten minutes. Each was busy with his ownthoughts; such as are likely to fill men's minds when on the verge ofeternity. The time seemed painfully protracted, and all wished that thetrial was over. Suspense was worse than death itself. At last a suddenburst of yellow light streaming through the window warned them thattheir time had come. The next moment the door was burst in, and a crowdof men, armed with cutlasses and pistols, endeavoured to force anentrance. They were met by a general volley, which killed or woundednearly all the foremost assailants. But the rush from behind was keptup. Several forced themselves into the hut, and a hand-to-hand struggleensued. Miss Vander Heyden had been placed behind the screen whichRivers had strengthened for her; and he shouted to her, when the attackbegan, to throw herself on the ground, as the best chance there was ofher escaping injury. The screen caught the eye of Bostock as he enteredin the rush, and he and Van Ryk instantly made for it. Vander Heydenthrew himself in Bostock's way, and a fierce encounter began betweenthem; while, George in like manner interposing between Van Ryk and thescreen, they were soon engaged in deadly combat.
By this time the hut was nearly filled with the mutineers. The captain,with McCarthy on one side of him and Redgy on the other, was desperatelydefending himself against two or three assailants. The third mate,Whittaker, and Walters, had been all struck down, and several of the menwere mortally wounded, when suddenly there came from the sea a strangeand unexpected sound--the boom of a cannon!
The strife was instantly suspended. Each man looked in doubt and wonderupon his opponent's face. Then the captain's voice was once moreheard,--
"Throw down your arms, you mutinous dogs, and yield yourselvesprisoners, or every man among you shall swing at the yard-arm beforeanother hour has passed!"
CHAPTER SIX.
About a week had elapsed. George and Redgy were standing on the deck ofthe Government steamer Wasp, leaning over the bulwarks and contemplatingthe appearance of the harbour of Port Natal; which lay immediately infront of them, with the town of Durban in the middle distance, and theNatal country in the background. The ship could proceed no farther.The bar across the harbour mouth, on which seething masses of foam werebreaking, presented an insuperable obstacle.
"How are we ever to get in, George?" asked Redgy. "I suppose ships _do_get in somehow. Indeed it is plain they do, for there is a lot of themlying off the quays yonder. But how they surmounted that bar, it isbeyond me to imagine. I should think even the Yankee captain, whodeclared he could run his ship anywhere where there had been a heavydew, would be puzzled here."
"I don't suppose Captain Deedes will take his ship in," answered George."He has only to deliver and take back despatches to Cape Town, andthese can be brought to him out here."
"What, in a boat, I suppose?" suggested Margetts; "and that is the waywe shall go in, then? Well, every man knows his own business best; butI should have thought there was a very comfortable chance of any boatbeing swamped!"
"Wait, and you'll see, Redgy. Captain Deedes told me we should be safeashore before twelve o'clock."
"Did he tell you anything about what is going on at Mossel Bay?" askedMargetts. "I know he has had letters from thence. I saw them broughtaboard half an hour ago."
"Yes, a good deal. I am sorry to say Rolfe is dead; that is the fifthof our party that was killed. Walters and three of the sailors weredead before we sailed, you know."
"I am sorry for Rolfe. How are McCarthy and the captain and Whittaker?"
"They are all doing well. The captain's was only a slight cut acrossthe hand. He was much more hurt by Bostock's and Van Ryk's escape thanby that wound."
"I don't wonder. It is certainly a pity that they were not run up tothe yard-arm, as half a dozen others may be, who were less guilty thanthey were. I can't think how they managed to get off."
"Well, I can understand it. Van Ryk and I were ha
ving a desperatetussle, and we had been driven close to the door of the shed. When Iheard the gun from the _Wasp_, our encounter was broken off, and Ithought nothing more of my antagonist for the next ten minutes. As forBostock, who was, I noticed, a first-rate swordsman, he had disarmedVander Heyden, and would, I daresay, have run him through, if the cannonhadn't been fired at that moment. I judge both he and Van Ryk, who hadtheir wits well about them, made off as fast as they could to the placewhere the gig had been left, when Moritz and I landed from her."
"Ay, just at the farthest point behind the ridge, I remember," saidMargetts. "She was almost out of sight."
"Exactly. Well, they fell in with Sullivan and one or two otherfellows,