CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
RECOUNTS THE WILD, FIERCE, AND IN SOME RESPECTS PECULIAR INCIDENTS OF ABUSH FIGHT.
Although the pirates were taken aback by this unexpected advance of theRajah's gun-boat to within pistol-shot of their very doors, they were byno means cowed. Malays are brave as a race, and peculiarly regardlessof their lives. They manned their guns, and stood to them withunflinching courage, but they were opposed by men of the same mettle,who had the great advantage of being better armed, and led by a man ofconsummate coolness and skill, whose motto was--"Conquer or die!"
We do not say that the captain of the gun-boat _professed_ to hold thatmotto, for he was not a boaster, but it was clearly written in the fireof his eye, and stamped upon the bridge of his nose!
The pirate-guns were soon dismounted, their stockade was battered down,and when a party at last landed, with the captain at their head, andEdgar with his diving friends close at his heels, they were driven outof their fortification into the woods.
Previously to this, however, all the women and children had been sentfurther into the bush, so that the attacking party met none butfighting-men. Turning round a bend in a little path among the bushes,Edgar, who had become a little separated from his friends, came upon ahalf-naked Malay, who glared at him from behind a long shield. Thepirate's style of fighting was that of the Malay race in general, andhad something ludicrous, as well as dangerous, about it. He did notstand up and come on like a man, but, with his long legs wide apart andbent at the knees, he bounded hither and thither like a monkey, alwayskeeping his body well under cover of the shield, and peering round itsedges or over, or even under it, according to fancy, while his righthand held a light spear, ready to be launched at the first favourablemoment into the unprotected body of his adversary.
Edgar at once rushed upon him, snapping his revolver as he ran; but, allthe chambers having been already emptied, no shot followed. Brandishinghis cutlass, he uttered an involuntary shout.
The shout was unexpectedly replied to by another shout of "Aileen, tothe rescue!" which not only arrested him in his career, but seemed toperplex the pirate greatly.
At that moment the bushes behind the latter opened; a man in raggedshirt-sleeves and torn trousers sprang through, whirled a mighty club inthe air, and smote the pirate's uplifted shield with such violence as tocrush it down on its owner's head, and lay him flat and senseless on theground.
"Mr Hazlit!" gasped Edgar.
The merchant bounded at our hero with the fury of a wild cat, and wouldhave quickly laid him beside the pirate if he had not leaped activelyaside. A small tree received the blow meant for him, and the merchantpassed on with another yell, "To the rescue!"
Of course Edgar followed, but the bush paths were intricate. Heunfortunately turned into a wrong one, when the fugitive was for amoment hidden by a thicket, and immediately lost all trace of him.
Meanwhile Rooney Machowl, hearing the merchant's shout, turned aside torespond to it. He met Mr Hazlit right in the teeth, and, owing to hisnot expecting an assault, had, like Edgar, well-nigh fallen by the handof his friend. As it was, he evaded the huge club by a hair's-breadth,and immediately gave chase to the maniac--for such the poor gentlemanhad obviously become. But although he kept the fugitive for some timein view, he failed to come up with him owing to a stumble over a rootwhich precipitated him violently on his nose. On recovering his feetMr Hazlit was out of sight.
Rooney, caressing with much tenderness his injured nose, now sought toreturn to his friends, but the more he tried to do so, the farther heappeared to wander away from them.
"Sure it's a quare thing that I can't git howld of the road I comed by,"he muttered, as with a look of perplexity he paused and listened.
Faint shouts were heard on his left, and he was about to proceed in thatdirection, when distinct cries arose on his right. He went in _that_direction for a time, then vacillated, and, finally, came to a deadstand, as well as to the conclusion that he had missed his way; whichbelief he stated to himself in the following soliloquy:--
"Rooney, me boy, you've gone an' lost yoursilf. Ah, bad scran to 'ee.Isn't it the fulfilment of your grandmother's owld prophecy, that you'dcome to a bad ind at last? It's little I'd care for your misfortinmyself, if it warn't that you ought to be helpin' poor Mr Hazlit, who'sgone as mad as blazes, an' whose daughter can't be far off. Och! Manalive," he added, with sudden enthusiasm, "niver give in while there's apurty girl in the case!"
Under the impulse of this latter sentiment, Rooney started off at a runin a new and totally unconsidered direction, which, strange to say,brought him into sudden and very violent contact with some of thoseindividuals in whom he was interested.
Here we must, in hunters' language, "hark back" on our course for a fewminutes--if, indeed, that _be_ hunters' language! We do not profess toknow much thereof, but the amiable reader will understand our meaning.
Just after the attack had begun, and Mr Hazlit had sallied from the hutwith his war-club, as already related, Aileen became deeply impressedwith the fact that all the women and children who had been wont to visitand gaze at her in wonder had vanished. The rattling of shot over herhead, too, and the frequent rush of pirates past her temporary abode,warned her that the place was too much exposed in every way to be safe.She therefore sought to rouse her companion to attempt flight.
"Laura," she said, anxiously, as a round shot cut in half the leftcorner-post of the building, "come, we must fly. We shall be killed ifwe remain here."
"I care not," exclaimed Miss Pritty, clasping her friend closer thanever, and shuddering; "my worst fears have been realised. Let me die!"
"But _I_ don't want to die yet," remonstrated Aileen; "think of _me_,dear, if you can, and of my father."
"Ah, true!" exclaimed Miss Pritty, with sudden calmness, as sheunclasped her arms and arose. "Forgive my selfishness. Come; let usfly!"
If the poor lady had owned a private pair of cherubic wings, she couldnot have prepared for flight with greater assurance or activity. Shetightened her waist-belt, wrapped her shawl firmly round her, fastenedher bonnet strings in a Gordian knot, and finally, holding out her handto her friend, as if they had suddenly changed characters, said, "Come,are you ready?" with a tremendous show of decision. She even led thewondering Aileen along a winding path into the jungle for a considerabledistance; then, as the path became more intricate, she stopped, burstinto tears, laid her head again on its old resting-place, and said in ahollow voice:--"Yes; all is lost!"
"Come, Laura, don't give way; there's a dear. Just exert yourself alittle and we shall soon be safe at--at--somewhere."
Miss Pritty made a vigorous struggle. She even smiled through her tearsas she replied:--"Well, lead on, love; I will follow you--to death!"
With her eyes tightly shut, lest she should see something hideous in thewoods, she stumbled on, holding to her friend's arm.
"Where are we going to?" she asked, feebly, after a few minutes, duringwhich Aileen had pulled her swiftly along.
"I don't know, dear, but a footpath _must_ lead to something orsomewhere."
Aileen was wrong. The footpath led apparently to nothing and nowhere.At all events it soon became so indistinct that they lost it, and,finally, after an hour's wandering, found themselves hopelessly involvedin the intricacies of a dense jungle, without the slightest clew as tohow they should get out of it.
Aileen stopped at last.
"Laura," she said, anxiously, "we are lost!"
"I told you so," returned Miss Pritty, in a tone that was not quitedevoid of triumph.
"True, dear; but when you told me so we were _not_ lost. Now we _are_.I fear we shall have to spend the night here," she added, looking round.
Miss Pritty opened her eyes and also looked round. The sight that mether gaze was not encouraging. Afternoon was drawing on. Thick bushesand trees formed a sort of twilight there even at noon-day. Nothingwith life was visible. Not a sound was to be heard, save such litt
lerustlings of dry leaves and chirpings as were suggestive of snakes andcentipedes. The unhappy Laura was now too frightened to shudder.
"What shall we do?" she asked; "shriek for help?"
"That might bring pirates to us instead of friends," said Aileen."Listen; do you hear no sound?"
"Nothing," replied Miss Pritty, after a few moments of intense silence,"save the beating of my own heart. Aileen," she continued, with suddenanxiety, "are there not serpents in these woods?"
"Yes, I believe there are."
"And tarantulas?"
"Probably."
"And tortoises?"
"I--I'm not sure."
"Darling, how _can_ we sleep among tortoises, tarantulas, and serpents?"
Even Aileen was at a loss for a reply, though she smiled in spite ofherself.
"I'll tell you what," she said, cheerfully, "if we _must_ spend thenight in the bush we shall get into a tree. That will at least save usfrom all the venomous creatures as well as dangerous beasts that crawlupon the ground. Can you climb?"
"Climb!" repeated Miss Pritty, with a hysterical laugh, "you might aswell ask me if I can dive."
"Well, you must learn. Come, I will teach you. Here is a capital treethat seems easy to get into."
Saying this, Aileen ran to a gnarled old tree whose trunk was dividedinto two parts, and from which spread out a series of stout branchesthat formed a sort of net-work of foliage about eight or ten feet fromthe ground. Climbing actively up to these branches, she crept out uponthem, and from that position, parting the twigs, she looked downlaughingly at her friend.
Her bright spirit was contagious. Miss Pritty almost forgot heranxieties, smiled in return, and walked towards the tree, in doing whichshe trod on something that moved in the grass. A piercing shriek wasthe result. It was immediately replied to by a wild yell at no greatdistance.
"It was only a frog; look, I see it now, hopping away. Do be quick,Laura; I am sure that was the yell of a savage."
No further spur was needed. Miss Pritty scrambled up into the tree andcrept towards her friend with such reckless haste that one of her feetslipped off the branch, and her leg passing through the foliage,appeared in the regions below. Recovering herself, she reached what shedeemed a place of security.
"Now, dear, we are safe--at least for a time," said Aileen, arrangingher friend's disordered dress. "Take care, however; you must be carefulto trust only to limbs of the tree; the foliage cannot bear you. Look,you can see through it to the ground. Lean your back against this forkhere; sit on this place--so; put your foot on this branch, there--why,it is almost like a chair--hush!"
It was quite unnecessary to impose silence. They both sat among thebranches as motionless as though they had been parts of the tree. Theyscarce dared to breathe, while they peered through the foliage andbeheld the dim form of a man advancing.
Whoever he was, the man seemed to growl as though he had been allied tothe beasts of the jungle. He came forward slowly, looking from side toside with caution, and, stopping directly under the tree of refuge,said--
"Musha!" with great emphasis, then placing both hands to his mouth hegave vent to a roar that would have done credit to a South African lion.
As neither of the ladies understood the meaning of "Musha," theylistened to the roar with a thrill of unutterable horror. Miss Pritty,as if fascinated, leant forward, the better to observe her foe.Suddenly, like the lightning-flash, and without even a shriek ofwarning, she lost her balance and dived head-foremost into the bosom ofRooney Machowl!
Well was it for the bold Irishman that Miss Pritty was a light weight,else had he that day ended his career in the jungles of Borneo. As itwas he went down like a shock of corn before the scythe, grasped MissPritty in an embrace such as she had never before even imagined, andproceeded to punch her poor head.
Then, indeed, she made herself known by a powerful scream that causedthe horrified man to loose his hold and spring up with a torrent ofapologies and self-abuse.
"Och! it's not possible. Baste that I am! Oh ma cushla astore, forgiveme! It's a gorilla I thought ye was, sure, for I hadn't time to look,d'ee see. It's wishin' you had staved in my timbers intirely I am."
Rooney's exclamations were here cut short, and turned on another themeby the sudden appearance of Aileen Hazlit, who soon found that herfriend was more alarmed than hurt.
"I _am_ so glad you have found us, and so surprised," said Aileen, whohad met Rooney in England during one of her visits to Joe Baldwin'sabode, "for we have quite lost ourselves."
Rooney looked a little awkwardly at the fair girl.
"Sure, it's glad I am myself that I've found you," he said, "but faix,I'm lost too! I do belave, howiver, that somebody's goin' to find us."
He turned his head aside and listened intently. Presently a cry washeard at no great distance. It was replied to by another.
"Pirates," said Rooney, in a hoarse whisper, drawing a cutlass from hisbelt.
As he spoke another cry was heard in an opposite direction.
"Friends!" exclaimed Rooney. "Sure we're surrounded by friends andfoes! Come, git into the tree, ladies. I'll give a hail, an' if thevarmin should come up first, I'll kape them in play. Don't show yerpurty faces dears, an' be as aisy as ye can."
So saying, Rooney gave vent to a true British cheer, while the ladiesascended once more into the tree.
The cheer was instantly replied to by counter-cheers and howls. Aminute more and two half-naked Malays, armed with spears and longshields, bounded into the clear space and attacked the Irishman, butRooney had placed his back to the tree and was ready for them. Althoughhe was scarcely a match for two such men, whose peculiar and boundingmode of fighting he did not understand, Rooney nevertheless quicklydisabled one by the sheer strength of a blow, which cut through theshield and wounded his enemy's head. The other he sprang upon like awild cat and grappled with him. At that moment a third Malay glided onthe scene, brandished his spear, and stood by the swaying combatantsawaiting a favourable opportunity to thrust his weapon into the whiteman's back. He stood right under the branch in which the ladies wereconcealed. Miss Pritty saw his intention and felt convinced he wouldsucceed. In desperate alarm at the danger of her protector, andhorrified at what she was about to do, she grasped the pirate by thehair and tore out a large handful, at the same time uttering shriek uponshriek mingled with appalling bursts of hysterical laughter.
This saved Rooney, who turned just in time to protect himself, but as hedid so six more pirates leaped upon the scene and overpowered him. Theyalso sprung up the tree, and quickly brought down the ladies.
Poor Miss Pritty had gone fairly off into violent hysterics by thattime. She was carried down in the arms of a pirate, into whose hair shehad permanently fastened her ten fingers, while she filled the woodswith unearthly cries.
Before any advantage, however, could be taken of this success, a cheerwas heard close at hand. Next moment, Edgar Berrington burst on thescene, followed by the captain of the gun-boat and a body of men. Thepirates did not await them, but fled instantly.
"Fire a volley, lads," shouted the captain.
The men obeyed, and one or two yells told that it had not been withouteffect, nevertheless, all the miscreants escaped with the exception ofMiss Pritty's captive, who, unable to clear himself from her closeembrace with sufficient speed, was collared and throttled intosubmission by Edgar.
"We'll divide our force here," said the captain. "I'll follow them up awhile with some of the boys, and you, Mr Berrington, will return withthe rest to the gun-boat, in charge of the ladies."
Edgar was about to object, but the captain silenced him at once with:--
"Come, sir, you're under my orders. Do what I bid you."
There was no resisting this, so Edgar turned, not unwillingly, and gavehis arm to Aileen, who seized it with a grateful eagerness that sent athrill of delight through all his frame.
"Come along, my lads," he cried. "Take care
of Miss Pritty, poorthing!" he added, turning to Rooney.
The Irishman obeyed. He stooped and lifted her in his arms. She hadbeen lying in a state of semi-insensibility with her eyes tightly shut.The moment she felt herself being lifted, she clutched her protector bythe hair, and held on, shrieking.
"Ay, tug away, cushla!" said Rooney, as he moved after his friends,"it's not much of _that_ ye'll manage to root up."
"Have you seen my father?" asked Aileen, anxiously, as they moved ontogether.
"He is safe," answered Edgar; "I found him exhausted in the hut which hetold me you had occupied, and had him conveyed on board the gun-boat."
"Thank God!" exclaimed Aileen, fervently, "but," she added, with aslight shudder, "it seemed to me as if his mind had been unhinged--and--and he was wounded."
"A mere scratch on the temple," said Edgar, "yet sufficient, withsurrounding circumstances, to account for the temporary madness thatassailed him. Fear not, Aileen, he is safe now, through God's mercy,and you shall soon be safe beside him."
A feeling of deep gratitude and restfulness stole over the poor girl'sspirit, and she almost wept for joy as they stepped into a small boat,and were rowed over the calm water to the gun-boat, which lay, black andstill, under the deep shadow of a bank of luxuriant foliage.
"My child," said Mr Hazlit, sadly, as they reclined together on thecouches of the little cabin, while Edgar sat on a camp-stool near them,Miss Pritty having been consigned to the captain's berth, "they tell methat this fearful work is not yet over. There is to be more fightingand bloodshed."
"How? What do you mean, papa?"
"Tell her, Mr Berrington."
"We have just had news sent us by a fast row-boat from a town aboutsixty miles along the coast that a large fleet of pirate-prows have beenseen off the coast. They have taken several trading prows, and capturedmany men belonging to the Sarawak territory, besides several Chinamen.When our captain completes his work on shore here, he intends to startat once in chase of these pirates, in the hope of destroying them andfreeing their slaves."
"God help us," said Aileen, "it seems as if men in this part of theworld, gloried in pouring out blood like water."
"Some of them undoubtedly do. Perhaps it may reconcile your mind to thedestruction of these miscreants to know that for every one killed therewill probably be saved the lives of dozens--if not hundreds--of innocentmen and women, whom he would have murdered, or doomed to hopelessslavery, in the course of his wicked career."
As Edgar spoke, the sound of oars was heard. Presently the captain andhis men leaped on deck. The moorings were cast loose, our hero took hisstation at the engine, and the gun-boat glided swiftly down the river,leaving the pirate stronghold in flames.