Stan Lynn Part 65

Stan looked round, and the man at whom he had aimed escaped.

"What's that?" he shouted as he looked for the crumbling down of the walls.

The answer to his question came in the shrill, piping voice of Wing:

"Um t'inkee gleat Englis' man-o'-wa come 'long."

The Chinaman spoke as he rushed away across the wide floor, to begin climbing the narrow ladder on one side--the steps leading to the roof and the trap-door through which he had pa.s.sed to play the part of lookout.

"Oh, impossible!" cried Uncle Jeff hoa.r.s.ely.--"Don't believe him, Stan, boy; it's too good to be true."

_Boom_! _thud_! and a sound like a crash, followed by a cessation of the yelling for a perceptible s.p.a.ce, and then a peculiar murmuring, with the enemy outside becoming wildly excited, and then as if by one volition swarming for the edge of the wharf.

"Wing's right," cried Blunt. "It must be a gunboat, and they are firing sh.e.l.l."

"Yes, yes," shouted Stan, and there was a peculiar hysterical ring in his voice. "Look, uncle! that junk to the right is torn open; the p.o.o.p is smashed. There's the smoke of the sh.e.l.l rising, and--Hurrah! She's going down!"

Stan's triumphant cry was taken up three times over, the defenders crowding the narrow slits to get a glimpse of what was going on--for the first shot had checked the attack, literally paralysing the pirates with astonishment; the second turned the a.s.sault into a retreat, while as the fierce hurrahs of the people in the _hong_ went on, the gangways of the junks were being crowded in the rush for safety.

"Hoolay! hoolay! hoolay!" came from the ceiling of the great room; while as Stan turned, there was Wing's head visible as he thrust it down, and as soon as he saw that he was observed the Chinaman shouted, "Big Englis' s.h.i.+p fi'e two-bang shot."

_Boom_! came another report, and, almost at the same moment, _crash_!

Another sh.e.l.l had burst just over the second junk close up to the wharf, the splintering of fragments causing terrible havoc, which was trampled out of sight directly by the men crowding aboard.

For the moment Stan forgot all about their own perilous position, for the air rus.h.i.+ng in through the barricaded windows was cool and refres.h.i.+ng; but Blunt had had eyes for what was going on below and within, where the air was growing stifling with smoke and heat.

"Here, Lynn," he shouted. "Quick! That whistle! Blow, lad, blow!"

The shrill note rang out, and brought every one crowding up to one end of the great stacked-up floor.

"Ah! that's right," cried Uncle Jeff. "Nothing to fear from the enemy now, lads; clear this window."

"Yes; and throw the bales down the staircase. It will block the way,"

cried Blunt.

The men cheered, and worked with all their might, bale after bale being tossed into the wide opening and filling it up so that the great draught of heat was checked and the place rendered more bearable as the flame and smoke ceased to rush up as if through some great flue.

This done, Blunt gave a fresh order, and the party began to drop one after another through the window, those behind covering them with their rifles in case of an attack.

But the precaution was needless, for the enemy had but one aim now--to get all on board their vessels, cast them off from the wharf, and make sail.

Hence it was that the defenders reached the outside of the burning _hong_ uninterrupted, and while the pirates were busy their intended victims followed the whistle once more, being led by Blunt and Uncle Jeff round to the broken-down window at the back which the enemy had forced.

Here Blunt leapt in, followed by Stan and Uncle Jeff, marshalling his men for that which he had in view--the saving of the great warehouse before it was too late.

Lucky it was that such precautions against fire had been taken and the coolies and warehous.e.m.e.n were so drilled.

For there was only the smoke to fear now. The great casks stood full, and the buckets ready to be seized and pa.s.sed along to Uncle Jeff and Lawrence, who, all soiled like the rest, and half-suffocated, sent the water streaming over the parts where the fire was eating its way along the woodwork and up the stairs, till in ten minutes flames and sparks began to give place to smoke and steam to such an extent that it was safe for some of the clerks to a.s.sist the carpenters, who, by Blunt's orders, began to tear down the planks over the windows and let in air that could be breathed.

It was none too soon, for even Uncle Jeff of the mighty muscles began to feel that he must crawl out or stifle, while as the first puff of wholesome air rushed in Lawrence dropped, and he was being raised to be carried out into the open air, but began to struggle and make signs that he should be set down. Five minutes later he was vigorously swinging a bucket again.

"Hurrah, Stan!" shouted Uncle Jeff at last. "There's nothing more to fear.--Do you see, Blunt? A splash here and a splash there. Keep the coolies at it and the mischief will not be so bad after all. Here, I must see what they're doing outside."

"Me know--I know," piped Wing, who always seemed to be ready for everything but heavy manual labour such as might break his nails. "Wing been gone look outside off _hong_ whooff. Big s.h.i.+p come all steam up livah. Shoot, shoot topside big junk. Numbee one topside junk go bottom. Numbee two topside junk float down livah go close 'longside.

Allee ovey--junk lun 'way up livah. Steams.h.i.+p shoot, shoot, shoot two-bang gun."

Poor Wing in his excitement suffered to such an extent from incoherency that his speech was hard to grasp; but helped by a lookout from the wharf, where the enemy was represented only by the dead, the state of affairs was fully grasped. For the masts and parts of the sails of two junks rose from the river a few yards from the wharf-edge; the wreckage of another lying over on its side was floating down-stream, while in response to the fire of a grim-looking grey gunboat, whose sh.e.l.ls went through her sides as if they were papier-mache, a fourth was settling down a couple of hundred yards away, and her late occupants were swimming for the farther bank across the river.

As Stan shaded his eyes, which were dim and painful from the effect of the smoke, he saw enough to prove that the fate of the other junks was sealed. They were sailing up-stream, but the grey gunboat was churning up the water astern as she stole after them like fate, every now and then sending forth a great ball of white smoke with a roar, followed by a stinging crack-like echo when a sh.e.l.l burst with unerring precision, the result being that the river seemed in the distance to be dotted in all directions with strange specks, all of which drifted for the farther sh.o.r.e.

"Ah, Uncle Jeff!" cried Stan suddenly, as he heard a sharp scratch, and turned to see a match burning in the bright suns.h.i.+ne.

"Yes, Stan, Uncle Jeff it is: come out to breathe and have a cigar.

I've used up all my stuff, boy. Pumped out. Here we are, you see; safe, though, after all.--My word, how those Jacks can shoot! Did you see?"

"Yes, uncle. Why, that junk must be half a mile away."

"Yes, splendid practice; but she'll go no farther than to the bottom, and the lads will have a sh.e.l.l into that other directly."

Uncle Jeff was right. It took two more sh.e.l.ls as he sat smoking, and then the last of the six pirate junks was so much bamboo chip floating down the stream.

"Poor wretches!" he said. "It seems very terrible; but it would have been much worse if the poor warehouse had been smoking ashes now, and our bones beneath."

"Yes," said Stan, shuddering. "I say, uncle, this is a horrible place.--Ah, Wing! You there?"

"Yes; come see you like cup tea."

"What! can you get some?" cried Stan.

"Yes, plenty tea. Wateh nea'ly boil."

"Oh! I should," cried Stan huskily, "for I feel quite sick at heart."

There were a few rifle-shots fired at fugitives on the banks, but the object of the gunboat's crew was more to scatter the savage miscreants than to add to their destruction; for the commander on board was satisfied with the blow at the pirates' power, and he said so half-an-hour later, when his vessel had steamed back and was moored to the wharf.

He had landed to inspect the place and congratulate its defenders warmly.

"As brave a defence as I know of, gentlemen," he said. "And it seems to me that I only just came up in time."

"Only just," said Uncle Jeff; "but we weren't beaten."

"Beaten--up!" said the officer sharply. "You'd have kept the miserable brutes off, but I'm afraid that the fire would have been rather too much--eh?"

"Yes," said Uncle Jeff; "we should have had to strike our colours to that. But there I don't talk about it. We've had an awful escape."

"You have, and no mistake. Here! come on board and have a wash while something to eat is made ready."