The Battery and the Boiler Part 28

"Not much use o' saying that to a feller that's red-hot," growled Slagg, as he stood with a flushed face, a revolver in one hand and a cutla.s.s in the other.

Sam, armed similarly, glided to the extreme verge of the bushes, between which and the water there was a s.p.a.ce of about thirty yards. With a quiet cat-like run he crossed this s.p.a.ce, rushed up the plank gangway, and leaped upon the deck, with his comrades close at his heels. The sentinel was taken completely by surprise, but drew his sword nevertheless, and sprang at Sam with a shout.

The latter, although not a professional warrior, had been taught single-stick at school, and was an expert swordsman. He parried the pirate's furious thrust, and gave him what is technically termed cut Number 1, which clove his turban to the skull and stretched him on the deck. It was a fortunate cut, for the shout had brought up seven pirates, five from below and two from the fore-part of the vessel, where they had been asleep between two guns. With these his comrades were now engaged in mortal combat--three of them having simultaneously attacked Johnson, while two had a.s.sailed Jim Slagg.

When Sam turned round the stout sailor had cut down one of his foes, but the other two would probably have proved too much for him if Sam had not instantly engaged one of them. He was a powerful, active man, so that for nearly a minute they cut and thrust at each other without advantage to either, until Sam tried a feint thrust, which he followed up with a tremendous slash at the head. It took effect, and set him free to aid Slagg, who was at the moment in deadly peril, for poor Slagg was no swordsman, and had hitherto foiled his two antagonists by sheer activity and the fury of his a.s.saults. He was quite collected, however, for, even in the extremity of his danger, he had refrained from using his revolver lest he should thereby give the alarm to the pirates on land.

With one stroke Sam disposed of one of the scoundrels, and Slagg succeeded in cutting down the other.

Meanwhile our hero, Robin, and Stumps had attacked the two pirates who chanced to be nearest to them. The former thought of Letta and her wretched fate if this a.s.sault should fail. The thought filled his little body, with such a gush of what seemed to him like electric fire, that he leaped on his opponent with the fury of a wild cat, and bore him backward, so that he stumbled over the combings of a hatchway and was thrown flat on the deck--_hors de combat_.

But Stumps was not so fortunate. Slow in all his movements, and not too courageous in spirit, he gave way before the villain who a.s.sailed him.

It was not indeed much to his discredit, for the man was much larger, as well as more active and fierce, than himself. A cut from the pirate's sword quickly laid him low, and his antagonist instantly turned on Robin. He was so near at the moment that neither of them could effectively use his weapon. Robin therefore dashed the hilt of his sword into the man's face and grappled with him. It was a most unequal struggle, for the pirate was, as we have said, a huge fellow, while Robin was small and slight. But there were several things in our hero's favour. He was exceedingly tough and wonderfully strong for his size, besides being active as a kitten and brave as a lion. The way that Robin Wright wriggled in that big man's embrace, hammered his nose and eyes with the iron hilt of his cutla.s.s, stuck his knees into the pit of his stomach, and a.s.saulted his s.h.i.+ns with the toes of boots, besides twisting his left hand into his hair like a vice, was wonderful to behold.

It was all Letta's doing! The more hopeless the struggle felt, the more hapless did Letta's fate appear to Robin, and the more furious did the spirit within rise above its disadvantages. In the whirl of the fight the pirate's head chanced for one moment to be in proximity to a large iron block. Robin observed it, threw all his soul and body into one supreme effort, and launched his foe and himself against the block.

Both heads met it at the same moment, and the combatants rolled from each other's grasp. The pirate was rendered insensible, but Robin, probably because of being lighter, was only a little stunned.

Recovering in a moment, he sprang up, glanced round, observed that the pirates were almost, if not quite, overpowered, and leaped over the bulwarks. A few moments later and he had Letta in his arms. Just then a pistol shot rang in the night air. The last of the pirates who was overpowered chanced to use his fire-arm, though without success. It was fortunate the fight was over, for, now that the alarm had been given, they knew that their chance of escaping was greatly lessened.

"Cut the cable, Slagg. Out with a boat-hook, Johnson, ready to shove off. I'll fetch Letta," cried Sam, springing to the side.

He was almost run down, as he spoke, by Robin with the child in his arms.

"Ha! Robin--well done, my boy. Here, Letta, you understand the language, tell the slaves below to out oars and pull for their lives.

It's their only chance."

The poor creatures, who were bound to the thwarts below deck, had been listening with dull surprise to the fighting on deck--not that fighting was by any means unusual in that vessel, but they must have known that they were in harbour, and that the main body of the pirates were on sh.o.r.e. Still greater was their surprise when they received the above order in the sweet gentle tones of a child's voice.

Whether they deemed her an angel or not we cannot tell, but their belief in her right to command was evinced by their shoving the oars out with alacrity.

A few seconds sufficed to cut the cable, and the gangway fell into the sea with a loud splash as the vessel moved slowly from the land, while Johnson, Robin, and Slagg thrust with might and main at the boat-hooks.

The oars could not be dipped or used until the vessel had been separated a few yards from the land, and it was during the delay caused by this operation that their greatest danger lay, for already the pirates were heard calling to each other among the cliffs.

"Pull, pull now for life, boys," shouted Sam as he seized the helm.

"Pull, pull now for life, boys," echoed the faithful translator in her silvery tones.

The oars dipped and gurgled through the water. There was no question as to the energy of the poor captives, but the vessel was heavy and sluggish at starting. She had barely got a couple of hundred yards from the sh.o.r.e, when the pirates from the cavern came running tumultuously out of the woods. Perceiving at once that their vessel had been captured, they rushed into the water and swam off, each man with his sword between his teeth.

They were resolute villains, and swam vigorously and fast. Sam knew that if such a swarm should gain the side of the vessel, no amount of personal valour could prevent recapture. He therefore encouraged the slaves to redoubled effort. These responded to the silvery echo, but so short had been the distance gained that the issue seemed doubtful.

"Give 'em a few shots, boys," cried Sam, drawing his own revolver and firing back over the stern. The others followed his example and discharged all their revolvers, but without apparent effect, for the pirates still came on.

One of the sails had fortunately been left unfurled. At this moment a light puff of air from the land bulged it out, and sensibly increased their speed.

"Hurrah!" shouted Johnson, "lend a hand, boys, to haul taut."

The sail was trimmed, and in a few minutes the vessel glided quickly away from her pursuers.

A loud British cheer announced the fact alike to pirates and slaves, so that the latter were heartened to greater exertion, while the former were discouraged. In a few minutes they gave up the chase with a yell of rage, and turned to swim for the sh.o.r.e.

About a hundred yards from the mouth of the harbour there lay a small islet--a mere rock. Here Sam resolved to leave the pirate guard, none of whom had been quite killed--indeed two of them had tried unsuccessfully to rise during the fight.

"You see," said Sam, as he steered for the rock, "we don't want to have either the doctoring or the killing of such scoundrels. They will be much better with their friends, who will be sure to swim off for them-- perhaps use our raft for the purpose, which they will likely find, sooner or later."

They soon ranged up alongside of the island, and in a few minutes the bodies of the pirates were landed and laid there side by side. While they were being laid down, the man who had fought with Robin made a sudden and furious grasp at Johnson's throat with one hand, and at his knife with the other, but the seaman was too quick for him. He felled him with a blow of his fist. The others, although still alive, were unable to show fight.

Then, hoisting the mainsail, and directing their course to the northward, our adventurers slipped quietly over the sea, and soon left Pirate Island far out of sight behind them.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

DEPARTURE FROM PIRATE ISLAND AND HOPEFUL NEWS AT SARAWAK.

The vessel of which Robin and his friends had thus become possessed, was one of those numerous native pirate-s.h.i.+ps which did, and we believe still do, infest some parts of the Malay Archipelago--s.h.i.+ps which can a.s.sume the form and do the work of simple trading-vessels when convenience requires, or can hoist the black flag when circ.u.mstances favour. It was not laden with anything valuable at the time of its capture. The slaves who wrought at the oars when wind failed, were wretched creatures who had been captured among the various islands, and many of them were in the last stage of exhaustion, having been worked almost to death by their inhuman captors, though a good many were still robust and fresh.

These latter it was resolved to keep still in fetters, as it was just possible that some of them, if freed, might take a fancy to seize the s.h.i.+p and become pirates on their own account. They were treated as well as circ.u.mstances would admit of, however, and given to understand that they should be landed and set free as soon as possible. Meanwhile, no more work would be required of them than was absolutely necessary.

Those of them who were ill were freed at once from toil, carefully nursed by Letta and doctored by Sam.

At first Robin and his comrades sailed away without any definite purpose in view, but after things had been got into order, a council was held and plans were discussed. It was then that Letta mentioned what the pirates in the cavern had said about her having been taken from Sarawak.

"Sarawak!" exclaimed Robin, "why, that's the place that has been owned and governed for many years by an Englishman named Brooke--Sir James Brooke, if I remember rightly, and they call him Rajah Brooke. Perhaps your mother lives there, Letta."

"Where is Sarawak?" asked Stumps, whose injuries in the recent fight were not so severe as had at first been supposed.

"It's in the island of Borneo," replied Sam; "you're right, Robin--"

"No, he's Robin Wright," interrupted Slagg.

"Be quiet, Jim. I think it is highly probable that your parents are there, Letta, and as we have no particular reason for going anywhere else, and can't hope to make for England in a tub like this, we will just lay her head for Sarawak."

This was accordingly done, their new course being nor'-east and by east.

It would extend our tale to undue proportions were we to give in detail all the adventures they experienced, dangers they encountered, and hairbreadth escapes they made, between that point on the wide southern ocean and the Malay Archipelago. The reader must be content to skip over the voyage, and to know that they ultimately arrived at the port of Sarawak, where they were kindly treated by a deputy, the Rajah himself being absent at the time.

During the voyage, the subject of finding Letta's parents became one of engrossing and increasing interest,--so much so, indeed, that even electricity and telegraph-cables sank into secondary importance. They planned, over and over again, the way in which they would set about making inquiries, and the various methods which they would adopt in pursuit of their end. They even took to guessing who Letta's parents would turn out to be, and Sam went so far as to invent and relate romantic stories, in which the father and mother of Letta played a conspicuous part. He called them Colonel and Mrs Montmorenci for convenience, which Slagg reduced to Colonel and Mrs Monty, "for short."

In all this Letta took great delight, chiefly because it held the conversation on that source of undying interest, "mamma," and partly because she entered into the fun and enjoyed the romance of the thing, while, poor child, her hopeful spirit never for a moment doubted that in some form or other the romance would become a reality through Robin, on whom she had bestowed her highest affections--next, of course, to mamma.

On landing at Sarawak, Sam s.h.i.+pton went direct to the Government offices to report the capture of the pirate vessel and to make inquiries as to Letta's parents, leaving Robin and the others to watch the vessel.

"Isn't it strange," said John Johnson to Robin, as they leaned over the side and looked down into the clear water, "that a Englishman should become a Rajah, and get possession o' this here country?"

"I can give you only a slight reply to that question," replied Robin, "but Sam will enlighten you more than I can; he seems to be acquainted with the Rajah's strange career. All I know is, that he is said to govern the country well."

"Coorious," said Johnson; "_I_ shouldn't like to settle down in sitch a nest o' pirates. Hows'ever, every man to his taste, as Jack said when the shark swallowed his sou'-wester. D'ee think it's likely, sir, that we'll find out who the parents o' poor Miss Letta is?"

Robin shook his head. "I'm not very hopeful. We have so little information to go upon--just one word,--Sarawak! Nevertheless, I don't despair, and I'll certainly not be beat without trying hard. But here comes Sam; he looks pleased. I think--I hope, he has good news for us."