a fight with malay pirates.
at six o’clock in the morning, the tide suiting, the gun-boat crept out to sea, and steamed slowly along the coast to the southward, keeping a good look-out. they soon discovered sundry prows, but, after ordering them to come alongside, found that they were legitimate traders. thus the day was spent in a vain search, and at night they returned to their anchorage, as it was not possible to make any discoveries in the dark.
next morning, at the same hour, they steamed out to sea again, intending to keep about twelve miles off the coast, so as to be able to command a broad expanse of water in every direction; but before they had got two miles from the anchorage, three prows were observed about four or five miles to seaward.
“that looks like the rascals,” observed the captain, as he surveyed them through the glass.
“indeed,” said mr hazlit, who, rather pale and weak from his recent unwonted experiences, leaned in a helpless manner on the quarter-rails.
“yes; they pull forty or fifty oars, double-banked,” returned the captain, wiping his glass carefully. “they’ve got heavy guns on board, no doubt. we shall have to protect our boiler.”
the gun-boat was so small that a portion of her steam-case was unavoidably exposed above deck. a shot into this would have been disastrous. orders were therefore given to surround it with bags of coal, which was promptly done.
“and, one of you,” said the captain, turning to the man who chanced to be nearest him, “go into the cabin and bring up the sofa cushions; we shall want them to protect the legs of the men stationed on the poop.”
rooney machowl happened to be the man who received this order. he at once descended.
“by your lave, miss,” he said, with a bashful air; “i’m sorry to ask a lady to git up, but it’s the capting’s orders—he wants the cushions.”
“by all means,” said aileen, with a smile; “why does he want them?”
“plaze, miss, to protect our legs, savin’ yer presence.”
somewhat puzzled, and not a little amused by the reply, aileen rose and allowed the cushion on which she sat to be removed. these cushions were placed in the nettings on the poop, which was much exposed, to arrest the enemy’s bullets.
in a few minutes it was seen that the three prows were doing their best to get into shoal water, where the steamer could not have followed them. in this effort one of them was successful, for although the gun-boat’s course was changed in order to cut her off, she managed to run on shore, whence the pirates immediately opened fire. the other two, seeing there was no possibility of accomplishing the same feat, ceased rowing, and also opened fire, at a distance of about five or six hundred yards.
“we shall attack from our port side,” said the captain to his chief officer; “let the guns be laid accordingly.”
the armament of the gun-boat consisted of two nine-pounder guns, one on the forecastle, and one on the poop; one twelve-pounder, just before the bridge; and four six-pound brass carronades. these were all soon ready, but the order was not given to fire till they had got to within a hundred yards of the pirates, who were now pelting them smartly with small arms.
the captain stood on the bridge, the most commanding and, at the same time, the most exposed position in the vessel. he wore a cap, from under which his black eyes seemed to twinkle with fire and mischief.
he soon observed that the two prows, wincing under his fire, were edging for the shore. with that reckless resolution, therefore, to which all true heroes give way at times—not excepting nelson himself—he resolved to run them down.
the recklessness of this consisted in the fact that his vessel was not a “ram,” but built of comparatively thin plates. the necessity for it lay in the certainty that a few minutes more would enable the prows to gain shallow water and escape.
“besides,” thought the captain to himself, as he walked up and down the bridge with his hands in his pockets, while bullets whistled round his head, “even a thin plate can stand a good strain when struck end-on. never venture, never win!”
giving the order “full-speed” to the engineer, and “port your helm a little—steady” to the man at the wheel, the captain quietly awaited the result.
the result was most effective. the gun-boat went at the prow like a war-horse; her sharp bow struck one of the pirate vessels fair amidships and cut her in two pieces, launching her crew and captives into the sea!
she then backed astern, and made for the other prow, but she, laying to heart the fate of her companion, made for the shore as fast as possible. it was in vain. the gun-boat ran into her and sank her immediately, but so nearly had they succeeded in their intention, that there were only six inches of water under the steamer’s keel when she backed out.
“lower the boats,” shouted the captain, the instant his object had been accomplished; and it was not a moment too soon, for the sea all round was alive with human beings, some of whom evidently waited to be picked up, while others swam vigorously for the shore. in a short time, about a hundred men were rescued, most of whom were slaves—only ten being pirates. there was no difficulty in distinguishing between pirates and slaves, because the latter wore the “rattan” round their necks, in addition to which their spitting on the pirates, and furiously abusing them for past cruelty, and their falling down and kissing the feet of their deliverers, made the distinction abundantly clear.
most of the other pirates gained the shore, but we may here finally dismiss them, and relieve the reader’s mind by stating that they were afterwards hunted down and slain to a man by the natives of that district, who entertained a deadly, and very natural hatred of them, having suffered much at their hands in time past.
while the rescued captives were going about excitedly telling of the shocking barbarities that had been practised on them, the captain discovered among them a singapore native who could speak a little english. taking this man aft, he questioned him closely.
“are there any more pirate-junks hereabouts?” he said.
“yis; tree more.”
“whereaway?”
“hout seaward. not know how far. longish way off, me tink. we was sent off from dem last night, after all de goods an’ money was tooked out of us. what for, no kin tell. where tothers go, no kin tell.”
“they’ve got lots of captives aboard, i suppose?” said the captain.
“ho! great lots,” replied the singapore man.
“and lots of treasure too, no doubt.”
“ho! very greater lots of dat.”
after obtaining all the information he could from this man and from the other passengers, the captain steamed out to sea in a westerly direction, keeping a man at the mast-head to look out. the captives were in the meanwhile made as comfortable as circumstances would admit of, and the ten pirates were put in irons in the hold.
as the morning advanced, the sun increased in power and splendour. not a breath of wind ruffled the sea, which shone like a mirror, reflecting perfectly the sea-birds that accompanied them. everything was so calm and peaceful that the captain sent a message to mr hazlit and his daughter to request them to come up and enjoy the fresh air.
during the brief action described, they had been sent below to be out of danger. they obeyed the summons, and even miss pritty was induced by aileen to come on deck.
poor miss pritty! her hysterical fit was now quite over, but pale cheeks and a trembling exhausted frame told eloquently of her recent sufferings. mr hazlit’s limbs were also shaky, and his face cadaverous, showing that his temporary aberration of reason had told upon him.
“oh how delicious!” exclaimed miss pritty, referring to the atmosphere, as she sank into an easy-chair which the captain placed for her. “are these the pirates?” she added, shuddering, as her eyes fell on some of the rescued people.
“no, miss pritty,” answered the captain, “these are the freed captives. the pirates are in irons in the hold.”
“you had to fight, i suppose?” continued miss pritty, shutting her eyes and pursing her mouth with the air of one who braces herself to face the inevitable.
“well, we could hardly call it fighting,” answered the captain, with a smile, as he cleaned the glasses of his telescope and swept the horizon carefully; “we had a round or two of the guns, and a few bullets whistled about our ears for a little—that was all.”
“was any one wounded—k–killed?” asked miss pritty, opening her eyes with an anxious look; “and oh!” she added, with a sudden expression of horror, as she drew up her feet and glanced downwards, “perhaps the decks are—no,” she continued sinking back again with a sigh, “they are not bloody!”
at that moment the man at the mast-head reported three prows, just visible on the horizon ahead.
“i suppose we must go below again,” said aileen, sadly, after the captain returned from the bridge, to which he had gone to examine the prows in question.
“not yet, miss hazlit. it will probably be an hour ere we come up with them. you’d better enjoy the morning air while you may. i’ll warn you in good time.”
aileen therefore remained on deck for some time with her father, but poor miss pritty, on the first intimation that more pirates were in sight, got up hastily, staggered with a face expressive of the utmost horror into the cabin, flung herself into the captain’s berth, thrust her head under the pillow, piled the clothes over that, and lay there—quaking!
she quaked for full half an hour before anything happened. then she felt a hand trying to remove her superincumbent head-gear. this induced her to hold on tight and shriek, but, recognising aileen’s voice, she presently put her face out.
“don’t be so terrified, dear,” said aileen, scarce able to repress a smile.
“i can’t help it,” answered her friend, whimpering; “are the—the pirates—”
“they are not far off now. but don’t give way to needless alarm, dear. our captain sent me below because he is going to fight them, and you know he is sure to win, for he is a brave man. he says he’ll run them all down in a few minutes.”
“oh!” groaned miss pritty, and with that, pulling her head in like a snail, she resumed quaking.
poor aileen, although talking thus bravely to her friend, was by no means easy in her own mind, for apart from the fact that they were about to engage three pirate-junks, manned by hundreds of desperate men, she could not repress her shrinking horror at the bare idea of men talking coolly about shedding human blood. to one of her imaginative nature, too, it was no small trial to have to sit alone and inactive in the cabin, while the bustle of preparation for war went on overhead; we say alone, because her father, although there, was too much exhausted to act the part of companion or comforter in any degree.
meanwhile the gun-boat approached close to the enemy, and it soon became apparent that they meant to fight—trusting, no doubt, to their very decided superiority in numbers.
“they mean mischief,” said the captain, as he shut up his telescope.
“faix, an’ they’ll git it too,” replied rooney machowl, who chanced to be near at the time, though the remark was not addressed to him.
to this the captain made no reply, save by a grim curl of his black moustache, as he once more ascended to his exposed position on the bridge. from this outlook he could see plainly that the pirates were lashing their three prows together, and training all their guns on one side, where the attack was expected. as each prow mounted twelve guns, they could thus fire a broadside of thirty-six heavy pieces, besides small arms.
the men of the gun-boat were now all at their quarters, eagerly awaiting the order to begin. the captain descended and went round among them, so as to inspect everything with his own eye.
“now, lads,” he said, in passing, “remember, not a single shot till i give you positive orders.”
he returned to the bridge. although naturally disinclined to parley with scoundrels, he felt that he had a duty to perform, and resolved to go close up, and, if possible, induce them to surrender. but he was saved the trouble of attempting a parley, for while yet six hundred yards off, a regular volley burst from the sides of the pirate vessels.
again the black moustache curled, but this time with a touch of ferocity, for the shot partly took effect, cutting the rigging to some extent, killing one man of the crew, and wounding several. a musket-ball also struck his own cap and knocked it off his head.
“just hand that up,” he said, pointing to the cap.
one of the men obeyed, and the captain, taking a look at the hole, replaced it. still he gave no order to fire, although the pirates were seen to be busily re-loading.
hanging up to within a hundred yards, the captain looked quickly at his men.
“port, a little,” said he to the man at the wheel.
“are you ready?”
“ay, ay, sur,” from rooney machowl, in a deep bass undertone.
“fire!”
as if but one piece had been fired the whole broadside burst from the side of the gun-boat, shaking the little vessel violently. miss pritty’s voice came up responsive with an unearthly yell!
“load!” was instantly ordered, and so quickly was it obeyed that before the enemy were ready with their second volley the gun-boat had charged and fired again, doing great damage.
there being no wind, a dense cloud of smoke from the three volleys settled down on the water and completely hid them and their enemy from each other.
“steam ahead, full-speed,” signalled the captain to edgar berrington.
the screw instantly whirled, and under cover of the dense veil, the active little vessel moved away just in time to escape a murderous volley of shot, shrapnel, and ball, which was poured into the smoke she had left behind her! the pirates followed this up with a wild cheer and a brisk fire of musketry, which only ceased when, discovering their mistake, they beheld the gun-boat emerge from the smoke, steer round the end of their line, and, slewing to port, deliver another volley of great guns and small arms, that raked them all from stem to stern, doing terrible execution both to the prows and their crews.
thus the gun-boat played round and round the enemy, always maintaining the distance of about a hundred yards, and keeping up the action as fast as they could load and fire. the pirates, on their part, fought with the courage of trained men of war and with the ferocity of tigers at bay—who ask and expect no mercy. and thus they fought for no less than three hours.
one reason why the pirates were able to hold out so long lay in the fact that their prows were surrounded by a thick matting made from a certain palm-leaf, which, although it could not prevent shot from passing through, concealed the men who lay behind it, and so prevented the riflemen of the gun-boat crew from taking aim. in order to get the better of this difficulty, the latter fell into the way of watching for the puffs of smoke that came through the matting, and firing at these puffs.
conspicuous among the pirates for his coolness, daring, and utter disregard of his life, was one tall, powerful fellow in a red jacket. every one guessed him at once to be a chief among the pirates, and this question was soon settled by some of the recently freed captives, who recognised him as being the great chief of the fleet—pungarin.
he went about the deck of his prow, which occupied the centre of the line, encouraging his men to rapid action, and often pointing the guns with his own hands.
many rifle-shots were fired at him, but in vain. he seemed to bear a charmed life.
“can none of you pick him off?” said the captain of the gun-boat.
twenty rifles replied to the words, and the man’s red jacket was seen to be torn in many places, but himself remained unhurt!
at last the pirate-guns were silenced in two of the prows, only the chief’s maintaining an obstinate fire. this vessel would have been much sooner silenced, no doubt, but for the ferocity of pungarin. when his men, driven at last by the deadly fire of the assailants, forsook a gun and sought refuge behind the matting, the pirate-chief would promptly step forward and serve the gun himself, until very shame sometimes forced his men to return.
at last all the guns were disabled but one, and that one pungarin continued to serve, uninjured, amid a perfect storm of shot.
“the fellow has got the lives of twenty cats,” growled the captain, as he turned to give directions to the steersman, which brought the gun-boat still closer to the enemy. the effect of a well-delivered volley at this shorter range was to cut the fastenings of the three prows, thus permitting them to separate.
this was precisely what was desired, the captain having resolved to run the pirates down one at a time, as he had done before. he would not board them, because their superior numbers and desperate ferocity would have insured a hand-to-hand conflict, which, even at the best, might have cost the lives of many of his men. the instant, therefore, that the prows were cut adrift, he gave the order to back astern. at the same moment pungarin was heard to give an order to his men, which resulted in the oars being got out and manned by the surviving pirates and slaves, who rowed for the land as fast as possible. their escape in this way, however, the captain knew to be impossible, for they were now fully twenty-five miles from shore. he therefore went about his work leisurely.
backing a considerable distance, so as to enable his little war-horse to get up full-speed, he took careful aim as he charged.
it was interesting to watch the swart faces and glaring eyeballs of those on board the first prow, as the gun-boat bore down on them. some glared from hate, others obviously from fear, and all seemed a little uncertain as to what was about to be done. this uncertainty was only dispelled when the prow was struck amidships, and, with a tremendous crash, cut clean in two. simultaneous with the crash arose a yell of mingled anger and despair, as pirates and prisoners were all hurled into the sea.
again the order was given to go astern. the steamer immediately backed out of the wreck. after gaining a sufficient distance the engines were reversed, and the little vessel bore down on another prow.
this one made violent efforts to evade the blow, but the captain had anticipated as much. his orders were sharp; his steersman was prompt. the cut-water did its duty nobly, and in a few seconds another pirate vessel was sent to the bottom.
the sea was now swarming with human beings in all directions, some clinging to any scrap of wreck they could lay hold of, some paddling about aimlessly and roaring for help, while others swam steadily in the direction of the land. these last were chiefly pirates, who had evidently made up their minds to escape or drown rather than be captured.
as it was evident that many of those struggling in the water would be drowned in a few minutes, the captain delayed his attack on the third prow, and ordered the boats to be lowered. this was done promptly, and many of the poor victims captured by the pirates were rescued and brought on board. a few of the pirates were also picked up. these had jumped overboard with their “creases” and other weapons in their hands, and were so vindictive as to show fight furiously in the water when the sailors attempted to save them. many of the men suffered from this. poor rooney machowl was among the number.
he pulled the bow-oar of his boat, and hauled it in on drawing near to any one, so as to be ready to catch the hand of the swimmer, or make a grasp at him. as they approached one of the swimmers, rooney observed that he had a short twisted sword in his hand, and that he looked over his shoulder with a fierce scowl. nevertheless, as he leaned over to the rescue, it did not occur to the worthy man that the swimmer meant mischief, until he saw the twisted sword leap from the water, and felt the point of his nose almost severed from his face!
“och! you spalpeen,” cried rooney, with a yell of intense indignation and pain.
he was about to follow this up with a blow from his powerful fist that would have sent the pirate at least a fathom of the way down to the bottom, but the sword again leaped upwards, causing him to start back as it flashed close past his cheek, and went right over the boat into the sea. at the same moment a malay seized the pirate by an ear, another grasped him by an arm, and he was quickly hauled inboard and bound. “here, joe baldwin,” cried rooney to his comrade, who pulled an oar near the stern of the boat, “for anny favour lind a hand to fix on the pint o’ my poor nose. it was niver purty, but och! it’s ruinated now past redimption.”
“not a bit, man,” said joe, as he bound up the injured member by the simple process of tying a kerchief right round his friend’s face and head; “it’ll be handsomer than ever. there was always too much of it. you can afford to have it reduced.”
rooney did not quite seem to appreciate this comforting remark; however, after his nose was bound he and the rest of the boat’s crew continued their work, and soon returned on board the gun-boat with a mixed lot of pirates and captives. of course the rescuers were more careful in approaching the swimmers after rooney’s misfortune, but in spite of this many of them were wounded by the pirates slashing at them with their swords and knives, or flinging these weapons violently into the boats.
in a short time all were saved who yet remained above water. then the boats were hauled up and the steamer gave chase to the prow in charge of the pirate captain, which was by that time far away on the horizon.
