t Johnson, "A man there at the wheel--two!
quick! two! She's afloat. Down there in the engine-room," he shouted,
as he mounted the bridge, for a breeze had sprung up, and the mud that
clung round the steamer's keel having been loosened by the firing, the
motion of the vessel, and the pressure on the sails, the corvette had,
unperceived, been afloat some minutes, and slowly floating down stream.

In another few seconds she was under full command; and as the men flew
to the guns, the lieutenant took deadly revenge upon his fierce enemies
by manoeuvring the steamer so that, in spite of the efforts of her crew
with their sweeps; he literally sent her over the biggest of the three
prahus, the stem of the steamer cutting it in two as if it had been made
of paper, and then sinking the naga by a well-directed shot, the crews
of both swimming easily towards the shore.

By this time the other two prahus were in full retreat up stream,
evidently from a belief that the steamer would not follow; but in spite
of his mishap in running aground, Lieutenant Johnson could not resist
the temptation to administer the sternest punishment he could contrive;
and with full steam on, he gave chase, firing at the two prahus as he
went.

At the end of ten minutes one had been struck several times, and her
captain ran her close in shore, he and his crew deserting her; while
after avoiding only by a miracle at least a dozen shots, the last prahu
suddenly turned in by a branch of the river and seemed to go right
amongst the palm-trees, when, after a parting shot or two, the steamer
proving quite unsuited for chase in such narrow, shallow waters, the
lieutenant gave it up, his crew being too weak to continue the chase
with the boats.

CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN.

HOW BOB ROBERTS BURNED THE PRAHU.

The victory was dearly bought; for now that the breathless excitement
was over, and there was time to make an examination, it was found that
fully half the crew had injuries, more or less serious, the men, though,
bearing their sufferings with the greatest fortitude as their two
officers, for want of a doctor, bound up the wounds.

It almost seemed as if those who had most exposed themselves had come
off best; for neither Lieutenant Johnson, Bob Roberts, Ali, nor Adam
Gray, who had been brave even to recklessness, had received a scratch.

"I have only one regret about you, Gray," said Lieutenant Johnson,
shaking his hand warmly.

"May I ask what th