steamer to guard
outside of the fort.

There was this to consider too--if Lieutenant Johnson could get the
"Startler" off the mud, and round to the other side by Dullah's hut and
the landing-place, if they were very hard pressed the fort could be
abandoned, and, with the women, they could take refuge on board. Or
better still--though he felt reluctant to make such an arrangement--the
women could be got on board, and then the fort could be defended to the
last extremity.

In the course of those next hours while awaiting Gray's return, the
Malays made two or three sharp attacks, all of which were repelled; and
then, unable to assist, they waited, and listened to the engagement
going on upon the other side of the patch of jungle that clothed a part
of the island. The heavy reports of the steamer's guns made the frames
of the lightly-built dwellings rattle, and the smoke could be seen
rising above the trees; but how the tide of war set it was impossible to
tell, and Captain Smithers, as he walked up and down, felt as if he
would have given anything for a trusty native spy who would have sought
out news of what was going on.

Failing this, and not daring to send out a second party, although Tom
Long volunteered to go, there was nothing for it but to wait, especially
as their besiegers had evidently been greatly augmented in numbers, and
one of the soldiers had but to show himself for a moment, to bring upon
himself a shower of bullets.

The suspense grew maddening, as the noise of the engagement between the
prahus and the "Startler" increased. The yells of the Malays could be
plainly heard; then the reports of the heavy guns ceased; there was a
little rifle firing, the occasional crack of a revolver; and lastly came
the faintly-heard noise of men contending in deadly strife.

This lasted for a while, and the occupants of the fort mentally pictured
the scene going on, but they could not comprehend the strange shrieking
they heard as of men in terrible pain.

Captain Smithers' heart sank, and he glanced at Tom Long, in whose
countenance he read a confirmation of his fears; and on looking farther
he saw Mrs Major Sandars, with Rachel Linton and her cousin, watching
him attentively.

They read his face too as he turned away, and their dread also seemed
confirmed.

That ominous silence of the steamer's guns pointed to the fact that she
had been boarded by the Malays in too strong parties to be successfully
resisted