. Still, loading and firing as fast as they could,
they kept the enemy at bay. Yet even Murray believed that it was only a
matter of time, and that every one of them would soon be numbered among
the dead. Still, by voice and example, he endeavoured to keep up the
courage of the men with him. At last he had to tell one of them to hold
him up, for he could scarcely see the enemy crowding round them. It was
a bad sign, the courage of some of the seamen began to waver, and they
looked wistfully towards the boats, as if they would make a rush at
them. Great was their dismay to see a body of Chinese hurry down to the
bank and begin to fire at the men in them. Their only chance of escape
appeared destroyed. At that moment a shout was heard, followed by a
rapid fire of musketry; and then came the sound of a big gun, and the
peculiar rattle and crash of grape. The Chinese attacking the boats
wavered and fled, followed by those between the English and the river;
and a party of bluejackets and marines, headed by Jack Rogers, was seen
hurrying up from the water. There was no time to be lost. The Chinese
might recover from their panic; so lifting Adair and Murray on their
shoulders, with the other wounded people, his men carried them to the
boats. The Chinamen looked with astonishment at What had occurred, and
then, recovering their senses, rushed down again towards the boats; but,
though they were too late to get back their prey, they got more than
they expected; for Jack Rogers, ordering the boats once more to pull
round so as to present their bows to the enemy, a rattling fire of grape
was thrown among them, which once more very rapidly sent them to the
rightabout.

Considering the number of wounded, Jack very wisely pulled down the
river as fast as he could go. He meantime had the hurts of the wounded
men bound up. Murray soon recovered, but Adair continued so weak that
his friends became very anxious for his safety. Jack told Murray that
the _Blenny_ had come in directly after the expedition had started--that
he had been sent up to obtain provisions at the village where they had
landed the comprador, and that from that personage he had received so
alarming an account of the disposition of the natives higher up, that he
had hurried on in case they might be attacked. Jack was heartily glad
when he got his wounded friends on board the frigate. The doctor looked
grave when he saw Adair. Murray, he said, was in no d