themselves, but now, to our intense
astonishment, head after head appeared, till Mr Brooke exclaimed--

"Why, the boats are packed full of men."

"Yes, and the junks too," I whispered hastily; for their decks, which a
few moments before had appeared to be bare, were now crowded.

"Trapped, Herrick!" said Mr Brooke through his set teeth. "Is this a
trick on the part of Mr Ching?"

The men were looking hard at us, and they did not have long to wait.

"Arms ready, my lads?"

"Ay, ay, sir."

"That's right. Now then, lay your backs to it, and row with all your
might."

"Ay, ay, sir."

"What are you going to do?" I said huskily.

"Run for it. The junks can't follow against this tide. We must row out
into the river. Keep your fire till I give orders. They may not try to
stop us. If they do, I shall try and ram one. We have four barrels for
the other, without troubling the men."

"You don't think it's a false alarm?"

"No," he said sternly; "the falsity lies somewhere else."

"He means Ching," I said, but there was no time for much thought, not
even to see a great deal. The men grasped the situation as soon as the
boat's head was straight, and Mr Brooke took the tiller in his left
hand, his gun in his right, and cocked it, while I followed suit.

Then I felt disposed to laugh as Ching made a dive down, and began to
crawl under the thwarts among the men's legs, but the laugh changed to a
serious grin as Mr Brooke steered to pass between the two boats, when
the course of one was changed so as to throw her right athwart our way,
and quite a dozen men rose up in each, armed with clumsy swords, yelling
at us, and dancing about as they gesticulated and seemed to be trying to
frighten us back.

"Very well, if you will have it," said Mr Brooke between his teeth.
"Be ready, my lads. Cutlasses, if they try to board."

A sound like the exhaustion of a heavy breath escaped from the men, and
Mr Brooke roared at them to pull, while I sat with my finger on the
first trigger and the gun lowered a little, gazing wildly at the savage
crew before us.

Those moments were like long minutes, but I could make out that, instead
of frightening us, the men in the boat which crossed us were now
frightened themselves, and they made an effort to give us room.

But there were too many of them--they got in each other's way. Then
there was a wild shriek, a crash, and the head of our fast cutter
crashed into them, driving the