tonishment as the natives came into view, and for an instant he had
changed colour under the dark pigment of his skin. Then, glancing at
his leader, and seeing how he was engaged, the little fellow gripped his
pipe the tighter and threw himself upon his shovel. The door of the
furnace swung open with a clatter, and Dick heard the grating of the
shovel on the narrow iron floor of the engine-well. A flash lit up the
stoker's figure, and Dick caught sight of a roaring fire, quenched a
second later with a mass of coal. Then a dense volume of black smoke
swept out of the low funnel and went trailing overhead till it merged
with the clouds and the trees. He glanced at the pressure gauge, and by
the help of the moon saw that it stood at sixty. Johnnie turned to it
also and pointed.

"Hab plenty more soon, massa," he said. "Make water bubble and fizz.
Boiler go bur-r-r-r-r wid de pressure. Chimney velly hot. Golly! Look
at um!"

"Time to think about a shot or two," answered Dick, quietly. "Get a
couple of rifles and some cartridges, and load. Keep them handy to the
engine. Then go on stoking. By the way, have we a fender aboard?"

"Big one forard, sar. Where hab him?"

"Right on the bows, rather low down. Slippy, my lad."

They had little time for chatter, and both knew it. The native crawled
on his hands and knees along the deck, and swung a large rope fender
over the bows, securing it on the very stem of the launch. Then he ran
back, and the furnace door swung open again. By now the steam pressure
had risen to sixty-four, and the needle was slowly jerking up. The
funnel vomited even more inky-black smoke, while flames and small
particles of coal flew into the air, the latter raining down on the
deck. Meanwhile the natives had not been idle, for after the first
shouts of surprise, and the salvo of bullets and slugs, the whole mass
of canoes had set off across the river to intercept the launch. The
consequent confusion can be well imagined. There were then screams and
shouts of anger. Boats became locked together, and Dick saw some of the
crews striking at one another in their rage and in their anxiety to get
clear of their neighbours, and have a share in the capture.

"That gives us a chance," he said. "If they had started from the
outside line there would have been no doubt about the issue. Now it's
touch and go. They may be lined across our way, or they may not.
Depends on the crews. As for