he forward gun of the port battery, which was the gun that could best
be brought to bear on the advancing boats at that moment, I levelled the
piece, aiming to strike the water at a point a few fathoms ahead of the
middle boat of the three--they were advancing in line abreast. I
calculated that the shot would rebound and fly over the heads of her
crew close enough to frighten them a bit and make them think twice
before advancing any farther. It was a rather difficult and risky
shot--risky for those in the boat, I mean--but I pulled it off
successfully. The shell dashed up a great column of snow-white spray,
which completely hid the boat for a moment; and when this cleared away I
saw that all the boats' crews were holding water, evidently taken a good
deal by surprise, and apparently undecided what to do.

"Bravo, Walter; a beautiful shot!" exclaimed Mrs Vansittart, and I saw
her snatch up the telescope and peer through it. She held it to her eye
for a full minute; then, without lowering the instrument, she cried:

"There is a man standing up in the stern-sheets of the middle boat
apparently haranguing the crews, for he is flourishing his arms about a
great deal. Ah! he has stepped down again; and now--yes--the oarsmen
are giving way again. The two outside boats look as though they were
turning back--no, they are only opening out into wider order, and are
coming on again. Try them with another shot, Walter. Perhaps if you
can hit one of those boats the others may be induced to go back."

"Ay, ay!" I replied, with a flourish of my arm; and I carefully sponged
out and reloaded the piece. But I did not now want the boats to return;
I wanted them to come on and be destroyed. I was by this time convinced
that the matter must be fought out to the bitter end, and that we must
destroy that junk and the whole of her crew if we would not be ourselves
destroyed. If the boats were driven back the vessel would hang about,
watching her opportunity, or possibly return some night during the dark
and take us unawares. It was their lives or ours that hung in the
balance; therefore when I had reloaded the piece I ran my eye along the
sights, and was in the act of training them upon the middle boat, when
my attention was distracted for a moment by the distant boom of a gun.
Looking up, I saw that the junk had fired. I knew by the ring of the
report that the gun was shotted, and presently I saw the shot come
skipping toward us