ost completely shield it from the rain, which, however, had
considerably moderated by this time. The dense mass of bush behind and
on either side of the blazing mass acted in some sort as a reflector,
concentrating the light of the fire upon the boom and our four boats
clustered closely together about it, and defining them with very
unpleasant distinctness against the background of impenetrable darkness.

That this was so, and that our projected surprise had proved a
lamentable failure, was made clear by the sounds of commotion and the
sharp cries of command that at once arose on board the slavers, almost
instantly followed by a smart and well-directed musketry fire, the
bullets from which came dropping about us in very unpleasant proximity,
although, fortunately, nobody was actually hit.

"Separate at once!" cried the skipper, rising in the stern-sheets of the
gig as he realised that the time for silence and secrecy was past;
"separate at once; spread yourselves along the boom, and let each boat's
crew do its best to make a passage through it. Try the effect of a shot
from your gun upon it, Mr Ryan. Marines, return the fire of those
craft, aiming at the flashes from their pieces. The first boat to force
the boom will report the fact to me before passing through."

We spread well along the boom, maintaining open order, so that we might
afford as small a target as possible, and devoted our energies to
breaking through the obstruction at points where the trunks were united
by chains; but we found this by no means an easy matter, staples being
driven home through the links into the tenacious wood so closely
together that it was impossible to find a space wide enough to take the
loom of an oar--the only lever at hand, as we had not anticipated or
provided for such a contingency. Meanwhile, our adversaries proved
themselves fully alive to the advantage which our situation afforded
them, and fully prepared to make the most of it, for they kept up a
brisk though irregular fire of musketry upon us from which we soon began
to suffer rather severely, two of my men being hit within the space of
as many minutes, while sharp cries of pain to our right and left told us
that the occupants of the other boats were receiving their full share of
the slavers' attentions. This was only the beginning of the conflict,
however, for before our marines had had time to fire more than thrice in
reply to the slavers' musketry fire, five fier