g?"

A minute later the lieutenant said, "Mr. Morrison, take a dozen men and
make your way along the path until you get to the boats. I hope they
have escaped. If they are within hail go on board, and report to the
captain that we have sunk two of the prahus, and that for the present
the Malays who have been attacking us have made off. Say that large
numbers of them have gone on board the four prahus, and that I am about
to open fire upon them again."

As soon as the mate had left, parties of men were set to work to shift
the guns to their old positions, and fire was again opened upon the
piratical prahus, who replied, as before, with their little guns. A
very few minutes later a shell flew overhead, and fell in the water near
where the craft were anchored. Another and another followed quickly.
Intense excitement was manifest on board the prahus, and almost
immediately their cables were cut, oars got out, and at a great rate
they started down the creek.

"The place has got too hot for them altogether, Harry; they think it
better to run the gauntlet of the ship's guns than to be sunk at their
moorings."

Scarcely had the prahus issued from the pool, than the guns of the ship
were heard.

"I am afraid that some of them will get away, Harry. The beggars row so
fast that there won't be time to give them more than one broadside
as they pass. If the ship is aground, which is likely enough, for the
captain pushed up farther than we thought possible, they will be pretty
safe when they have once got past her."

Presently the guns were heard to fire in rapid succession. Loud yells
and cries followed; then came shouts of triumph and defiance; then
all was still, save that a few cannon shot were discharged at regular
intervals.

"They have got one of the guns round to fire over the stern, Dick.
There, it has stopped now; evidently the prahus have got round the next
corner. It is a pity that any of them should have escaped, and they
would not have done so if the Serpent had remained at the mouth of the
creek; but I suppose the captain became anxious at the continuation of
the heavy firing here, and so came up to our help. It is lucky he
did so, for, though we might have beaten them off, they were in such
tremendous force that I fancy it would have gone hard with us in the
long run. I was beginning to think so myself, Harry."

Dr. Horsley had been busy enough from the time that the fighting began
in earnest. Ten men had be