wards, rigged out on a
bowsprit like a spritsail boom, caught sight of us as we luffed up to
let fly at her.

For a second or two they seemed all of a heap, like a covey of
frightened partridges; and then, getting their tacks aboard as smartly
as if they were English seamen and not rascally Somali Arabs, they
hauled their wind and made in for the shore, thinking, no doubt, `Old
Nick' was after them.

They were not far out in this surmise, if such should have crossed their
minds, as they very quickly found out.

The _Mermaid_ yawed off her course, swirling us round in her wake as our
tow-rope slackened and then grew taut again, all in an instant; and,
then, bang belched out one of our big hundred-pounder quick-firing guns
that we carried on the upper deck fore and aft, pitching a shell that
burst right over the rearmost dhow.

This made them quicken their movements if possible; while `old Hankey
Pankey,' seeing we were a trifle short in our range, steamed on after
them so that they might have the full benefit of all our battery--the
water now churning up over the gunwale of the cutter as she dragged us
on astern of her, the bow of the boat high in air, while we were all the
more depressed aft from having the other boats behind us.

On flew the dhows, on raced the _Mermaid_, flopping her tail as
represented by the boats in tow, for we did wag about pretty
considerably, as one of our men who was half a Yankee said; until,
presently, on the water showing signs of shoaling, the _Mermaid_ brought
up broadside on and began pitching shot and shell as fast as the men
could work her batteries at the dhows, which were now well inshore and
almost on the rocks--which latter seemed to jut out from this coast in
the most shapeless, uncanny fashion, like the solitary tusk or two still
possessed by some nearly toothless old hag.

`Bang, smash, boom!' went our guns, the fire bursting forth from the
ship's side in the centre of puff-balls of smoke, accompanied by the
hurtling sound of the shot through the air, and the dull intonation the
shell gave out after the first report, when these missiles discharged
their contents around their target. `Bang, smash, boom!'

It must have been pretty lively for the Arabs: too warm after a bit to
be pleasant!

So `old Hankey Pankey' appeared to think; and, when our guns had fired
about a couple of rounds each all round, the bugle sounded the `cease
fire,' and he came aft and hailed us.

"M