round, overborne by the avalanche of shot and shell
we hurled at them; for, the rifles of us men, the guns of Mr
Shrapnell's battery, the revolvers of the officers, and the Maxim, all
spoke at once and together.

Aye, so they did; and, though varied in tone, from the musical `Ping!'
of our Martinis to the crackling grunt of the quick-firing weapon, whose
irritable cough could be heard above the deep boom of the nine-pounders
which echoed through the woods, all spoke the same word--Death!

We had no need to give them a second volley, the fearful effects of our
first having so intimidated the few survivors we could see in the
distance, that these incontinently fled back into the bush, leaving us
now to pursue our retreat to the coast without any further molestation
on their part.

But, albeit conquerors in this our last stand, the victory came too late
to cheer us; and it was with greatly saddened hearts and drooping faces,
thus offering a strongly marked contrast to the bright enthusiasm with
which we all had started up country in the morning, we now slowly
retraced our way to the shore, to the south of Malindi.

Out of the two hundred bluejackets and marines who had landed from the
_Mermaid_ and _Merlin_ at break of day, but half that number returned on
board their respective ships at nightfall, when the sun sank over the
hills to the westward like a ball of fire, crimsoning the heavens to the
hue of the blood that had been spilt!

On reaching the _Mermaid_ the surgeon had Captain Hankey carried down to
his cabin at once, as he was now becoming faint with exhaustion; though,
I believe, the mortification he felt at the Arabs having licked us gave
him more pain than the damage done to his legs by the ball of the
matchlock, which had taken him athwartship through the fleshy part of
his understandings--breaking no bones, but crippling him all the same.

The surgeon, however, could not keep him quiet long below; for no sooner
had his wounds been dressed than he insisted on being brought up on deck
again, when he had the hands all mustered aft and spoke a few
sympathising words to us anent the events of the day. He expressed his
sorrow at the loss of so many good men and true, and added that, though
defeated for the time, we would shortly have `a go at the Arabs' again,
and nail the Union Jack of old England yet on top of the Somali
stronghold.

"Three cheers now, my lads!" he called out at the end of his harangue,
w