ry rose on the night air, and was followed by
broken shouts as of scattered parties of men bounding into the woods.
Then I heard another shout, loud and close at hand; it was the voice of
the captain cursing the man who had fired the premature shot. Then came
the order, "Forward!" followed by a wild hurrah of our men as they
charged the savages. Shots now rang in quick succession, and at last a
loud volley startled the echoes of the woods. It was followed by a
multitude of wild shrieks, which were immediately drowned in another
hurrah from the men, the distance of the sound proving that they were
driving their enemies before them towards the sea.

While I was listening intently to these sounds, which were now mingled
in confusion, I was startled by the rustling of the leaves not far from
me. At first I thought it was a party of savages who had observed the
schooner, but I was speedily undeceived by observing a body of natives--
apparently several hundreds, as far as I could guess in the uncertain
light--bounding through the woods towards the scene of battle. I saw at
once that this was a party who had outflanked our men, and would
speedily attack them in the rear. And so it turned out; for in a short
time the shouts increased tenfold, and among them I thought I heard a
death-cry uttered by voices familiar to my ear.

At length the tumult of battle ceased, and from the cries of exultation
that now arose from the savages, I felt assured that our men had been
conquered. I was immediately thrown into dreadful consternation. What
was I now to do? To be taken by the savages was too horrible to be
thought of; to flee to the mountains was hopeless, as I should soon be
discovered; and to take the schooner out of the creek without assistance
was impossible. I resolved, however, to make the attempt, as being my
only hope, and was on the point of pushing off, when my hand was stayed
and my blood chilled by an appalling shriek, in which I recognised the
voice of one of the crew. It was succeeded by a shout from the savages.
Then came another and another shriek of agony, making my ears to
tingle, as I felt convinced they were murdering the pirate crew in cold
blood. With a bursting heart and my brain whirling as if on fire, I
seized the boat-hook to push from shore when a man sprang from the
bushes.

"Stop! Ralph, stop! There, now, push off!" he cried, and bounded into
the boat so violently as nearly to upset her. It