William Henry Giles Kingston

“ A man near me had a shot through the fleshy part of his shoulder, and a dozen bullets or more stuck in the sides of our boat. On we dashed, however, right under the oars of the Chinaman.
“Come on, my lads?” shouted Dicky Plumb, whose blood was up to boiling pitch; and catching hold of a pike which was thrust at him, he hauled himself up on to the junk’s deck, four of our men climbing up at the same moment. Fortunately for Master Dicky, Ned Rawlings was by his side, and saved his head from a blow aimed at him by a Chinaman. Mr Hanson, in spite of his wound, got the men to haul him up. ”

“ Fearful must have been the destruction of life and property in that crowded harbour. However, we had to think about ourselves. The typhoon was increasing in fury; it seemed to be working itself up like a man getting into a rage. A blast ten times stronger than the first now struck us.
“She has parted, sir,” cried Ned Rawlings. ”

“ Ned tried to force open the door, but though made only of bamboo, the fastenings were so strong that he could not succeed. Now arose the cries and shouts of the Malays, and the sound of their matchlocks, as they fought desperately to defend the approach to their village.
“If they are beaten, they will come in and knock us on the head in revenge,” said Dicky Plumb. “It cannot be helped, though; I wish we were out of this, however, for we might then have, at all events, a run for life.”
The sounds grew louder and louder. It was evident that our captors were being driven back. ”

“ When the ship appeared to have got a little quiet, suddenly, as I was seated near Sergeant Turbot, I heard a sharp whistle and a ferocious growl, which made me jump off the bench. “All hands on deck?” or some such cry, were the words which followed the whistle.
“Who is that growling out?” I asked of the sergeant.
“That is one of our licensed growlers,” was the answer. “It’s his business to growl; he is paid for it. Seamen are fond enough of growling generally, but they get nothing when they do, though they growl till they are hoarse.” ”

“ We could do nothing to help ourselves; indeed, it took all our strength just to hold on to the side. Every now and then a huge sea would come rolling up, and seem about to break on board, but the buoyant junk rose to the top of it, and then again down we plunged into the deep trough below.
Mr Hanson and two of the men stood at the helm, trying to steer the lumbering craft, and not without difficulty could they prevent her from broaching-to. ”

“ On we went.
“Breakers ahead!” shouted Ned Rawlings, who had been looking out.
There appeared, right before us, a line of coast—to weather it, seemed impossible; and yet, if we could not do so, our destruction was inevitable. At length we made out a point of land on the port bow—we were driving towards it—Mr Hanson put the helm as much as he could to starboard.
“If we can get to the other side of that,” he observed to Mr Plumb, “we may escape with our lives; if not, there’s not a chance for us.” ”

“ Remember, I am the first-lieutenant of the ship, and you must obey with promptitude any orders which I, or any of the other lieutenants give, or the master, or the warrant-officers, or, indeed, any officers on duty, may issue. You have a great many people above you on board this ship, Mr Plumb.”
“So it seems, sir,” said Richard, “but if they all try to teach me my duty, so much the better; I shall learn the faster.”
“You will,” said Mr Blunt, “only there is one thing you must never pretend to be, and that is—stupid. ”

“ At length, just as it was growing dusk, we got clear out into the harbour, when the wind proving fair, we hoisted the junk’s sails, and stood away towards where we expected to find the schooner. Several times we were chased by English boats, and were twice fired at by some of our friends, who supposed that our junk was still in the hands of the Chinese, who were endeavouring to escape. Our prize was indeed a curious craft; a capital place for playing hide-and-seek in—full of all sorts of odd little cabins and cupboards and recesses in which people could stow themselves away. ”

“ I heard one of the seamen near me observe.
“You think so?” remarked Ned Rawlings. “Now do you just get near, and have a look at his eye, and you will sing a different song. It’s not always the rough-and-ready looking chaps, like you and I, Tom, as are the best men for work!”
Our captain certainly did look more fit for a ball-room, or a naval officer in love on the stage, than for the deck of a man-of-war. He was the most polished article about his whole ship. ”

“ Just then, through the gloom, we observed a heavy sea rolling in towards us; it might prove our destruction, or—
“Heave, lads! heave!” shouted our commander.
With a bound, so it seemed, as the sea passed under us, the vessel came off the reef, and was quickly hauled up to the anchor. Had it been daylight, the pirates would have discovered what had occurred; as it was, they probably did not find out that we were free. The cable was brought ahead, sail was made, the anchor was hove up, and away we shot, close-hauled, clear of the reef. ”

“ We had been away some weeks without meeting with any suspicious craft when one night we saw a bright light burning ahead.
“A ship on fire!” sung out Mr Mason, the officer of the watch.
Mr Ormsby at once came on deck, and ordered all sail to be made to get up with her. The wind was light; the flames appeared to be rising higher and higher; we were afraid that we should be too late to render assistance to the poor people on board. Every stitch of canvas the schooner could carry was set.
“I would give a good round sum to be up with that vessel,” exclaimed Dicky Plumb. ”

“ However, Jack, there’s one thing I have got to counsel you: do your duty, tell the truth, and never mind the sneers or laughter of those who try to lead you astray. There is One in heaven who will hear your prayers, and don’t you go and forget to tell Him your wants, and ask Him to do what is best for you. ”

“ As we approached her we saw signals of distress flying from a spar which had been secured to the stump of the mainmast, and, on passing near her, a man held up a board on which was written, “We are sinking! No time to be lost!”
There was, however, still a good deal of sea running, and it was no easy matter for a boat to go alongside a vessel rolling as she was, without any masts to steady her. Captain Sharpe, however, was not a man to desert his fellow-creatures in distress; indeed, I may say, it would be hard to find a captain in the British navy who would do so. ”

“ I will not boast of myself; in fact, if I had been ever so great a coward, I should have fought; for I felt very sure, and so did everybody on board, that if we did not fight, we should one and all be knocked on the head. Directly there was a moment’s cessation of firing we had to run to the pumps, and to work away for our lives to keep the vessel from sinking. Again and again, however, the prows came round us, and no sooner had we beaten off one set, than others took their places. At length Mr Ormsby was hit; he sank on the deck. ”

“ And now, with loud shrieks and cries, the pirates began to spring upon the schooner’s decks.
“Lads! we will sell our lives dearly?” exclaimed Mr Ormsby.
“Yes; never say Die?” shouted Dicky Plumb, in a shrill voice.
The crew being divided, some went on the starboard bow and some on the port side, to repel the boarders. Still it seemed impossible that we should drive them back altogether. The Malays, from the prow on our bow, came pouring on board. Mr Ormsby, with Ned Rawlings and Dicky Plumb, made a dash forward to try and repel them. ”

“ All night we lay hove-to, trusting to One who looks after sailors, but feeling that we could do very little for ourselves. Next morning by daybreak the weather began to moderate. The hands had just been sent aloft to shake a reef out of the topsails, when Dicky Plumb, who was in the foretop, shouted out—
“A vessel on the lee bow! Dismasted! She seems a large ship, sir!”
All eyes were turned in the direction to which Mr Plumb pointed, but as yet the ship could not be seen from the deck. Mr Ormsby accordingly went aloft, and soon found that Mr Plumb was right. ”

“ Poor little wretches that we were; as if we could possibly do anything but just crawl from one place to another, and lie down, wishing to die. But it was not only the boys who were ill, but great hulking fellows, some seamen, but mostly marines; fully fifty of them, lying and rolling about the decks like logs of wood. I need not further describe the scene, or enter into too minute particulars.
At length, old Futtock, the boatswain—a friend of Sergeant Turbot’s—gave me leave to go and lie down in his cabin till I should get better. ”

“ I heard old Futtock remark to the gunner a short time afterwards. “It’s not often that a ship gets into the position we were in and gets out of it. In another minute the sea would have been rushing right over the poop down on our quarter-deck, and it would have been all over with us. If Mr Muddlehead had had his wits about him, he would have braced the yards up the moment we were taken aback. A pretty go it would have been, if we had not been under snug sail. Why, we should have gone right down, stern foremost, and never have come up again. ”

“ Mr Ormsby hailed, and ordered us to bring up under the high shore, a couple of miles to windward, he setting us the example. A few tacks brought the Fawn to an anchorage, when her topmasts were struck, and every preparation was made for the typhoon, which, it was now evident, was about to commence. We were some way astern of the schooner, when down came a fierce blast with tremendous force upon us. The sails were lowered, and the huge anchor let go.
“The craft will ride it out after all, I believe,” said Mr Hanson, watching to ascertain whether the junk was driving. ”

“ Our Cruise in the Junk.
Just as we got out of the creek we caught sight of a large junk stealing round a point at no great distance from us. Although Mr Hanson and one of the men were wounded, he instantly ordered us to give chase, and away we pulled after the junk, which as we rounded the point we saw was making for one of the innumerable canals which intersect the country in all directions. If she once got into it she might escape us. The men therefore bent to their oars with a right good will, apparently just as fresh, as when they left the schooner in the morning. ”

“ I made some remark to that effect.
“In honest truth, Jack,” he answered, “I was pretty well knocked up altogether with that work on shore; what with the hot sun, the rapid marching, and climbing those heights; but still, Jack, I don’t think I am going to give in just yet. If I do, remember me to your father, and tell him that I consider you are worthy of him. However, I hope to be fit for duty in the course of a few days, and to have another pull at the Chinamen’s pigtails before we have done with them.” ”

“ In most ships there is a dirty Jem; we had one, a miserable fellow, with a skin which no amount of washing could cleanse. Now it happened that a party of tall marines had stolen down the fore cock-pit, and having found their way into the cable tier, had snugly stowed themselves on some spare sails and hawsers. There they lay, groaning and moaning, and making other noises significant of what was going on, when Mr Maconochie, a big, burly Scotchman, mate of the orlop deck, coming forward, heard them, and very soon began to peer about with his large goggle eyes into the recesses of the tier. ”

“ We all had pistols in our belts and cutlasses by our sides, while in each boat there were several muskets besides those carried by the marines. In the bow of the launch, as also in that of the pinnace, there was a long brass gun, which could throw a shot well able to send a pirate prow to the bottom in the course of a few discharges. The captain gave the order to shove off, and following him closely, the flotilla of boats pulled away to the southward. I could not help looking every now and then at the big ship, as her dark hull, and masts and yards rose up against the clear sky. ”

“ Somehow or other she and the naval big-wigs have settled it, and I am to go on board the old Roarer, which is to sail, in a short time, for the East Indies.”
“That’s the very ship I have joined,” I answered.
“Is it? How jolly! but are you to be a midshipman?”
“No,” I answered, “I am only rated as a boy on board.”
“Oh! I suppose there is no great difference. I do not know much about a ship, or the ways of a ship. I am to have a fine new uniform, and a dirk, and a chest full of no end of things. ”

“ The first time, he ran up the main rigging pretty smartly, till he got to the futtock-shrouds; go higher he could not, and go through the lubber’s hole he would not. He kept looking up, till at length he determined to go round by the futtock-shrouds into the top. He clambered along; I was aft, cleaning some brass-work, and could not help looking up, and watching him. Round into the top he could not get. More than once I thought he would lose his hold. The captain, who came on deck, thought so too. He made as if he would go aloft himself, when Ned Rawlings caught his eye. ”

“ The junk having cast off the fishing-boat, with the body of her murdered owner still on board, and those of several of the crew, made sail to the east. What was to be done with us we could not say. With oars and sails the junk made great progress. Our only hope rested on the possibility of being fallen in with by a man-of-war; but even then, if hard pressed, our captors were very likely to murder us all. Having got clear of the land, the junk stood away to the north. We three were thrust into a little cabin on one side of the deck, so small, that only one could lie down at a time ”