Among Malay Pirates | Page 2

at once had not two of the boatmen grasped
him and kept his head above water.
"What has become of the child?" Harry Parkhurst exclaimed, and he
and Dick Balderson both leaped on to the rail, throwing off their
jackets as they shouted to the men to lower a boat. Nothing could be

seen of the child until, after half a minute's suspense, a little face
suddenly appeared in the swirl of the muddy water some fifteen yards
from the vessel's side. It was gone again in an instant, but, as it
disappeared, both lads sprang from the side and with a few strokes
reached the spot where they had seen the face disappear; then they
dived under water and soon grasped her. As soon as they came to the
surface a sailor, who had seized a coil of rope, flung it to them, and,
grasping it, they were quickly by the side of the gunboat.
A minute later some sailors, who had at once tumbled into a boat on the
alarm being given, came up. The child was first handed into it, then the
midshipmen scrambled in, and, by their directions, two of the sailors,
standing on the thwarts, lifted the child high above their heads to the
hands of the men leaning over the bulwark.
"Take the little thing to the doctor," Dick said. "Now, lads, row on; let's
pick up some of those Malay fellows."
A babel of shouts and sounds rose from the water; the bow of the
second canoe had been stove in, and she also had sunk to the water
level; a fierce fight was going on between several of the Malays; the
chief, who was being supported by two of his crew, was shouting
furiously; and others of his men, in obedience to his orders, were diving
under water. Harry turned to the gunboat, and called to the men to bring
Soh Hay, the interpreter, to the side. A minute later the man was
hustled to the rail.
"Tell that chief that we have got his child safely on board," Harry
shouted.
Again and again the interpreter called out; but it was some time before
he could make the chief pay attention to him. As the latter caught the
purport of his words his face changed at once, and, after calling to his
men to desist from their search, his head sank on to the shoulder of one
of the men supporting him, and he evidently lost consciousness.
"He is badly hurt, Dick; we had better get him on board, too. Old
Horsley was wishing this morning that he had something to do beyond

administering doses of quinine to the men."
Taking the tiller, he brought the boat alongside the chief, and four of
the sailors, directed by Dick, gently raised him from the water and laid
him on the bottom of the boat. Blood was flowing freely from an ugly
gash in his face, and it was evident from the manner in which his left
arm hung limp, as they lifted him up, that either the shoulder or the arm
itself was broken.
"Get him alongside at once, lads," Dick said. "I expect he is more
injured than we see. The other fellows will be all right; they can all
swim like fish."
In two or three minutes the injured man was laid down under an
awning over the fore deck of the cruiser, and the surgeon at once came
up.
"How is the child, Doctor?"
"She is still insensible," he said, "but she will soon be all right. I can't
discover any injury, and I think it likely that it was the sudden shock,
and perhaps a knock against the side of the boat, that stunned her; for I
have no doubt she could swim, small as she is. This is a much more
serious affair; he has an ugly gash in his temple, his collarbone is
broken, and," he went on, as he passed his hands down the patient's
side, "he has two, if not more ribs broken."
"Well, we will leave him to you, Doctor; there are a lot of these fellows
in the water, and I suppose they must be brought on board until we can
get a boat to take them ashore."
In a few minutes eighteen Malays were brought to the side, and the two
canoes, which were floating level with the water, were towed up and
fastened by a rope to the stern of the gunboat. Even when safely on
deck, the two parties were still so infuriated that they had to be
separated and placed under guards apart from each other. Three or four
had been killed by the stabs of the deadly krises, and their bodies could
be seen floating astern. Several of those rescued