"I should think not," remarked Ned.
The men of course were ready for any work their officers determined on.
The excitement of the chase and the prospect of fighting before them was greatly increased as the dhow got higher up the river; the wind falling, and sometimes becoming baffling, the boat gained on her. Ned was sent forward to look out for the fort, but he could discover no signs of a stockade; at any moment, however, a bend of the stream might disclose it to view.
"Get out the oars!" cried Rhymer; "before long I hope the wind will fail the dhow altogether and we shall soon be up to her."
The men gave way, in a few minutes the boat got the dhow within range of her gun.
"We must try to bring her sail down," exclaimed Rhymer, giving the helm to Charley and springing forward to the gun. He fired, the shot went through the sail, but the chase stood on as before; the gun was quickly loaded, but the second shot, though well aimed, produced no more result than the first. It was pretty evident that the Arabs expected to reach some place of shelter, and that they would run on until they had gained it. This made Rhymer doubly anxious to come up with them before they could do so. He continued firing away as fast as the gun could be run in and loaded. Though the sail was riddled with shot, the yard and rigging remained uninjured.
"Get the muskets ready, Garth!" he cried out. "We shall soon be near enough to send a shower of bullets among those fellows, and they will then, I have a notion, heave to pretty quickly."
Scarcely, however, had he spoken than the breeze freshened up, and to his disappointment he found that the boat was no longer gaining on the dhow. Still he kept firing the gun, hoping that a fortunate shot might bring down her yard. Some way ahead, on the south side of the river, he observed a small bay, where the bank was steeper than in any other place and free of trees; the dhow appeared to be edging away towards it. "I must knock away that fellow"s yard. I"d give a hundred guineas to see it come down," he exclaimed, as he again fired.
The shot wounded the yard, for he could see the splinters fly from it, but it still remained standing; at any moment, however, it might go.
The Arabs seemed to think so likewise, for the dhow was now steered directly for the little bay. Before another shot was fired at her, she was close up to the bank, and a black stream of human beings was seen issuing forth from her decks, and winding, like a long black snake, up among the gra.s.s and bushes, while the Arabs could be distinguished by their dress urging on the fugitives with their spears.
"We must stop those fellows, and turn them back," exclaimed Rhymer, and resuming the tiller, he steered the boat for the sh.o.r.e at the nearest spot above the dhow where a landing could be effected.
"Meadows, do you remain by the boat with a couple of hands, the rest of you follow me," he exclaimed as he leapt on sh.o.r.e.
It was now seen that the blacks, of whom there appeared to be nearly two hundred, were becoming divided, some going off in one direction, some in another, while others, mostly women and children, were sinking down on the ground, unable to keep up with their companions. Rhymer on this made chase with most of his crew after the larger party; but he had not got far when he ordered Ned, with the c.o.xswain, d.i.c.k Morgan by name, and two other hands, to pursue another who were going off to the left.
Ned, as directed, started away at full speed, and soon outstripped his followers, who, as they overtook smaller parties of the blacks, tried to turn them back. The negroes on hearing the shouts of the sailors, and seeing them flourish their cutla.s.ses, more frightened than ever, sank down to the ground. In vain the seamen endeavoured to make them rise, a.s.suring them that they meant them no harm. Much time was lost in the attempt. Ned, in obedience to his orders, had got ahead of one party of the blacks and was seen by d.i.c.k Morgan making signs to induce them to stop running. When, however, d.i.c.k looked again, he could nowhere discover his young officer, while the slaves were scampering off at a rate which made it almost hopeless to overtake them.
"Lads, we must not let Mr Garth be carried off by those n.i.g.g.e.rs, for it seems to me that they have somehow or other got hold of him," exclaimed d.i.c.k, shouting to his companions.
Away they dashed after the fugitives. They had got some distance when they heard Mr Rhymer hailing them to come back. d.i.c.k pointed in the direction where he had last seen the midshipman; but Mr Rhymer not understanding his signs, peremptorily ordered him and his companions to retreat to the boat. It was time indeed to do so, for a large party of well-armed Arabs appeared on the hill just before them, and with threatening gestures were advancing evidently with the intention of recovering the slaves they had captured. Rhymer saw at once that were he to remain he should run the risk of having his whole party cut off, and that his only safe course was to retreat as fast as possible to the boat; he accordingly gave the word to face about, and by threatening to fire, he kept the Arabs in check. Their object was evidently not so much to attack the English, as to get possession of the slaver. Had the boat been nearer the dhow, Rhymer might have boarded her and set her on fire, but in endeavouring to do so, he might expose his whole party to destruction. Had there been time even to get hold of any of the blacks, they could not have been taken into the boat, and Rhymer had therefore to make the best of his way down to her without securing a single one of them. The Arabs, who advanced more rapidly as they saw the English retreating, soon got under shelter of some trees, whence they opened a hot fire from matchlocks and gingalls. Rhymer ordered his men to fire in return, but their exposed position on the bank of the river, and their inferior numbers, rendered the combat unequal.
Rhymer, who was as brave as most men, at first hoped to drive the enemy from their shelter, but he soon saw that he might lose many of his men in the attempt, and that his only prudent course was to get on board and shove off as fast as possible. Three of his men had already been hit; should he remain longer the crew might be so weakened as to be unable to pull the boat down the river. Charley, who had run the boat in ready to receive them when he saw them coming, was dismayed at not discovering Ned among the party.
"Where is Mr Garth?" he exclaimed. "Have none of you seen him?"
Rhymer repeated the question.
d.i.c.k Morgan was the only man who could answer it: he replied that he had last set eyes on him while trying to induce the blacks to return to the dhow.
"Have they killed him, do you think?" asked Charley, in a tone which showed his anxiety.
"Can"t say, sir; but if not, it is more than likely that those Arab fellows have got hold of him, and I"m afraid they"ll not be treating him over well."
Just then, however, there was no time to make further inquiries. The first thing to be done was to get out of reach of the Arabs" matchlocks.
Rhymer gave the word to shove off, and the boat pulled away from the bank. He was vexed at the utter failure of the enterprise, and the blame which might be attributed to him for the loss of Ned. He might still, however, destroy the dhow. The Arabs, well aware of the long range of the boat"s gun, were still keeping at a distance. There would be time to get up to the dhow and to set her on fire. Rhymer accordingly steered in where she lay, with the boat"s gun ready to send a shot into the midst of any party who might venture to show themselves.
Almost before the Arabs were aware of what was intended, the boat was up to the dhow, matches had been got ready, and the seamen springing on board, in less than a minute had set her on fire fore and aft. The combustible materials with which she was fitted quickly blazed up, and her destruction was inevitable. The men leapt back into the boat, which now pulled away out of gun-shot into the middle of the stream.
"Surely we are not to leave Garth without going to look for him!"
exclaimed Charley. "Perhaps he may be hiding himself somewhere, and will, when the Arabs retire, make his way down to the margin of the river expecting to be taken off."
"Very little chance of that; but, depend on it, I"ll not show my face on board without him if I can help it," answered Rhymer.
Charley was obliged to be content with this promise. As he watched the sh.o.r.e through his telescope he could see the Arabs collecting the unfortunate slaves and driving them on before them, though he in vain searched for Ned among the former. Had he been made a prisoner he would probably have been seen. This made him hope that he might still be recovered. At length Rhymer began to grow impatient. The last of the slaves had been carried off, and the Arabs themselves had disappeared behind the hill. Charley now entreated Rhymer to pull in for the sh.o.r.e.
"If you will let me I will land with any of the men who will volunteer, and we will search round in every direction for Garth; he may possibly have been wounded, and have crawled under some bushes to hide himself from the Arabs."
Rhymer hesitated. "If I let you go you may be caught also, and I shall have to report the loss of two midshipmen instead of one."
"O no, no! Do let me go!" cried Charley, in a beseeching tone. "The Arabs have gone away, and we will keep a good look-out not to be surprised. I am sure that some of the men will be ready to go with me."
"I will!" exclaimed d.i.c.k Morgan.
"And I, and I, and I," added others, until the whole boat"s crew volunteered.
At last Rhymer, feeling that he might be accused of deserting the midshipman, consented, allowing Morgan with three other men to accompany Charley.
The boat accordingly returned to the sh.o.r.e. While Charley and his men pushed forward, Rhymer and the remainder having landed, advanced a short distance to support him in case he should have to retreat. Charley led the way to a spot pointed out by Morgan, where Ned had last been seen.
They hunted about among the bushes, but no trace of him could they discover.
"Ned Garth, Ned Garth! where are you?" shouted Charley again and again, forgetting in his anxiety that the Arabs might hear, but no answer reached him. There were traces, however, of the course the blacks had taken, wherever the ground was soft enough to receive impressions of their feet. Charley was tempted to follow, and the men, regardless of consequences, accompanied him. He had not gone far when he came upon two children who had evidently been let fall by those who were carrying them. Both were dead, and their shrunken little forms showed that they had died from starvation. The top of the hill was reached. Charley at length stopped and looked round, but neither Arabs nor blacks were anywhere visible. Though, had he consulted his own feelings, he would have gone on still farther, he remembered his promise to be cautious, and exclaimed with a heavy heart--
"We must go back; we may still find him, but I dare not push on further."
The men appeared to share his feelings, for Ned was a favourite with all of them. They made their way towards the boat, searching the bushes as they went along, dreading that at any moment they might discover Ned"s body. At length they met Rhymer.
"He must have been made prisoner and carried off by the Arabs," cried Charley; "that is the only consolation we have."
"Well, I suppose they would scarcely have taken the trouble to carry him off if he had been killed; and we must report to the commander that such is the conclusion we have arrived at, after making diligent search for him in all directions."
Charley felt somewhat indignant that Rhymer did not express more regret at the loss of their young messmate; he, however, said nothing. They once more embarked, and shoving off, proceeded down the river. It was important to get over the bar before dark, and make the best of their way back to the ship, for the wounded men, now that the excitement was over, began to complain of their hurts, and it was, of course, necessary that they should be attended to by the surgeon with as little delay as possible. As the wind blew almost up the river, it was necessary to get the oars out and pull the boat over the bar. This was a heavy task with a diminished crew, but Rhymer sent one of the wounded men to the helm, while he took one oar and Charley another.
They got down very well to the mouth, but the heavy foam-topped rollers which came tumbling in threatened to prevent them getting into the open sea beyond.
"It must be done," exclaimed Rhymer. "To-morrow it may be worse, and we shall have a whole fleet of Arab boats coming down upon us."
Twice, however, he pulled up to the inner roller, and backed the boat off again. For some minutes he stood up watching the seas; at length he exclaimed, "Now, my lads, now or never, give way," and all hands bending their backs to the oars, pulled on as British seamen are wont to do in cases of emergency. It was a struggle truly for life and death. Had the boat been caught broadside by one of those treacherous undulations, she would have been thrown over and over, and not a man on board could have escaped. Had an oar broken, or the men relaxed in their efforts, no power could have saved them. Three rollers had been pa.s.sed, there were still two more to be encountered. The fourth advanced with a crest of foam. The boat had almost reached the summit, when the water came rushing over her bows, half-filling her; but the crew persevered, and the wounded men began bailing away with might and main.
"Pull away, pull away, lads!" shouted Rhymer; "there"s only one more, and we shall be clear of them."
Again the boat rose, the water rushing aft, but the poor fellows seated there, in spite of their hurts, continued to heave it out. The next minute, having forced their way over the last roller, the boat was free.
They had still a long pull before them until the boat could obtain a good offing, so that they might make sail and stand to the northward.
At length the sails were set. By this time it was perfectly dark, yet, having a compa.s.s, a proper course could be kept. As the wind was light, it was not until near morning that they reached the island where they had left their tent and stores. As there was a moon they were able to steer into the bay. On landing they hurried up to where the tent had stood.
"Why, where is it?" exclaimed Rhymer.
They hunted about, neither their tent nor any of their stores could they discover.
"Some fellows have been here and carried them off, no doubt about that,"
observed Charley; "but who they are is more than I can say."