_Splash_!
A moment"s pause and then--
_Splash_!
Jem had followed suit, and there was a faint display--if the expression is allowable--of water fireworks, as innumerable pinhead-like beads of light flashed away in every direction.
"Lanthorns here!" cried the captain. "Sentries, quick! This way."
He reached the spot from which Don and Jem had taken their daring leap, and in less than a minute the light of a couple of lanthorns was thrown upon the sea.
"Come back!" roared the captain, "or I fire. Marines, make ready."
The lanthorns" light gleamed further on the sea as those who held them clambered up the shrouds and held them at arms" length, and then dimly-seen were the backs of the heads of the two swimmers, who made the water swirl as they struck out with all their might.
"Do you hear, you scoundrels?" roared the captain again. "Come back, or I fire."
There was no reply and the heads began to grow more faint in the gloom, while now the news had spread through the ship, and officers and men came tumbling up the companion ladder and out of their cabins.
"Marines, present--fire!" cried the captain.
There were two sharp clicks and as many tiny showers of sparks. That was all.
"Why, you were not loaded!" cried the captain, fiercely, "Where is the lieutenant? Where is the sergeant? Load, you scoundrels, load!"
The men grounded arms, and began to load quickly, the thudding of their iron ramrods sounding strangely in the still night air.
"Pipe away the first cutter!" cried the captain. "Mr Rogerson, bring those scoundrels back."
The shrill pipe of the boatswain was heard, and there was a rush of feet as the captain shouted again,--
"Present--fire!"
There was a sharp flash, a loud report, and the captain stamped with rage.
"Fire, you scoundrel, fire!" he roared at the second man, who was about to lower his clumsy musket, after tugging in vain at the trigger, when the piece went off, and the bullet fled skyward, sending the nearest lanthorn held up in the shrouds out of its holder"s hand, to fall with a splash in the sea, and float for a few moments before it filled and sank, the candle burning till the water touched the wick.
""Pon my word!" cried the captain. "Nice state of discipline. Now you--fire again. And you, sir, load. Can you see the men, marines?"
"No, sir. Right out of sight."
"Then fire where they were when you saw them last."
"But they won"t be there now, sir."
"Silence, you scoundrel! How dare you? Fire!"
_Bang_.
"Now you: are you ready?"
"Yes, sir."
"Fire!"
_Bang_.
"Load again!" cried the captain. "Now, you scoundrels, come back or you shall have a volley."
A strange noise came off the sea.
"Hark! What"s that?" cried the captain. "A cry for help!"
"No, sir."
"What was it, then?"
"Beg pardon, sir; but I think it was one on "em a-larfin"."
The captain gave the speaker--one of the warrant officers--a furious look.
"Now, then, is that boat going to be all night?" he shouted.
"All ready, sir. Lower away."
The boat kissed the sea with a faint splash; she was thrust off; and as the oars dropped and the men gave way the cutter went rapidly through the water, at a rate which would have soon made the fugitives prisoners but for the fact that boat and swimmers were taking different directions, and the distance between them increased at every stroke.
"They"ve taken no lanthorn!" cried the captain. "Surely no one"s orders were ever worse obeyed."
"Shall I call them back, sir?" said the second lieutenant.
"No, no; let them find it out for themselves. Here, marines, ten of you load. Quick, my lads, clear the way from up here."
"Make ready, take good aim at the scoundrels--present--fire!"
This time the whole of the pieces went off with a loud rattle, which brought lights out in the New Zealand village, and a buzz of excitement came from the men.
"More lanthorns there!" cried the captain. "See them?" he cried, to the officer in the boat.
"Not yet, sir."
"Take a sweep round to the southward. They"re more there."
"Ay, ay, sir!" came faintly out of the darkness; and the dull rattle of the oars reached those on deck.
"I"ll have those two back, dead or alive!" cried the captain, stamping about in his rage. "Pipe down the second cutter."
His orders were obeyed, and in a short time, with a lanthorn in bow and stern, the second boat touched the water, and rowed off, the officer in command receiving instructions to bear off more still to the southward, and finally sweep round so as to meet the first boat.