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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77070 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's note: Illustration captions surrounded by brackets
+were added by the transcriber]
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover art]
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: Captain Brooke and Commander Hutton.]
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Title page]
+
+
+
+  The Mid of the
+  Maintop
+
+
+  By
+  Arthur Lee Knight,
+
+  Author of
+  "The Young Rajah," etc.
+
+
+
+  With Pen-and-ink Illustrations
+  by
+  Hilda K. Robinson.
+
+
+
+  London:
+  Ernest Nister
+
+  New York:
+  E. P. Dutton & Co.
+
+  Printed in Bavaria.
+  651.
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Headpiece]
+
+
+
+
+THE MID OF THE MAINTOP.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+The "Forte" was a fifty-gun frigate employed upon the East Coast of
+Africa in the suppression of the slave trade.  About a week previous
+to the commencement of our story the ship had been to Zanzibar
+Harbour, where the rest of the squadron was assembled, and Captain
+Brooke and his second-in-command, Commander Hutton, had reported
+themselves on board the flagship, which was a modern man-of-war, and
+had received instructions from the admiral to sail along the coast,
+keeping a sharp look-out for slave-dhows, at that time very numerous.
+On the captain's return the "Forte" at once sailed, and at the time
+our story opens she was about fifty miles to the eastward of Ras
+Hafoon, a bold bluff promontory formed by huge sun-scorched rocks,
+and utterly destitute of vegetation of any kind.
+
+The captain looked anxiously at the barometer in his cabin.  It had
+begun to fall ominously.
+
+There was a hurried knock at the door.
+
+"Come in," shouted Captain Brooke, as he snatched his cap from a peg.
+
+The lieutenant of the watch entered.
+
+"There's a dense fog driving up, sir," he said, "and I think we're in
+for a bit of a blow as well."
+
+"Take a reef in the topsails," responded the captain promptly, "and
+turn the hands up."
+
+A few seconds later the order was echoing along the "Forte's" crowded
+decks, and the bluejackets were streaming up the hatchways, laughing
+and joking as they went.
+
+The captain unrolled a chart, glanced for a moment at it, and then
+followed the lieutenant on deck.
+
+[Illustration: (The Captain)]
+
+A squall had burst upon the ship.  The topmen were swarming up the
+rigging: every man was at his post.
+
+Jack Villiers was one of the smartest midshipmen on board the
+"Forte," and was a general favourite with everyone.  As he was a
+smart athletic youngster, he had been placed in command of the
+maintopmen when they were aloft, and was always in the thick of any
+adventure, which very much endeared him to the bluejackets' hearts.
+
+As soon as the reef was taken in on this occasion, Jack sent his men
+down from aloft and then prepared to follow himself.  The "Forte" was
+heeling over to the strong breeze, and tearing through the water at
+the rate of eight knots an hour.  The scud and spray were flying over
+the hammock-nettings, but a dense fog had begun to envelop the ship,
+and blew in clouds of vapour through her network of rigging and
+amongst her white sails.
+
+[Illustration: _Jack ran down the ratlines as fast as he could._]
+
+Jack ran down the ratlines of the rigging as fast as he could now
+that his duty aloft was done.  Unfortunately, at this moment the
+heavy wet main-sheet was dragged upwards by the straining of the
+sail, and struck against Jack's feet with such violence as to make
+him lose his hold of the rigging.
+
+In an instant he was flung upwards and then hurled overboard into the
+midst of the foaming waves.
+
+Lifebuoys were thrown overboard, the ship was hove-to, and a boat was
+sent away; but by this time Jack had been lost to sight in the
+driving mist.  When last seen he was swimming rather feebly as if
+dazed by his fall from aloft.
+
+The coxswain of the cutter searched in vain for the missing boy.  No
+trace of him could be found.  The wind howled in fitful gusts, and
+the fog grew thicker and thicker.  It was impossible to see more than
+a few feet from the boat, but the coxswain shouted again and again in
+his loudest tones in the hope of being heard by Jack.  Very gloomy
+did the seamen look when no answer came to these repeated cries.
+
+The storm was now very violent, and the cutter was in danger.  The
+"Forte" was of course out of sight, but she now began firing
+signal-guns.
+
+"The skipper might save his powder," said the coxswain anxiously,
+"for we can't fetch the old hooker in this lumpy sea.  Lay in your
+oars, lads, step the mast, and set a close-reefed sail.  I reckon
+it's our only chance to escape being swamped."
+
+"And the poor young gentleman," said one of the men, with a sigh;
+"I'm afraid we'll never see him this side of eternity again."
+
+"It'll break his mother's heart," remarked the coxswain huskily; "but
+we've our duty to do, mates, and if the Lord calls him we mustn't
+complain, He being our Commander-in-Chief, so to speak."
+
+The boat under her rag of a sail flew before the wind.  The "Forte"
+continued to fire guns at intervals, but it was impossible to pay
+attention to them, and soon the sound died away altogether.
+
+For hours the cutter held on her way, the coxswain not daring to
+alter course for fear the boat should be swamped.
+
+Suddenly the fog lifted and began to roll away over the ocean.  At
+the same moment the gale began to abate in violence and the sea to go
+down.  In eastern climes a sudden storm quickly expends its force.
+
+The cutter's crew gave a shout of joy.  Away over the crests of the
+still agitated sea they perceived the misty outlines of their ocean
+home, H.M.S. "Forte."  She was apparently standing down in their
+direction.
+
+"Here's a piece of good luck," exclaimed the coxswain; "that's the
+old hooker, as sure as guns are guns, and, what's more, the wind has
+veered to the westward, and we can run down and jine company with her
+in the shake of a pig's whisker."
+
+It was the work of a few moments to alter course and shake a reef out
+of the foresail.
+
+[Illustration: (Cutter and crew)]
+
+As the last remnants of the fog disappeared over the eastern horizon,
+the "Forte" loomed more and more distinctly into view.  She had
+topgallant-sails set and single-reefed topsails.  The shades of
+evening were now beginning to fall, and the lurid sun was shaping his
+course towards the bleak and barren heights that guard the shores of
+the Great Dark Continent.
+
+As soon as the "Forte" perceived her boat she hove-to.  As the cutter
+ran alongside, the coxswain and his mates noticed that the
+hammock-nettings and ports were full of men anxious to learn the fate
+of their favourite midshipman.
+
+One glance into the boat was sufficient.
+
+The captain and his principal officers stood at the entry-port with
+pale, set faces.  On hearing the coxswain's report, they turned sadly
+away, and an unbroken silence reigned throughout the frigate for a
+few moments.
+
+"Hoist the cutter up," ordered Captain Brooke, in a voice broken with
+emotion, "and then put the ship on her course again."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+It was three bells in the first watch when the coxswain of the
+cutter--whose name was Lobb--went on deck.  Some supper and a short
+sleep in his hammock had wonderfully refreshed him.  The gale had
+entirely blown itself out, and the sky was clear and strewn with
+brilliant stars, amongst which the Southern Cross and the Centauri
+glittered like gorgeous jewels set in lapis lazuli of an indigo tint.
+The breeze still held from the westward, and was strong enough to
+make the frigate heel over till her shining copper, dripping with
+salt spray, was visible on the weather side.
+
+Lobb went to the lee entry-port and gazed out over the phosphorescent
+sea.  His heart was heavy as he thought of poor Jack Villiers's sad
+fate, and mechanically he took off his cap and sought for the pipe
+that lay snugly therein.
+
+"A bit of baccy is the thing to soothe a chap what's got a fit of the
+blues," he muttered to himself, as he charged his pipe with tobacco.
+"I'm jiggered if it wasn't the blackest day in my life when I failed
+to pick up that youngster--the brightest young fellow in the ship he
+was, and that there ain't no denying."
+
+His meditations were interrupted by the middy of the first watch, a
+bright, fair-haired boy, who, eagerly running up to him, exclaimed:
+"Oh, Lobb, I wanted to see you so much about----"  And he hesitated.
+
+"Ah, it's Mr. Thring," said the coxswain, pausing in the act of
+lighting his pipe.  "I'm main sorry for you, sir, I can assure you,
+for I know right well what chums you and Mr. Villiers were, and it
+must strike to your very heart, as one may say."
+
+[Illustration: (Thring and the coxswain)]
+
+Thring's eyes filled with tears, and he felt thankful that it was too
+dark for the seaman to observe his emotion.  He was quite a
+youngster, having joined the "Forte" straight from the "Britannia"
+training-ship only a year before our story opens.
+
+"Tell me all that happened, Lobb," he said at length, in a strained
+voice.  "The captain only gave me a few particulars."
+
+The seaman lit his pipe, and between the puffs told what little there
+was to tell.  It was little indeed, but Thring listened to the
+recital with breathless interest, soothed by the thought that this
+rough but soft-hearted sailor was fully in sympathy with him.
+
+"The sea looks so beautiful now," he said, when Lobb had finished his
+short story.  "No one would believe that it could have----I say,
+Lobb"--gripping the seaman's arm--"is it possible that my chum could
+have escaped in any way?"
+
+"Nobody could have lived long in that sea," answered the coxswain
+sadly; "but don't you take on too much, sir, about this unfortunit
+business.  What I says to the crew of the cutter I says to you, and
+mind you, lay it to heart like a brave youngster: 'We've our duty to
+do, mates,' says I, 'and if the Lord calls him we mustn't complain,
+He being our Commander-in-Chief, so to speak.'"
+
+There was a long silence.
+
+"I wish we could come across some slavers," said the middy at length;
+"I feel as if active service is the only thing that would drive poor
+Jack's dreadful fate from my mind."
+
+"We ain't had much luck in that way, sir, have we?  But I reckon the
+wheel of fortin will turn by-and-by, and we'll get a haul of
+prize-money.  To-morrow it's like enough we'll be in the latitude of
+Cape Joo-joo, and the chances are we'll fall foul of some of these
+swabs what earns their living by trading in human flesh."
+
+"If we do, I only hope the fellows will fight," cried Thring, with
+flashing eyes.
+
+"I hope so too," said the coxswain, as he knocked the ashes out of
+his pipe.  "I'm always ready for a scrimmage with them Arab gentry,
+for they're the blackest-hearted scoundrels that walk this earth,
+there's no mistake about that."
+
+"Four bells, sir!" reported the marine sentry, marching up and
+saluting the middy of the watch.
+
+"Make it so," answered young Thring briefly.  "Good night, Lobb; I
+must go and examine the bow-lights, and take the corporal of the
+watch round the decks."
+
+"Right you are, sir.  Goodnight, and don't you let your young heart
+be frettin' too much, for, if you'll excuse me taking the liberty of
+speech, I can't abear to see that bright face of yourn a-clouded
+over.  Don't forget the Commander-in-Chief when you turns into your
+hammock at eight bells."
+
+And carefully stowing his short clay away in his cap, Lobb went
+thoughtfully down the main hatchway in search of his own hammock.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+The following day the "Forte" chased several suspicious-looking
+dhows, but one or two, being smart sailers, managed to make their
+escape by carrying a press of canvas.  The frigate, having lofty
+masts, was visible to these Arabian mariners from a very long
+distance, and, as the reader may suppose, the vessels that are
+employed in the slave trade always keep a sharp look-out for British
+men-of-war, for well do their captains know that, if captured, the
+slaves found on board are immediately released from their cruel
+captivity and the dhows sunk or burnt.
+
+The vessels which could not elude the "Forte" were promptly boarded
+by the frigate's boats.  All these craft turned out to be lawful
+traders, with the exception of one, which proved to have thirty-five
+slaves on board.  The jolly-boat, having taken possession of her
+without striking a blow, the wretched slaves, more like walking
+skeletons than human beings, were transferred to the "Forte," and the
+dhow was sent to the bottom of the ocean by a few well-directed shots
+from the frigate's forecastle guns.  The Arab captain and his crew
+were then put ashore upon the arid, desolate strand and left to find
+their way as best they could to the nearest native settlement.
+
+The wind having dropped very light, the "Forte" was put under steam,
+and proceeded slowly northwards, keeping the land well in sight upon
+her port beam.  No vessels now remained in view, but a large school
+of black fish were seen spouting energetically to the north-east, and
+the sea was alive with shoals of flying-fish and an occasional bonito.
+
+"We're very short of sand for scrubbing decks, sir," said the
+commander to Captain Brooke during the first dog-watch; "may I send a
+boat ashore to fetch some?  As you know, a river falls into the sea
+just to the southward of Cape Joo-joo yonder, and there's a deposit
+of some of the finest sand in the world close to its mouth."
+
+"Well, I see no objection," answered the skipper.  "It's a very quiet
+bit of the coast, and the men couldn't well come to any harm."
+
+The frigate's nose was accordingly pointed in towards the land and
+her speed increased; but the precaution was taken of placing leadsmen
+in the chains.
+
+"I should like to send young Thring in charge of the cutter, sir,"
+observed the commander to his chief.  "The poor little chap is very
+much cut up about the loss of his middy chum, and it would be a
+charity to let him go on the expedition."
+
+"Go he shall, then," said the captain kindly; "he's a promising
+youngster and likely to do the service credit.  At the same time,
+Hutton, don't forget that the boy has had but little experience.  I
+don't think this part of the coast is inhabited, but warn Mr. Thring
+that he is not on any account to interfere with the natives if they
+put in an appearance.  Should there be any attempt to oppose his
+landing, he is at once to return to the ship and report himself."
+
+"Pass the word for Mr. Thring, quartermaster," sang out the commander.
+
+"Our charts of this coast are very imperfect," said the skipper; "I
+think we had better not venture any nearer in.  Do you remember that
+small bower anchor we lost off Ras Pundoo?"
+
+"I do indeed, sir; we'd better stop the engines and get the first
+cutter lowered.  Her coxswain, Lobb, is a thoroughly reliable man,
+and will take good care that young Thring does nothing rash.  When a
+middy takes the bit in his teeth there's no controlling him!"
+
+Captain Brooke smiled.  "The old spirit isn't dead," he said; "there
+are always chips of the old block coming to the fore, who think a lot
+of the honour due to the glorious white ensign.  One of my own
+youngsters is on board the 'Britannia' at this moment learning to be
+a young sea-dog."
+
+The "Forte" now lay "as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean,"
+rolling gently on the heaving land-swell.  It was almost a stark
+calm, but a catspaw here and there played over the surface of the sea
+and fretted its blue-green surface into little furrows.  Screaming
+seabirds swooped around the ship, and just under the quarter an
+enormous wily-looking shark kept watch and ward, eyeing greedily some
+refuse from the cook's galley which was floating towards him.
+
+Young Thring was only too delighted to go in charge of the cutter,
+and Lobb was equally pleased--though the duty of collecting sand was
+usually prosaic enough.
+
+There is a saying, however, which again and again has proved itself a
+true one: "It is always the unexpected which happens."
+
+What Lobb called "the wheel of fortin" revolves rather quickly
+sometimes.
+
+The light breaths of air that were stirring were moving in the
+direction of the land, so the cutter hoisted her lugsail and slowly
+glided towards the African shore.
+
+"Is there no surf on this part of the coast?" questioned Thring, as
+he buckled on his dirk around his waist.  "I don't see it, or hear
+it."
+
+"There's less here than anywhere," answered the coxswain; "leastways,
+in fine weather like it is at present.  When there's a gale blowing
+there's some scud and spray flying about, I can tell you."
+
+"The little bay we're making for seems to be protected on the south
+side by a high, jutting point," said the middy, who was now observing
+the coast through his telescope.
+
+"Right you are, sir, and that makes it a safe place to land when the
+south-west monsoon is blowing.  That is where the little river
+Joo-joo runs into the sea."
+
+"You know this part of the coast well, Lobb, evidently."
+
+"Yes, I do, sir.  'Taint the fust time I've landed here for sand, not
+by a long chalk.  On one occasion, when I was in the old 'Ariadne,'
+we went up the river Joo-joo in the pinnace to get a supply of fresh
+water."
+
+"And you fell in with some natives I expect, didn't you?"
+
+"Never a soul did we see, sir.  There was a lot of
+mischievous-looking baboons a-cruising about and some flamingoes, but
+nothing else living did we see.  No seaside lodgings to let, nor
+nothing of that sort." And Lobb laughed at his own joke, his mind
+reverting for a moment to his own Mary Anne, who let genteel
+apartments overlooking the sea at the little Dorsetshire town of
+Swanage.
+
+The words had hardly escaped his lips when the coxswain suddenly
+gripped the middy by the arm, and pointed in an excited manner in the
+direction of a jutting point.
+
+"Do you see that mast of an Arab vessel, sir?" he almost shouted,
+"just over them rocks yonder."
+
+"See it?  I should think I did!  Now what in the name of fortune is
+she skulking behind that point for?"
+
+"Why, for all we know, she may be a slave-ship," said the coxswain,
+with much suppressed excitement in his tones.  "Out oars, lads, and
+we'll soon see what larks that chap is up to."
+
+The middy, in a state of great excitement, turned his telescope upon
+the stranger.
+
+[Illustration: _Over the dhow's bulwarks appeared a row of fierce
+bearded faces._]
+
+"She's a dhow right enough," he said briefly; "but the commander
+warned me not to interfere with the natives."
+
+"That's right enough, sir, that is," returned the coxswain; "but this
+is another pair of shoes altogether.  A dhow is a dhow, and ain't
+nothing to do with shore-going loafers."
+
+As it was now a stark calm, recourse was had to the oars, and the
+cutter slipped along through the water, which was so clear that the
+fish were visible swimming about in all directions.
+
+"If yonder craft _should_ prove to be a slaver, we ain't got no
+weapons aboard to fight the swabs with," observed one of the cutter's
+crew.
+
+"The stretchers will serve our turn, I reckon, chum," said the
+coxswain grimly, "and there's a shovel or two.  We must be careful
+what we do, though, for this hooker may prove to be a lawful trader,
+and in that case we can't touch her."
+
+The cutter, urged on by her willing crew, soon doubled the point, and
+found herself in the mouth of the river.  The dhow lay quietly at
+anchor, and it appeared as if her crew had not as yet caught sight of
+the man-of-war's boat.  She looked a small vessel, and boasted of
+only one very raking mast and a lofty tapering yard.  Over her clumsy
+stern floated a blood-red flag attached to a bamboo flagstaff.
+
+"Give way, men; we'll soon be alongside her," cried the middy, in
+sharp, decisive tones.  "To my mind she has the look of a regular
+slaver."
+
+Shouts of alarm now rang out from on board the stranger, and her Arab
+crew were seen hurriedly rushing hither and thither like a horde of
+disturbed ants.
+
+"There's a big crew aboard; that's suspicious," murmured the coxswain
+to himself.  "How I wish we had poor Mr. Villiers here!  'Tis just
+the job he liked to have a hand in, the plucky youngster"--and
+something very like a tear stood in the seaman's eye as his thoughts
+reverted for a moment to the sad events of the preceding day.
+
+The crew of the dhow were now seen mustering in the waist of their
+vessel.
+
+As the cutter drew near, the coxswain, who knew a few words of
+Arabic, rose in the stern-sheets and shouted out that he was going to
+board for the purpose of examining the dhow's papers.
+
+The only answer to this was two or three jets of flame which gushed
+out from over the vessel's taffrail.  Some slugs whizzed over the
+British seamen's heads and splashed harmlessly into the water beyond
+them.
+
+"I'm jiggered if the sharks ain't slaver-men then," exclaimed the
+coxswain indignantly.  "Stand by to lay in your oars, lads, and
+follow Mr. Thring and me aboard with shovels and stretchers in your
+fists."
+
+The cutter dashed alongside the dhow.  Over the latter's bulwarks
+appeared a row of fierce bearded faces, and the sunlight glanced
+brightly on spears and scimitars.  It was an exciting moment.
+
+"Bowmen, hang on there forrard!" shouted the middy, as he drew his
+little dirk from its sheath--a weapon never intended for active
+service.
+
+"Grab some of them chaps' weapons as soon as you can, lads," roared
+the coxswain, as he clambered up the dhow's clumsy side; "and then
+we'll play 'old Harry' with the swabs."
+
+With a dash and determination which nothing could withstand the
+cutter's crew followed their youthful leader on board, dealing
+telling blows with their shovels and stretchers as they did so, but
+unfortunately one or two seamen were wounded by the spears of the foe
+before they gained the deck of the slaver.
+
+Now came a fierce hand-to-hand tussle.  The Arabs had uttered
+triumphant shouts of joy when they perceived that the British seamen
+were without weapons, for they deemed it an easy matter to overcome
+them.  So they thrust with spear and cut with scimitar, fiercely
+urging each other to drive the enemy back into their boat again.  But
+they soon found they had tough customers to deal with--men who were
+accustomed to fighting against tremendous odds.  The coxswain, an
+immensely powerful man in the prime of life, soon wrested a scimitar
+from one of his opponents, and, rushing into the thick of the fray,
+cut down everyone who opposed him.
+
+Young Thring had not been so fortunate.  Having gained in safety the
+dhow's bulwarks, he thrust with his dirk at an Arab who was opposing
+his further advance, and by great good luck wounded him in the
+sword-arm, causing the man to drop his spear over the taffrail,
+whence it fell into the cutter.  The middy was about to spring on
+board when he received a violent blow on the chest from a clubbed
+musket and fell backwards into the boat, in the stern-sheets of which
+he lay senseless for a few moments.  The bowmen were unable to assist
+him, owing to their important duties forward.
+
+[Illustration: (Villiers and slaver-men)]
+
+Quickly regaining consciousness, however, the youngster, who had
+never lost his grip of the dirk, threw that almost useless weapon
+aside, and, seizing the formidable spear which the Arab had dropped
+into the boat, he once more clambered up the dhow's tall side.
+
+As he did so a hideous chorus of shrieks and screams, which rose high
+above the sounds of strife, rent the air; and a number of terrified
+slaves burst open the flimsy bamboo deck and, rushing up in a body,
+began throwing themselves overboard as if in fear of their lives.
+Many of these poor creatures, unable to swim, sank at once beneath
+the surface.  The scene of confusion on board the dhow was now
+indescribable.  In the midst of it Lobb, scimitar in hand, ran up to
+the middy.
+
+"I've killed the captain of these slaver-men," he said excitedly,
+"and the rest of the beggars was so took aback at the loss of their
+chieftain that they caved in and laid down their arms.  The ship is
+yours, sir, but we must do our best to prevent these slaves escaping.
+Mad as March hares, the lot of 'em seems to be, and that's the truth!"
+
+By dint of almost superhuman efforts, the middy and his men succeeded
+in pacifying the terrified Africans who still remained on board.  A
+good many had reached the shore, and were clambering up the rocks in
+a wet and dripping state.
+
+The Arabs had been disarmed and the wounded men were being attended
+to when young Thring and his followers were thunderstruck by hearing
+a loud and piercing cry from amongst the cliff-like rocks on shore:
+"Help! help!"
+
+"The voice of an Englishman!" exclaimed Lobb, in the greatest
+astonishment; "well, that beats everything as----"
+
+He was interrupted by an agonising shout from Thring, who staggered
+back as if he had been shot: "It's Villiers! it's Jack Villiers!"
+
+There could be no doubt about it.  Extraordinary as it may appear,
+there undoubtedly was the mid of the maintop--supposed to be fathoms
+deep in an ocean grave--with his arms bound behind him, being hurried
+away inland by a small party of armed Arabs who had just a few
+moments before emerged from a cave amongst the rocks immediately
+above the spot where the dhow lay at anchor.  As Thring gazed in a
+petrified manner at the flying group, he saw to his horror that one
+of the Arabs had felled his chum to the ground with a blow from the
+butt-end of a pistol.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Some of my young readers may possibly have guessed that they would
+hear of Jack Villiers again.  "There's a sweet little cherub that
+sits up aloft and looks after the life of poor Jack," isn't there?
+Of course there is, but still, one may tempt Providence too far, and
+I cannot help feeling extremely nervous when I think of the very
+awkward fix my hero is undoubtedly in, for his Arab captors were very
+much inclined to assassinate him at this crisis in his fate, as they
+attributed their misfortune in losing the dhow entirely to his
+enforced presence amongst them; whereas we know that it was nothing
+of the sort, the discovery of their vessel having been the result of
+a pure accident.
+
+When Jack Villiers fell overboard from the "Forte's" main rigging he
+was partially stunned by the violence with which he struck the water;
+but, being a strong, athletic boy, and a splendid swimmer, he soon
+recovered himself, and struck out desperately, in hopes of reaching
+one of the many life-buoys that he knew must have been flung
+overboard into the wake of the ship.  The sea, however, had become
+very boisterous, and the great waves dashed over him again and again,
+drenching him with their stinging salt brine; and the fog had become
+so dense that he could not see more than two or three feet in front
+of him.  It was a terrible position for a boy to be in, but Jack was
+of that sterling stuff that heroes are made of, and was determined to
+make a brave struggle for life.
+
+"If it wasn't for this horrid fog," he muttered to himself as he
+dashed the salt spray from his eyes, "I should be as right as a
+trivet, for I could certainly keep myself afloat till the boat picked
+me up."
+
+[Illustration: (Jack Villiers and life-buoy)]
+
+Jack, of course, had no idea in which direction he was swimming.  As
+a matter of fact, he was moving away from the "Forte" instead of
+towards her.  The water in the Indian Ocean is so wonderfully buoyant
+that the middy was not much incommoded by his clothes, which were of
+very thin texture.  The temperature, too, was warm enough to prevent
+any feeling of numbness.
+
+Jack's heart began to sink a little when he fully recognised how
+difficult it would be for the crew of the boat to find him.  He had
+had sufficient experience at sea to know that when a man falls
+overboard in half a gale of wind he is washed away an immense
+distance from the ship in an incredibly short space of time.  He was
+aware also that the cutter could not be lowered until the way of the
+ship was nearly stopped, and this involved much necessary delay.
+
+Jack listened intently for the friendly sound of oars grinding in the
+rowlocks, or for the shouts of his searching shipmates, but amid the
+roar of the elements not a sound could he distinguish.  Once or twice
+he shouted at the top of his voice, but this he quickly found
+exhausted him too much, and it was absolutely necessary that he
+should husband his strength as far as possible in order to keep
+afloat at all in such a tempestuous sea.
+
+Presently, to his great joy, our hero was struck violently on the
+shoulder by a circular cork lifebuoy, which was one of those thrown
+overboard from the "Forte's" poop.  With great presence of mind Jack
+seized the buoy in a strong grip, and it was lucky he did so
+promptly, as in another moment it would have been washed far beyond
+him by a rolling wave.
+
+This buoy undoubtedly saved the mid of the maintop's life, for, as we
+know, the cutter never came within hail of him, in spite of all the
+efforts of her devoted crew.
+
+Jack never knew how long he drifted about at the mercy of the waves,
+clinging with desperation to the lifebuoy; but at length, as he was
+beginning to feel that his strength was fast ebbing away, and that
+the end must be very near, the fog began to almost imperceptibly melt
+away, and the middy saw to his delight that there was a
+sailing-vessel within half a mile of him, staggering along in his
+direction under a reefed sail, a pile of foamy water at her bows.
+
+Our hero's heart sank a little, for he quickly perceived that the
+stranger was a dhow.  Of the "Forte" there was no sign, but the
+horizon was by no means clear as yet.
+
+"After all, she may be a lawful trader," muttered Jack, "and if I can
+only manage to attract her attention, her captain will no doubt land
+me at Aden or some British port."
+
+By great good fortune, the dhow held straight on her course, and this
+brought her within a fathom or two of the spot where our hero was so
+bravely fighting the waves.  So exhausted and weak had Jack now
+become, however, that when he tried to shout in order to attract the
+attention of the crew of the stranger he found himself unable to
+utter a sound.  Nor did he dare to quit his hold of the lifebuoy even
+to wave one arm.
+
+[Illustration: _Squatting close beside his prisoner was Ahmed
+Bungoo._]
+
+The captain of the dhow, who happened to be steering his vessel, had
+the eyes of a lynx, and it did not escape his glance that upon his
+port bow was a European castaway, clinging to a buoy and buffeted
+about by a still tempestuous sea.  The Arab skipper hated Englishmen
+like poison, and it would have been quite in keeping with his
+character to have held contemptuously on his course and left a
+drowning human creature to perish, but on this occasion he was
+induced to change his mind by the fact that he thought he perceived
+the flash of brass buttons upon the middy's jacket, as it rose and
+fell upon the tumbling waves.
+
+The love of gain had a firm hold upon the sordid mind of this Arab
+chief.  Perchance this was a naval officer, for whose release from
+captivity the British Government might be induced to pay a heavy
+ransom!  It was too good an opportunity to be lost!  The wily Arab
+promptly hove-to his clumsy craft, and sent away a boat to rescue the
+castaway.
+
+The long and terrible strain had been too much even for a boy of
+unusual physical strength.  No sooner was Jack bundled
+unceremoniously on board the dhow than he fainted dead away.
+
+On recovering consciousness, our hero found himself lying upon the
+rough bamboo deck of a rude cabin built under the poop of the Arab
+vessel, and dimly illuminated by the open doorway, there being no
+other means of admitting air or light.  A cushion stuffed with native
+cotton and covered with Turkey red supported Jack's head, and, to his
+astonishment, the middy found that his own dripping clothes had been
+stripped from him and their place taken by an Arabic jacket and pair
+of loose trousers secured by a cummerbund; his feet being slipped
+into a pair of yellow shoes.
+
+Squatting upon his haunches close beside his prisoner, and with his
+subtle dark eyes fixed intently upon the middy's blanched face, was
+Ahmed Bungoo, skipper of the dhow, and one of the most noted
+slave-dealers of Zanzibar.
+
+The Arab gave a grunt of satisfaction when he saw that the midshipman
+had opened his eyes, for he had feared for some almost intolerable
+moments that the prisoner would slip through his fingers.
+
+For a few seconds Jack felt strangely bewildered, then memory
+asserted her sway in a flash, and he distinctly remembered the train
+of incidents which had led up to his almost miraculous rescue from a
+watery grave.  He tried to sit up, but fell back helpless with a
+groan.
+
+Ahmed frowned, and played with the hilt of a gaily-ornamented knife
+which was stuck into his girdle.  He was about to speak when he saw
+that his captive had fallen into a profound sleep--the sleep of
+exhausted nature.
+
+Our mid of the maintop slept tranquilly for many long hours, and when
+he eventually awoke felt quite recovered and as ravenous as a shark.
+He found himself still in the same position upon the deck of the
+cabin, but the lynx-eyed skipper had disappeared.  In his place a
+gaunt-looking, grizzle-headed Arab stood on guard at the entrance of
+the cabin--which was innocent of a door--armed with a very
+long-barrelled musket and a curved scimitar.
+
+[Illustration: (Arab guard)]
+
+Anxious to thank his preservers, and curious also to ascertain the
+nature of the vessel which had picked him up, our hero rose to his
+feet and moved towards the sentry, intending to pass him and go in
+search of the captain.  The Arab, however, perceiving his intention,
+immediately barred the entrance with his long musket, at the same
+time uttering some sharp order in Arabic, which of course Jack did
+not understand.  The middy at once gathered, however, from the man's
+threatening manner that he must consider himself a prisoner, and,
+thinking it wiser for the present to obey orders, he re-seated
+himself upon the deck, and, pointing to his mouth, said in a loud
+voice: "Me want some grub very bad, Johnny."
+
+The sentry shouted to someone who was invisible to Jack, and
+presently a short, repulsive-looking native with a very black skin
+appeared upon the scene, bearing in his huge hands a chatty of boiled
+rice and a wooden spoon.  This dish he set before the midshipman, and
+signed to him to eat.
+
+Jack lost no time, and began to attack the rice with avidity, the two
+natives eyeing him closely and with the utmost gravity during the
+proceedings.  The rice, being flavoured with a little curry-stuff and
+some pieces of chopped brinjal, was by no means unpalatable, and the
+middy left not one grain in the bowl "for manners."  Indeed, he felt
+very much better for the meal.
+
+[Illustration: (Jack eating)]
+
+The short black attendant stalked out with the empty bowl, and almost
+at the same moment in stalked the Arab captain with an unmistakeable
+scowl upon his face.
+
+"If that chap isn't a slave-dealer, may I go back to the nursery and
+pinafores," muttered the mid of the maintop to himself; "and I'm in a
+jolly tight place if this is a slave-dhow, unless one of our cruisers
+should happen to fall foul of her."
+
+Feeling sure that this individual was the captain, and anxious to
+conciliate him--Jack was a born diplomat--our hero made the chief a
+neat little speech in English, expressing his thanks for past
+favours, and making a request that he might be landed at the nearest
+port.
+
+The captain shook his head vehemently, as if to intimate that the
+English tongue was utterly unknown to him.  Then, turning to the
+sentry, he said in Arabic: "By the beard of the Prophet, a handsome
+youth!  What thinkest thou that Christian dog, the English admiral,
+will pay for him, eh, Khyraz?"
+
+The sentry twirled his moustache thoughtfully.  Then he said, with a
+hoarse, guttural laugh: "Perhaps the admiral will pay you in
+cannon-balls instead of gold, O Ahmed, my chief; it's a way the dogs
+have!"
+
+The captain scowled at this pleasantry.  Then he observed tranquilly:
+"I think it will be sufficient gold to buy a hundred slaves with in
+the Zanzibar market.  We shall do well on our next voyage if we have
+the good fortune to escape the men-of-war."
+
+Jack's heart rather sank when he found that the captain did not
+understand any English.  How could he convey to him his wish to be
+landed at the nearest port?
+
+As our hero was turning over these thoughts in his mind, a member of
+the Arab crew came below, and reported that the yard had been sprung
+in the gale and needed repairs.
+
+Ahmed, after giving some rapid orders to the sentry, hurried away,
+and Jack was left to his own meditations, which were by no means
+pleasant ones.
+
+So badly was the dhow's yard injured that Ahmed decided to put into
+the Joo-joo river, where he could carry out the necessary repairs
+whilst his vessel lay securely at anchor.  The dhow drew very little
+water, and safely entered the estuary only a few hours before the
+"Forte" appeared upon the scene.
+
+The cutter's crew under young Thring's command had been mistaken in
+imagining that they were taking Ahmed and his men by surprise.  There
+is a saying: "You do not catch a weasel asleep," and the
+slaver-captain very closely resembled that animal, and was always on
+the alert and ready for emergencies.  Thoroughly alarmed as he was by
+the apparition of the man-of-war in the offing, and of her boat
+approaching the shore, he yet trusted to his usual good luck--having
+never been captured by a cruiser--and hoped that his presence in the
+river would pass unobserved, shrouded from view as he deemed himself
+to be by the jutting point of rocks.
+
+The instant, however, the wily Ahmed recognised that the cutter's
+nose was turned in his direction, he calmly and quietly prepared for
+action, and as a precaution sent Jack Villiers ashore in charge of
+three fully-armed men, on whose faith and courage he knew he could
+implicitly rely.
+
+In dogged, obstinate bravery this slaver-captain was certainly not
+deficient.  He was prepared to fight to the last drop of his blood in
+defence of his vessel and human cargo.  With regard to his prisoner,
+Jack Villiers, the chief was very much averse to treating with naval
+officers for his release, much preferring that negotiations for that
+purpose should, if possible, be carried on with a Consular Agent at
+some port.  Herein he showed his wisdom--the wisdom of the serpent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Thring could scarcely believe his eyes when they fell upon his chum
+Jack being hurried away up the cliffs by three swarthy, fleet-footed
+Arabs.  That piercing cry of "Help! help!" had gone to his heart, for
+he did not fail to instantly recognise the well-loved tones of that
+friend whom he had mourned as dead.  If it had not been for the fact
+that the Arabs, in the hurry and confusion, had omitted to gag their
+captive, even Thring might have been deceived, for his friend was
+still arrayed in his Oriental costume.
+
+"Bless my heart if you ain't right, and that's Mr. Villiers hisself!"
+sang out Lobb, on hearing the young middy's exclamation.  "How in the
+name of wonder did----"  And, without finishing his sentence, the
+coxswain snatched up an Arab musket which he knew to be loaded.
+
+"The swabs have knocked him over, and may be a-murderin' of 'im!" he
+cried, in horrified tones.
+
+But Thring made a dash at the long barrel.  "Don't fire at them,
+Lobb; you might hit poor Jack."
+
+The seaman lowered the gun.  "I could pick off any one of the
+warmints if I had a mind to," he said; "leastways, if this was a
+Martini-Henry I had in my fist; but by ill fortin it ain't."
+
+Thring stamped on the deck in despair, as he watched with agonised
+glances his helpless chum being borne away into the interior,
+accompanied by about a score of escaped slaves.
+
+His duty was plain, however.  He recognised that at once.  An
+immediate return to the "Forte" to report matters was imperative, and
+there were some wounded men--both sailors and Arabs--to attend to.
+Ahmed, as we know, had lost his life, and the same fate had overtaken
+one of his principal followers.  Several of the cutter's crew were
+suffering from wounds, but fortunately none of them were serious.
+
+It was necessary to leave a small guard on board the dhow, and Thring
+was about to step into the cutter with his reduced crew when it was
+reported to him that the "Forte's" pinnace was approaching.  Captain
+Brooke, having observed the dhow's mast, and that the cutter had
+gone--as he thought--to reconnoitre, very promptly sent away one of
+his largest boats, containing a score of armed men, under command of
+the gunnery lieutenant.
+
+"This is a very serious matter," exclaimed that officer when he had
+heard the middy's story.  "Thank God your friend is alive, and I
+trust we may yet see him aboard safe and sound.  There is not a
+moment to lose, however, and we must return instantly to the ship and
+report matters to the captain.  I'll put half a dozen additional men
+aboard the slaver, and then we'll sheer off."
+
+[Illustration: (Thring and Captain Brooke)]
+
+Captain Brooke looked very grave when he heard the extraordinary news
+brought by the two officers.  The glad intelligence that Jack
+Villiers was alive spread like wildfire throughout the ship, and
+everyone, fore and aft, was burning to join in an expedition to
+effect his release.
+
+The captain hoped that the Arabs would come off and treat for the
+release of the prisoner, and to this end--through the ship's
+interpreter--several parleys were held with the Arab captives, who,
+evidently in terror of their lives, protested stoutly that no
+Englishman had been on board the dhow at all, and that Thring and his
+boat's crew must have been mistaken in thinking they had seen such a
+person.  In despair at their obstinacy, Captain Brooke ordered the
+prisoners to be released and put on shore, with a parting and most
+emphatic reminder that if a hair of the missing midshipman's head was
+hurt they would all eventually be recaptured and hanged at the
+yard-arm.
+
+[Illustration: _Several parleys were held with the Arab captives._]
+
+Meanwhile energetic preparations were going on for fitting out an
+expedition.  Every available boat was manned and armed, and the
+little naval brigade, consisting of a hundred bluejackets and twenty
+marines, was placed under the command of the gunnery lieutenant, Mr.
+Howard.  All the necessary arrangements, however, took some time,
+especially as the steam-launch had to be hoisted out and fitted for
+active service.  Captain Brooke did not regret the delay, as he still
+hoped that his warnings to the released Arab prisoners would have
+effect, and that Jack would be held to ransom without loss of time.
+In this, however, he was doomed to disappointment, for no messenger
+bearing the olive-branch of peace arrived upon the scene.
+
+The sun was now descending swiftly into his cloudy bed in the radiant
+west, and, as there is scarcely any twilight in the tropic zone, the
+officers of the "Forte" recognised that it would be impossible for
+the expedition to start before the following morning.  It was known,
+of course, that only three armed Arabs had formed Jack Villiers's
+escort; but, for all that was known to the contrary, these men might
+easily induce some of the warlike Somalis to join them and assist in
+forming ambushes or other devices of guerilla warfare.
+
+There were two prime difficulties which presented themselves to
+Captain Brooke's mind.  The first and most important was that the
+Arabs, incensed at being pursued, might put Jack to death out of pure
+spite; and the second was that it was impossible to tell in which
+direction the fugitives had gone, as nothing had been seen of them
+since the cutter's crew had observed them clambering up the
+acclivities of Ras Joo-joo like so many startled deer pursued by a
+leopard.
+
+Dawn broke in a clear cloudless sky.  The "Forte," now anchored in
+the bay, appeared to be lying in a tranquil lake, unruffled by the
+lightest catspaw.  The bleak and barren-looking shores appeared to be
+deserted.  Not a human being was visible on strand or cliff, although
+the signalmen repeatedly swept them with their powerful telescopes.
+
+It was necessary to take action, and that promptly.
+
+The naval brigade was mustered, and then drafted into the boats.
+Every man was armed with a rifle and cutlass, the petty-officers
+being supplied with revolvers as well.  Thring, as a friend of the
+kidnapped midshipman, was allowed to accompany the force, much to his
+own satisfaction.
+
+The steam-launch took the little flotilla in tow, and, with her
+engines going full speed ahead, steered for the mouth of the Joo-joo
+river, where it was proposed to disembark the force.  No field-guns
+were taken, owing to the nature of the country, but the launch had a
+seven-pounder mounted in her bows in case it should be necessary to
+disperse any body of natives that might assemble to dispute the
+landing--a not very probable contingency.
+
+As the estuary of the river was opened out, two small canoes were
+observed upon its waters, the occupants of which were apparently
+engaged in fishing.
+
+Young Thring was in the launch with the gunnery lieutenant, actively
+at work with his telescope.
+
+"There's your dhow safe enough at anchor," observed Mr. Howard; "but
+I wonder what those fellows are up to in the canoes."
+
+"Perhaps they're spies, sir," said the middy.
+
+"We must make prisoners of them in any case.  It is just possible
+that we may be able to wring some information out of the fellows if
+they are inhabitants of the country."
+
+[Illustration: (Native in canoe)]
+
+The boats having been cast off, the gig was ordered to immediately
+seize the two canoes, the natives in which were now paddling away
+up-stream in evident alarm.  They were quickly captured, however, and
+brought on board the launch, where they stood before the lieutenant
+trembling in every limb.
+
+Through the interpreter, who understood all the dialects of the
+coast, Mr. Howard cross-examined the men, who proved to be members of
+the Somali tribe, and genuine fishermen.  On the promise of a large
+reward if their information should prove correct, these fellows spun
+a long yarn, some items of which proved to be of great importance.
+
+It appeared that they had seen Jack Villiers carried away up-country,
+and out of curiosity had followed in the track of the fugitives--a
+white prisoner being a very uncommon sight on their coast.  They soon
+perceived that the Arabs were not unacquainted with the country, for
+they made straight for a large, rudely-fortified village situated on
+the left bank of the river, and some ten miles from its mouth.  This
+settlement was ruled over by a petty chief of warlike tastes, who
+often made cruel and utterly unprovoked raids upon his neighbours.
+
+The fishermen went on to relate that they saw the Arabs and the
+escaped slaves enter this village, and that they felt sure the chief
+had received them amicably.  They themselves had not dared to
+approach any nearer, but had slunk off to their own home, a mere
+hovel on the banks of the stream; nor had they seen or heard anything
+more of the prisoner or his captors.
+
+This news--if trustworthy--was of enormous importance, for it located
+the whereabouts of the fugitives.  The lieutenant gave it as his
+opinion that the chief in question had probably been a friend and
+ally of Ahmed's in former days, and that the news of that
+slave-dealer's death would probably exasperate him very much against
+all Englishmen, and decide him to assist the Arabs with all his armed
+forces.
+
+The fishermen, on being asked if they would consent to act as guides,
+willingly agreed to do so; and, as the river was too shallow to allow
+of the boats proceeding up-stream, the naval contingent was landed at
+a convenient spot on the left bank, and quickly formed up for an
+advance.  The country here was fortunately open and fairly level;
+and, though there was no road, the ground was firm under the men's
+feet, and not obstructed by scrub or jungle.  The only signs of
+vegetation were a few mangrove-bushes that lined the banks of the
+muddy, sluggish stream, and an occasional clump of lofty bamboos.
+
+The officers were of opinion that the fishermen were speaking the
+truth, but every precaution was taken to guard against treachery by
+throwing out scouts and an advanced line of skirmishers.
+
+The excitement of action enabled Thring to keep up his spirits to a
+certain extent, but he had a terrible foreboding that the treacherous
+Arabs would not scruple to murder his chum should it suit their
+purpose to do so.  Certainly there were some grounds for his fears.
+The little middy felt as if he had lived a lifetime in the last few
+days, so great had been the tension.
+
+As far as possible the brigade followed the course of the river,
+which was not a sinuous one, its turbid current flowing evenly
+between oozy mudbanks, whereon an occasional crocodile was seen
+basking in the hot rays of the tropic sun.  These repellent reptiles
+slid off almost noiselessly into the water on viewing the approach of
+human beings.
+
+Every moment--early as it was--the heat grew more intense, and a
+veritable plague of flies attacked the men on the march; but the
+gallant fellows made light of all these annoyances, and joked and
+laughed like a lot of light-hearted schoolboys out for a picnic.  The
+idea that the kidnapped middy might be cruelly murdered did not occur
+to them.  As Lobb confided to one of his cronies: "In course there'll
+be a bit of a scrimmage, mate, and then we'll have the young
+gentleman back amongst us as right as a trivet, d'ye see?"
+
+After an arduous forced march of three hours or so, the village was
+reported to be in sight, and every heart beat high with expectation.
+A considerable détour had been made in the last three miles, so as,
+if possible, to enable the force to make an attack upon the village
+in the rear, and also for the purpose of avoiding some patches of
+forest near the river.  Several natives had been seen making their
+way rapidly in the direction of the settlement, and there could be no
+doubt that they would give the alarm to those within the rude but
+strong palisades that formed the warlike chief's principal line of
+defence.
+
+A halt was called under the shade of some trees, and the officers
+conferred together for a few moments.
+
+A loud jabbering, mingled with shouts of both defiance and alarm, now
+rang out from the village.  Children screamed, dogs barked, cocks
+crew, and goats bleated, and it was evident enough that any idea of
+taking the place by surprise must be abandoned.
+
+[Illustration: (Wounded sailor)]
+
+Rapidly the naval brigade formed into line and, with the officers
+leading, charged forward at the double.  The men had orders not to
+cheer or to fire a shot until they were close to the palisades, which
+latter enclosed the village on every side except that which opened
+upon the river.  Extending beyond these stockades were stretches of
+cultivated ground, containing crops of maize, sweet potatoes, melons,
+and tomatoes.  There was absolutely no cover for the attacking force,
+a few guava-trees and clumps of cacti being the only break in the
+uniformity of the ground--an unfortunate circumstance.
+
+As the bluejackets and marines swept forward to the attack, it became
+evident that the defenders had loopholes for firearms in their
+palisades, for a brisk fire was opened at different points upon the
+advancing brigade, and several men fell out of the ranks wounded;
+for, though most of the bullets flew high, a few found their billets
+accurately enough.  The ambulance corps at once conveyed these poor
+fellows to the rear, where the surgeons were in attendance to dress
+their hurts.
+
+[Illustration: _The chief levelled the piece and fired, and Mr.
+Howard fell._]
+
+It was clear that there would be a desperate attempt on the part of
+the garrison to roll back the charging line of stormers, for in
+addition to the sharpshooters--who were but few in number--a large
+posse of warriors could be observed assembling just within the
+stockades, evidently mounted on platforms erected for the purpose.
+The rays of the sun flashed brightly on the spears, swords, and
+hatchets which these fellows bore, and lit up their savage
+countenances and wild fluttering turbans with weird effect.
+
+Close to a strongly-barricaded gateway on the northern side of the
+line of defences two or three banners were lazily flaunting in the
+gentle breeze, and near this spot stood the chief, Sooltan Shah,
+himself, surrounded by his chief advisers and the three Arabs who had
+acted as Jack Villiers's escort.
+
+Sooltan Shah was a powerfully-built man of middle age, and his
+clean-shaven tattooed face bore a mingled expression of cruelty and
+pride strongly stamped upon it.  A large scar reaching from his right
+eye to the corner of the mouth, and a slight cast in one eye, lent
+the whole face a ferocious and sinister look which disagreeably
+impressed everyone who gazed upon it.
+
+[Illustration: (Sooltan Shah)]
+
+As I mentioned before, this individual had been on very friendly
+terms with the dead slaver-captain, and his wrath had been greatly
+aroused by the news that the little residue of Arabs had brought him.
+
+"The dogs are brave," he said to his counsellors, as he admiringly
+watched the charge of the naval brigade; "but they'll never swarm
+over my palisades.  If they do, my trusty warriors will wet their
+spears in the blood of my foemen, and their bodies shall be cast to
+the vultures."
+
+As he finished speaking, the thin white line halted and poured in a
+volley at close range.  Then it swept forward again, a ringing
+British cheer from over a hundred throats rushing out like a blast
+from amid the rolling battle smoke.
+
+Two bullets rang by close to Sooltan Shah's gaudy and voluminous
+turban, and one of the Arabs standing close beside him sprang three
+feet into the air and fell dead at the chief's feet--shot through the
+heart.  Sooltan's face was convulsed with passion.  Seizing a musket,
+the butt of which was inlaid with ivory, from one of his attendants,
+he levelled it at the gunnery lieutenant and fired.  The slug struck
+the ground a couple of feet in front of the officer.
+
+"Give me another musket," roared the chief; "my second shot is always
+a deadly one."
+
+[Illustration: (Jack in prison hut)]
+
+Again he levelled the piece and fired.  Mr. Howard fell, his drawn
+sword flying from his grasp.
+
+"One chieftain has bitten the dust, ha! ha!" exclaimed Sooltan, with
+savage glee.  "Now is Ahmed's death avenged, and we shall see these
+white men fleeing before us like a herd of gemsbok before a hungry
+lion."
+
+"Some of the dogs are beneath the gateway.  Shoot them down!" cried
+one of the Arabs excitedly.
+
+Scarcely had the words escaped his lips than a terrific explosion
+rent the air, and chocks of timber, stones, and dust were hurled
+upwards with great force.  Sooltan and those standing around him were
+thrown violently to the ground, and a shower of debris fell around
+them.  A strong odour of gunpowder filled the air, and volumes of
+grey smoke slowly drifted away on the wind.
+
+A detachment of seamen-gunners had blown up the barricaded gateway,
+and thus created a wide gap, through which a party of stormers swept
+in to the attack with ringing cheers.
+
+Sooltan Shah had only been partially stunned.  The desperate courage
+of the man asserted itself in spite of the rude awakening he had
+received.  Seizing a weighty spear, he rapidly thundered out some
+orders to those around him, and then, with hasty steps and a lowering
+brow, rushed down at the head of his men to endeavour to stem the
+onward rush of the "Forte's" men.
+
+Meanwhile other mines had been sprung, and at several points the
+active sailors were seen swarming over the stockades like a troop of
+wild cats.  Some of these, however, were shot down and others wounded
+by the long spears of the natives.
+
+Young Thring, brave, cool, and collected amidst all the turmoil of
+this hand-to-hand fight, was one of the first to enter the village,
+and, with the aid of a body of veteran seamen, drove the line of
+defenders--still fighting desperately--backwards into the narrow
+lanes that divided the rows of beehive huts one from the other.  The
+middy had asked the interpreter to keep close to him, that he might
+be enabled to question some of the prisoners as to the whereabouts of
+Jack Villiers, whom he hoped to rescue alive out of the hands of his
+ruthless captors--if, indeed, the poor fellow had not already
+perished by the hands of an assassin.
+
+As the middy and his men pushed on, the resistance of the villagers
+grew feebler and feebler, and at length ceased altogether.  In answer
+to the queries of the interpreter, one of the prisoners asserted that
+he knew well the hut in which Jack Villiers had been confined, and
+would guide the victors to it.  With a terrible anxiety gnawing at
+his heart, Thring marched on rapidly with his men, and quickly
+arrived before the hut which had been used as a prison.
+
+It was deserted and empty, and there were unmistakeable bloodstains
+upon the earthen floor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+When our mid of the maintop was hurried ashore from the dhow in the
+Joo-joo river, he had no idea that a man-of-war was in the offing,
+and that one of her boats was about to board the slaver.
+
+The sounds of the conflict were heard somewhat indistinctly in the
+cave in which the three Arabs and the middy had taken refuge, but
+Jack felt with a sudden exaltation of spirits that it was probable
+that a British boat had arrived upon the scene, and that his
+immediate release might be reasonably expected.
+
+Sadly were his hopes dashed to the ground when, with his arms bound
+behind him, he was hurried out of the cave and up the cliffs by his
+guards.  One glance at the dhow beneath him showed our hero that
+there were British bluejackets on board, although in the confusion of
+the moment he did not recognise Thring or any of the cutter's crew.
+
+One wild cry burst from the unhappy boy's lips.  The next moment he
+was struck to the ground by his relentless captors, gagged with a
+piece of cotton cloth, and then forcibly borne away up-country in a
+state of semi-consciousness, from which he did not fully recover till
+he found himself cast--released from his gag, but bound and
+helpless--into a small beehive hut in Sooltan Shah's stockaded
+village.
+
+A whirl of conflicting thoughts passed through the poor boy's mind,
+and for the first time since his rescue from the waves did it occur
+to him that his captors might take it into their heads to end his
+existence and their own responsibility at the same time.
+
+[Illustration: _Some armed natives entered the hut._]
+
+The possibility of this ending to his adventure struck a chill to the
+midshipman's brave young heart, but his family motto happened to be
+"_Nil desperandum_," and he had never yet, in his short career,
+failed to act up to it.  Indeed, a braver or more resourceful boy
+than Jack Villiers it would be difficult to find, even in that
+nursery of heroes, Her Majesty's Royal Navy.
+
+Therefore the middy soon plucked up his spirits and began to turn
+over some problems in his mind--problems of escape from durance vile.
+
+"I'd give anything to know," muttered Jack to himself, "whether those
+bluejackets on board the dhow recognised me as an Englishman or not.
+In this rig they might easily have taken me for an Oriental, for some
+of these Arabs are as fair as a European.  I wonder what cruiser they
+belonged to?  Could they have been some of my own shipmates?  What
+luck if they were!  Even then, however, the skipper might think it
+too risky to send an expedition up-country.  He would probably try
+and treat with the beggars instead, and meanwhile I may have a knife
+stuck into me."
+
+The middy was almost in complete darkness, for there was no window to
+the hut, and when his guards had thrown him down upon the earthen
+floor they had gone outside to mount guard, shutting the palm-leaf
+door behind them and carefully securing it.  A few straggling rays of
+light came in through chinks here and there, but they could not
+disperse the depressing gloom of the interior.
+
+Jack's head ached: the effects of the blow the Arabs had dealt him,
+coupled with the long march under the almost intolerable rays of a
+vertical sun; and for a time his thoughts did not take a very
+definite shape.
+
+About an hour after his arrival in the village, some armed natives,
+in no way resembling the Arabs, entered the hut, bearing a small
+bunch of bananas and an earthenware pitcher containing goats' milk.
+These they placed on the floor beside the prisoner, removed the
+lashing from his arms, and then without a word glided outside and
+resumed their vigilant watch and ward.
+
+"I'm glad they haven't forgotten the grub," said Jack to himself;
+"for when one is down in the mouth one wants to be figged up a bit."
+
+After munching a few bananas and taking a good long pull at the
+pitcher our hero felt more himself, and was thankful to get his arms
+free for a short time, for the numerous turns of rope had made them
+very stiff and uncomfortable.
+
+The guards re-entered, replaced the lashing with almost brutal force,
+and then withdrew again.
+
+"No, I've not forgotten the dodge those fellows at Guildford Fair
+taught me," muttered Jack, who had been lost in profound thought for
+some minutes, "and I really believe I could get my arms free if I
+wanted to.  Then if I only had a knife or some sort of tool it might
+be possible to hack one's way through these flimsy walls, which are
+only made of dried palm-leaves or something of that sort."
+
+The day wore on, and at length night fell--a still, balmy night, with
+a sky scintillating with a million flashing stars.
+
+[Illustration: (Jack with scallop shell)]
+
+A scanty supper of boiled rice and salt fish was served to the
+prisoner, and then the guards left him stretched upon the ground for
+the night, securely bound--or so they thought, having never had the
+opportunity of attending Guildford Fair and being initiated into its
+mysteries!
+
+The exhibits at the Surrey county-town usually included a "strongman"
+who could shake himself free from any entanglement of rope, however
+cunningly knotted around him.  In exchange for a sovereign, and a
+promise never to reveal the secret to anyone else, our hero had been
+shown the trick.  There was no fraud or jugglery about the matter.
+When you know the way it is as simple as ABC, but then every
+schoolboy has not a sovereign to spare for this sort of thing, has he?
+
+No sooner did Jack find himself left alone for the night than he
+proceeded without loss of time to put his plan of escape into
+execution.
+
+I am not going to tell you how the rope lashings were cast off, for
+the simple reason that I do not know, for Jack is a boy of honour,
+and I have never been able to get him to divulge the secret, _even to
+me_--his own father.
+
+Suffice it to say, however, that in ten minutes' time our hero had
+succeeded in getting his arms free; and his first act was to
+stealthily grope about in every corner of the dark hut in the hope of
+finding some object that might be of use to him in the endeavour to
+bore through the leafy walls of his prison-house.
+
+[Illustration: (Jack Villiers waving turban)]
+
+The only thing the middy found, however, was a shell shaped like a
+scallop.  There was absolutely nothing else lying about.
+
+"This won't do," said Jack to himself; "one can't cut with this blunt
+thing, and even if one could, the noise would be sure to arouse those
+beggars of sentries outside.  I didn't think of that before."
+
+Our hero felt bitterly disappointed.  Then a sudden thought flashed
+through his mind, and he crept to the back of the hut and began
+softly but quickly digging a hole in the earthen floor, close up to
+the wall, with his newly-found treasure, the shell.  The soil proved
+light and sandy, and with such ceaseless energy did the prisoner work
+that in an hour's time he had excavated a hole sufficiently large to
+allow of his body passing through.
+
+The next moment Jack was lying flat on the ground _outside_ the hut,
+listening intently.  He could hear the sentries jabbering near the
+doorway, but apparently he was free to steal away from the back
+without being perceived, unless there happened to be any of the
+inhabitants of the village abroad.
+
+[Illustration: (Natives)]
+
+Congratulating himself on his good fortune, our hero moved stealthily
+forward and gained a small grove of guava-trees, where for a few
+moments he paused.  Then, making a sudden resolve, he ran swiftly
+away and disappeared over the brow of a hill in the direction of the
+river.
+
+Not ten minutes after this the guards entered the hut and instantly
+saw that their prey had escaped.  Fearful of the fate that awaited
+them when Sooltan Shah learnt the news of the flight of the captive,
+the warriors, six in number, hurriedly set off in pursuit of the
+fugitive, having agreed among themselves that no alarm should be
+given unless the chase proved a futile one.
+
+* * * * *
+
+In spite of the complete victory they had achieved, ending in the
+death of Sooltan and the surrender of his warriors, the seamen and
+marines returned to the mouth of the Joo-joo river with heavy hearts.
+The corpse of Jack Villiers had not been discovered, in spite of the
+most strenuous search, but every member of the force believed him to
+have been most foully murdered.  More especially was young Thring
+downcast and broken-spirited, for the bonds of friendship had been
+very strong between the two boys.
+
+There was one subject for congratulation, and that was that the
+gunnery lieutenant, who had been struck down by the African chief's
+bullet, was likely to recover from the wound in the thigh which he
+had received.
+
+The "Forte's" boats had been left at anchor in the river under
+command of the boatswain, with orders to await events.  When the
+naval brigade hove in sight, the flotilla moved in to facilitate the
+operation of embarking the men, many of whom were more or less badly
+wounded.
+
+[Illustration: (Jack with canoe)]
+
+Is it possible to understand young Thring's astonishment and joy
+when, to his utter amazement, he saw, standing beside the boatswain
+in the stern-sheets of the launch, and energetically waving a turban
+over his head, his dearly-loved chum and messmate, Jack Villiers?
+
+What a resounding cheer went up from the whole throng of seamen and
+marines, who, breaking loose from all the bonds of discipline, rushed
+down to the river's brink, frantically throwing their caps up in the
+air, and generally behaving like a lot of schoolboys to whom an extra
+week's holidays had just been granted!
+
+In another moment Thring was wringing his friend's hand as if he was
+particularly anxious to dislocate the fingers, and both boys began to
+chatter like excited magpies.
+
+"Yes, yes, and after you got clear of the village, and you found you
+were being hunted down by the sentries, what happened then?" demanded
+Thring, with breathless interest.
+
+"Well, I knew jolly well I hadn't a chance with the beggars at
+running," said the mid of the maintop modestly, "and so after a bit,
+when I found they were catching me up hand-over-fist, and I was jolly
+well losing my wind, I just swarmed up a dense tree that overhung the
+banks of the river, and stowed myself away amongst the thickest
+branches--just like Charles II. in the Boscobel oak!  I'm certain the
+beggars knew I was up a tree, but, owing to the darkness and the
+thickness of this patch of jungle, they never found me.  For a long
+time after daylight I could hear the shouts and cries of natives, and
+did not dare to descend.  Then a long silence ensued, but I still lay
+low, thinking it might be a trap set for me; but I believe now that
+the news of your advance upon their village had reached them,
+compelling them to go back and assist in its defence.  After waiting
+a long time, I concluded that the coast was clear, and went down the
+tree like a shot.  Following the river, I discovered by great good
+luck a canoe made fast amongst some thick reeds.  There were paddles
+on board, and I hopped in like a house on fire and sculled down the
+river as if all the hippopotami and alligators in Africa were after
+me!  I needn't spin you the rest of the yarn, for here I am safe and
+sound and as fit as a fiddle!"
+
+"But how about them there bloodstains on the floor of the hut you
+were imprisoned in, sir?" queried a sceptical old quartermaster
+standing by; "and I didn't see no hole dug under the wall abaft, not
+so much as a bread-room rat could creep through."
+
+Thring explained briefly to his chum what had been seen during the
+occupation of the village.  Jack laughed heartily.
+
+"It's evident that native prisoner was laughing in his sleeve at
+you," he said, "and took you to a house where they had been killing
+some fowls.  You always _were_ rather green, Thring, old chap,
+weren't you?  I say, what an adventure this'll be to tell the mater,
+won't it?"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77070 ***