hooting and yelling like demons, at the same time loading their guns,
and evidently determined not to spare their shot. This was a moment of
intense interest. The plan which I had formed from the first, was now
about to be put to proof; and, if the pirates were not the cowards which
I believed them to be, nothing could save us from falling into their
hands. Their fearful yells seem to be ringing in my ears even now, after
this lapse of time, and when I am on the other side of the globe.

The nearest junk was now within thirty yards of ours; their guns were
loaded, and I knew that the next discharge would completely rake our
decks "Now," said I to our helmsman, "keep your eyes fixed on me, and
the moment you see me fall flat on the deck, you must do the same, or
you will be shot." I knew that the pirate, who was now on our stern,
could not bring his guns to bear upon us, without putting his helm down
and bringing his gangway at right angles with our stern, as his guns
were fired from the gangway. I therefore kept a sharp eye upon the
helmsman, and the moment I saw him putting the helm down, I ordered our
steersman to fall flat on their faces behind some wood, and, at the same
moment, did so myself. We had scarcely done so, when bang! bang! went
their guns, and the shot came whizzing close over us, splintering the
wood about us in all directions. Fortunately none of us were struck.
"Now, mandarin, now! they are quite close enough," cried out my
companions, who did not wish to have another broadside like the last. I,
being of the same opinion, raised myself above the high stern of our
junk; and while the pirates were not more than twenty yards from us,
hooting and yelling, I raked their decks, fore and aft, with shot and
ball from my double-barreled gun.

Had a thunderbolt fallen among them, they could not have been more
surprised. Doubtless, many were wounded, and probably some killed. At