MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



445 



came hourly more critical. Their 

 force rapidly accumulating, and 

 our little stock of provisions daily 

 shortening, rendered some despe- 

 rate measure immediately neces- 

 sary. 



That which seemed most feasible 

 was by a sudden night attack, 

 with our four boats well armed, 

 to carry by boarding some of their 

 vessels, and, by manning them, 

 repeat our attack with increased 

 force, taking more, or dispersing 

 them. The possession of some of 

 their proas, in addition to our 

 own boats, (taking into consider- 

 ation that our numbers would be 

 thinned on the occasion,) might 

 enable us to shove off for Java, in 

 defiance of them. Any attempt to 

 move on a raft, with their vessels 

 playing round it, armed with 

 swivels, was evidently impossible. 

 Awful as our situation now was, 

 and every hour becoming more 

 80 5 — starvation staring us in the 

 face, on one hand, and without a 

 hope of mercy from the savages 

 on the other ; — yet there were no 

 symptoms of depression, or gloomy 

 despair ; every mind seemed buoy- 

 ant J and, if any estimate of the 

 general feeling could be collected 

 from countenances, from the man- 

 ner and expressions of all, there 

 appeared to be formed in every 

 breast a calm determination to 

 dash at them, and be successful ; 

 or to fall, as became men, in the 

 attempt to be free. 



About noon on this day, whilst 

 schemes and proposals were flying 

 about, as ta the mode of executing 

 the measures in view, Mr. John- 

 stone, (ever on the alert,) who 

 had mounted the look-out tree, 

 one of the loftiest on the summit 

 of our hill, descried a sail at a 



great distance to the southward, 

 which he thought larger than a 

 Malay vessel. The buz of con- 

 versation was in a moment hush- 

 ed, and every eye fixed anxiously 

 on the tree for the next report, a 

 signal man and telescope being 

 instantly sent up. She was now- 

 lost sight of from a dark squall 

 overspreading that part of th« 

 horizon, but in about twenty mi- 

 nutes she again emerged from the 

 cloud, and was decidedly an- 

 nounced to be a square-rigged 

 vessel. " Are you quite sure of 

 that ?" was eagerly inquired : — 

 "Quite certain," was the reply: — 

 " it is either a ship or a brig 

 standing towards the islandj under 

 all sail !" — The joy this happy 

 sight infusedj and the gratitude of 

 every heart at this prospect of de- 

 liverance, may be more easily 

 conceived than described. It oc- 

 casioned a sudden transition of the 

 mind from one train of thinking 

 to another, as if waking from a 

 disagreeable dream. We imme- 

 diately displayed our colours on 

 the highest branch of the tree, to 

 attract attention, lest she should 

 only be a passing stranger. 



The pirates soon after this dis- 

 covered the ship, (a signal having 

 been made with a gun by those 

 anchored behind Pulo Chalacca,) 

 which occasioned an evident stir 

 among them. As the water was 

 ebbing fast, it was thought pos- 

 sible, by an unexpected rush out 

 to the edge of the reef, to get 

 some of them under fire, and se- 

 cure them. They seemed, how- 

 ever, to have suspected our pur- 

 pose ; for, the moment the sea- 

 men and marines appeared from 

 under the mangroves, the nearest 

 proa let fly her »wivel among a 



party 



