MORE CRUISING AFTEK PIRATES. 329 



opera-glasses steadily at work, and watched us narrowly. 

 Not a woman was to be seen, which looked as if they 

 meant business. I knew our eight-inch gun was keenly 

 alive to our movements, and ready to send forth a very 

 effectual messenger if needed. Forming in single file, 

 we opened into view over a small hillock, and went at 

 them at a steady trot. A minute they stood as if irre- 

 solute, then wavered, turned round and ran, as if a whole 

 regiment with fixed bayonets were at their heels; instead 

 of only twenty blue-jackets and marines, which consti- 

 tuted the whole of my force. The only creature we 

 caught was a stray young female, and how she got adrift 

 from the rest of her sex, who were evidently stowed 

 away in the hills, I cannot tell. The battery we simply 

 walked into from behind, and the whole affair was at 

 an end, except the destruction of the village, which 

 was soon accomplished by burning it to the ground. 

 During the time that the preceding events were taking- 

 place, a couple of junks had been blown up, and with 

 them three of my men, but fortunately they had come 

 down again, damaged considerably, but not altogether 

 expended. The gunner was one ; he was three months 

 in the hospital, and then returned to duty, but wonder- 

 fully changed for the better in appearance. A marine 

 was a year ill ; the other case was not so serious. 



