MORE CRUISING AFTER PIRATES. 347 



the contrary, they clustered closer round their guns, 

 talking hurriedly amongst themselves. 



Quietly topping the crest, we quickly passed through 

 the few yards which intervened between the coveted 

 sanpan and our position, and, pushing off with three 

 men, made for the junks. The scene that now took 

 place was too absurd. To the ruffians' utter consterna- 

 tion, four dreaded beings appeared within a few yards of 

 them, three more were moving round the beach. Pro- 

 bably in their confused minds we were only the first of 

 a large party. Into the boats alongside the junks they 

 jumped, tumbled, and fell ; half of them missed their 

 mark and went into the water. The splashing and 

 excitement were most ludicrous. Our wretched sanpan 

 would keep turning round and round, and the more we 

 tried to catch some of the terror-stricken pirates, the 

 more the thing would go as if on a pivot. It resembled 

 a duck-hunt in a tub much more than a piratical cap- 

 ture. In came one of my boats to assist, which added 

 considerably to the confusion already produced. By 

 the time most of the Chinamen had reached the shore, 

 we had captured seven or eight ; the rest were very soon 

 in safety amongst the bushes and other cover. The 

 junks we of course destroyed. 



It may appear, from what I have said, that China- 



