Chap. XVIII. 
PIRATES REPULSED. 
309 
the last time the helm of the nearest junk was put down, 
when we instantly fell flat on our faces and allowed the 
shot to pass over us. As soon as their last gun was fired, 
and before they had time to load again, I poured the 
contents of my gun amongst them fore and aft, as I had 
done before. This took them completely by surprise ; 
and as we were still under a heavy press of sail, we were 
soon a considerable way ahead of them. Two others 
of the fleet came up and fired some shots at us, but 
the whole of them evidently imagined that a number of 
foreigners were on board of our junk, a belief which 
doubtless had a great deal to do with the success which 
attended my efforts. At length, darkness coming on, 
they gave up the pursuit and bore away from us, 
and in two hours more we arrived at a safe anchorage. 
The fever, which I had scarcely felt during all this 
excitement, now returned with greater violence, and 
I was heartily glad to go below and turn into my 
bed. 
During the night I heard a great noise on board, but 
was too feverish and weak to make any inquiries as to 
the cause. In the morning my servant informed me 
that it was occasioned by the arrival of three junks 
during the night, which had been chased to the entrance 
of the harbour by the pirates ; there had, he said, 
originally been four in company, but one of them had 
been taken. 
The sailors on board these junks had not been so 
fortunate as we had been, for several of them were 
severely wounded, and I was now asked to extract the 
balls. The wounds were large and ragged, owing to the 
