But, enraged by their defeat, and doubly mortified to find that we had discovered their treasure, the pirates seemed now to have cast aside their cowardice, and were creeping in nearer and nearer, yelling to each other by way of encouragement; and, in addition to keeping up an irregular fire, they strove, I suppose, to intimidate us by beating and making a deafening noise on gongs. "They will be too much for us," I thought, when we seemed to have been keeping up the struggle for hours, though minutes would have been a more correct definition; and, with the longing for help and counsel growing more and more intense, I was about to kneel down and speak to Mr Reardon, and ask him to try and save himself. But I started to my feet, for there was a louder yelling than ever, and the pirates made quite a rush, which brought them abreast of us. "Cutlasses!" I cried; and there was the rattle made in fixing them, bayonet fashion, on the rifles, when--_boom_!--_thud_!--came the roar of a heavy gun; there was a whistling shrieking in the air, and then somewhere overhead an ear-splitting crash, followed by the breaking of bushes and trampling down of grass and bamboo. Then perfect silence, followed by a cheer from our men. "Well done, _Teaser_!" shouted Tom Jecks. It was a diversion which, I believe, saved us, for the enemy fled for some distance, and gave us time to go on lightening the foremost boat. But before we had been at work many minutes there was a cheer from close at hand, and upon our answering it, another and another, with splashing of oars, and the next minute I heard Mr Brooke's voice from beyond the first boat. CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. SAVED. "Look sharp, sir," I said, after going forward, and in a few words explaining our position. "Right, my lad. Get your men together in the stern of your boat, and keep up the fire, while we make fast and try and tow you off. Hi! quick there!" he roared; and a cheer told us that another boat was close at hand. But my work was cut out, the men placed well under cover, and we waited listening for the first sounds of the returning enemy, while from time to time Mr Brooke's clear, short orders came out of the darkness behind us, and we knew that he had sent a party into the fixed boat to rock it from side to side. Then came a cheer, as the water rolled hissing and whispering among the reeds; there was the simultaneous plash of oars, and a creaking sound. Then another sound from the bank of the creek, which I knew well enough. "Say when, sir," whispered Tom Jecks. "They're a-coming on." To our astonishment, for the enemy had crept forward so silently that we had hardly heard a sound, there was a hideous yell, and a crashing volley, the bullets hissing over our heads again, and once more the gong-beating began. "Fire!" I said. "Yes, fire, my lads, steady--where you see the flashes of their matchlocks." The voice came from close to my ear. "Mr Reardon!" I cried in astonishment.