"One wouldn't have time to prepare anything if one wanted to," said the captain, after a sharp glance forward. "Will you leave it to me, gentlemen, to do my best?" "Of course," said Sir Humphrey, and Briscoe nodded from where he knelt, with his double gun held ready in his hand. "Then here goes," said the captain. "Ahoy there, Dellow; clap on all you can, take the tiller yourself; and run one of the canoes down. Let your lads knock all over who try to board you." "Ay, ay!" came back in answer from the second boat. "Now, Lynton," continued the captain, "steer for that canoe in the centre. We're going faster than they are. You, gentlemen, don't shoot, but use the butt-ends of your rifles if we should happen to get to close quarters. Every man take an oar or boathook, and use 'em like as if they were whaling-lances. Ready? Look out!" Their boat, with the sail straining at the sheet, was now rushing through the water, the side not two inches above the surface, as she raced for the centre of the line of canoes. "Sit fast!" roared the captain. "Down with you, Mr Brace, or you'll be overboard." Brace, who had risen in his excitement so as to be able to club his gun, dropped down on to the seat at once. Then from in front as their own boat seemed to be standing absolutely still and the line of canoes dashing rapidly at them with the paddles churning up the water on either side, there was a fierce yelling, a gleam of opal-rimmed eyes, a crash which made the boat quiver from stem to stern. The sail jerked and snapped as if it were going to fall over the side, and then they were past the centre canoe, sailing on as fast as ever. Lynton had done his work well, steering so that he drove the boat's iron-protected cut-water right upon the centre canoe's bows diagonally some six feet from the front, when for a few brief moments their progress seemed to be stopped. Directly afterwards the occupants of the stoutly-built boat felt her gliding right over the canoe, which rolled like a log of wood, and then the men were cheering as they looked back at the glistening bottom of the long vessel and six or eight black heads bobbing about in the water. Crash, grind, and there was another canoe capsized, literally rolled over by the second boat, which seemed to those in the first to rise and glide over the crank dug-out, now beginning to float broadside on with her crew swimming to her side. A hearty cheer rose now from Dellow and his men, which was echoed from the first boat, as the distance between the party and their fierce enemies rapidly increased. "You did that splendidly, captain!" cried Brace excitedly. "Tidy, sir, tidy," was the reply; "but these boats weren't built for steeplechasing in South American rivers. Let's see what damage is done. I don't suppose we're much hurt."