"I'm jiggered if the sharks ain't slaver-men then," exclaimed the coxswain indignantly. "Stand by to lay in your oars, lads, and follow Mr. Thring and me aboard with shovels and stretchers in your fists." The cutter dashed alongside the dhow. Over the latter's bulwarks appeared a row of fierce bearded faces, and the sunlight glanced brightly on spears and scimitars. It was an exciting moment. "Bowmen, hang on there forrard!" shouted the middy, as he drew his little dirk from its sheath--a weapon never intended for active service. "Grab some of them chaps' weapons as soon as you can, lads," roared the coxswain, as he clambered up the dhow's clumsy side; "and then we'll play 'old Harry' with the swabs." With a dash and determination which nothing could withstand the cutter's crew followed their youthful leader on board, dealing telling blows with their shovels and stretchers as they did so, but unfortunately one or two seamen were wounded by the spears of the foe before they gained the deck of the slaver. Now came a fierce hand-to-hand tussle. The Arabs had uttered triumphant shouts of joy when they perceived that the British seamen were without weapons, for they deemed it an easy matter to overcome them. So they thrust with spear and cut with scimitar, fiercely urging each other to drive the enemy back into their boat again. But they soon found they had tough customers to deal with--men who were accustomed to fighting against tremendous odds. The coxswain, an immensely powerful man in the prime of life, soon wrested a scimitar from one of his opponents, and, rushing into the thick of the fray, cut down everyone who opposed him. Young Thring had not been so fortunate. Having gained in safety the dhow's bulwarks, he thrust with his dirk at an Arab who was opposing his further advance, and by great good luck wounded him in the sword-arm, causing the man to drop his spear over the taffrail, whence it fell into the cutter. The middy was about to spring on board when he received a violent blow on the chest from a clubbed musket and fell backwards into the boat, in the stern-sheets of which he lay senseless for a few moments. The bowmen were unable to assist him, owing to their important duties forward. [Illustration: (Villiers and slaver-men)] Quickly regaining consciousness, however, the youngster, who had never lost his grip of the dirk, threw that almost useless weapon aside, and, seizing the formidable spear which the Arab had dropped into the boat, he once more clambered up the dhow's tall side.