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.
"Yes, Herrick; that bullet quite stunned me for a minute or two.