beyond Sing's simple gunnery. The Chinaman had not

taken the time to sight the ancient weapon carefully,

but a gleeful smile lit his wrinkled, yellow face as he

saw the splash of the ball where it struck the water

almost at the side of the prahu.

Sing realized that the boat might contain friendly natives,

but he had cruised these waters too many years to take chances.

Better kill a hundred friends, he thought, than be captured

by a single pirate.

At the shot the prahu slowed up, and a volley of

musketry from her crew satisfied Sing that he had made

no mistake in classifying her. Her fire fell short as

did the ball from the small cannon mounted in her bow.

Virginia was watching the prahu from one of the cabin

ports. She saw the momentary hesitation and confusion

which followed Sing's first shot, and then to her

dismay she saw the rowers bend to their oars again and

the prahu move swiftly in the direction of the Ithaca.

It was apparent that the pirates had perceived the

almost defenseless condition of the schooner. In a few

minutes they would be swarming the deck, for poor old

Sing would be entirely helpless to repel them. If Dr.

von Horn were only there, thought the distracted girl.

With the machine gun alone he might keep them off.

At the thought of the machine gun a sudden resolve

gripped her. Why not man it herself? Von Horn had

explained its mechanism to her in detail, and on one

occasion had allowed her to operate it on the voyage

from Singapore. With the thought came action. Running

to the magazine she snatched up a feed-belt, and in

<<BackPagesTo menuNext>>