Bravo, lads! What soldiers I could make of all of you! Now, look here, I'll give the order to fire, but what you have to do is this: wait till these black murdering scoundrels make a hole in the defence, and then you fill it up with the mouth of your pieces, and look sharp, before they thrust through a spear." The men uttered a low growl, and the captain now stood by the major, while Morgan after a smile at Mark seated himself upon the cabin table to watch for an attack from the sky-light, toward which he held a loaded revolver.
A sharp report from Mr Gregory's gun was followed by another yell, telling painfully enough that the Malays had been deceived in imagining that the whole of the little force would be defending the door, and that now was the time to cut the boat adrift.
The yell from the water was followed by a fierce one on deck, and the chopping and splintering of wood.

The door was stoutly built, but those behind were very slight, and it was not long before the panels began to show gaps of splinters and jagged holes through which spears were thrust so suddenly that the men fell back, and the blows were redoubled.
"Ah! they are nasty weapons, my lads," said the major coolly.

"Serve them this way." As he spoke he watched his opportunity, waiting till a spear was darted in for some distance, when, catching it in his left hand, he pressed it aside, readied forward, and discharged his revolver right through the hole by which the spear had come.
The proof of the efficacy of this shot was shown by the major drawing in the spear and throwing it upon the deck, while his example was followed more or less by the men, who now sent shot after shot through the various holes made in the door.
"Don't waste your fire, lads; don't waste your fire," cried the major; and his words were not without effect, as the slow delivery of shots, and the yells of pain and rage which followed many of the discharges, told.
No more attempts were made to cut away the boat, and Mr Gregory's piece became silent; but it soon grew evident that a fresh attack was to be made upon them, for the crashing and shivering of glass was heard in the sky-lights, and directly after, heavy blows from an axe.

This was soon followed by the appearance of an opening through which a spear-head gleamed as the weapon was darted down so adroitly that it passed through the fold of the boatswain's trousers, and pinned him to the table on one side of which he too leant.
The answer to this was a shot from Morgan's revolver, and another from the gun the boatswain held, after which he proceeded leisurely to wriggle out the spear and draw it away.
Then more blows were heard, and a fresh hole was made in the sky-light defence, but the spear thrust down more than met its match, and after a shot or two no more blows were delivered there.
By this time the Malays had grown less daring, and though a man or two rushed forward now and then to dart a spear at them, there was a cessation of the work of destroying with axes, and the sailors were able to keep command of the holes, and send a well-directed shot through from time to time.
But the encounter, badly as it had gone with the Malays, had had its effects among the defenders of the place.

The major had an ugly gash in his left arm delivered by a knife-bladed spear.