Free Battle Fleet (2007) by Paul Dowswell Page A

them.
    Bagley held his pistol plainly in front of him. ‘Don’t fire unless you’re sure of your target,’ said Hossack. ‘I have a pistol, but I have only powder for it and no shot.’
    Every flutter of wings or snapping twig close by made us start. I counted fifteen natives now and perhaps more were creeping around the beach towards us. They stood plainly in view, leaning on their spears, staring over to where we sat.
    We heard a clattering close by. Peering into the dense undergrowth we saw only dancing shadows. I caught a glimpse of a shoulder or an arm, perhaps ten yards away from us. Bagley must have seen it too for he fired his pistol into the forest. I saw a flash of orange fur as a monkey hurtled away. The whiff of gunpowder caught in my nostrils and when my ears had stopped ringing from the sound of the pistol I could hear laughter. Not close by, but from across the beach. The natives were amused by our behaviour. We had let them know how jumpy and frightened we were. Then they settled down and started to stamp their feet and spears again, as we had seen them do when the boat left.
    ‘I don’t think they’re sneaking round to attack us,’ I said. ‘I don’t suppose they’d be laughing if they thought we’d shot one of theirs.’
    Now his last shot had gone, Bagley grew fretful. ‘Why don’t they come?’ he kept saying. Hossack was unusually patient. He might be an ass, but he was proving tobe a good man in a tight spot. ‘The tide is against us. When it comes in, the boat will return. Now fill your pistol with powder,’ he handed his powder horn over to Bagley. ‘We might at least be able to frighten them with some blank shots.’
    It was mid-afternoon when the
Orion
’s cutter started back towards us. ‘Witchall, go and see if you can stand up and attract their attention somewhere where the natives can’t see you,’ said Hossack.
    It seemed a forlorn task, but I retreated to the edge of the jungle and waved my arms wildly. The cutter headed close to our position.
    It ran aground in the shallows, about ten feet from the edge of the shore, and Evison jumped out and waded towards us. So far, the natives had stayed where they were, but this was their cue. As soon as the Captain reached the beach, another ten of them emerged from cover and they all began to stamp their feet and beat the ground with their spears.
    This was no time for clever tactics. ‘Run!’ shouted Evison, and we did. The fruit we had painstakingly gathered was abandoned and we hurtled along the beach towards the shoreline. The natives began to charge towards us and Hossack and Bagley both levelled their pistols and fired. At once, the natives threw themselves to the ground. It gained us several vital seconds before their courage returned and they raced forwards.
    We reached the shore almost together, Bel running as fast as any of us, with her dress gathered up around her knees. But now stones were falling around us, and one hit me in the back of the head with such force it knocked me to the ground. I felt momentarily dazed but could hear Bel yelling, ‘Get up, Sam,’ as she dragged me to my feet. The spears would come next.
    Men in the cutter were already pushing it out from the shore, and the boat was afloat by the time we reached it. Hands grabbed and bundled us aboard as stones rained down with merciless frequency. The fastest of the natives had already reached the water, and would be upon us any moment. Evison felled him with a pistol shot.
    I remembered something I had read in Captain Bligh’s account of his own battle with natives and shouted, ‘Let’s throw our clothes at them – that will distract them!’
    Evison led by example. He took off his blue captain’s jacket with fine gold embroidery and gleaming brass buttons, scrunched it into a ball and threw it over the heads of the nearest natives and towards the shallows. At once, some turned and scrambled back, determined to be the first to reach this choice