Among Malay Pirates

Among Malay Pirates

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Among Malay Pirates, by G. A.
Henty #15 in our series by G. A. Henty
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: Among Malay Pirates And Other Tales Of Adventure And Peril
Author: G. A. Henty
Release Date: January, 2005 [EBook #7346] [Yes, we are more than

one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 18,
2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMONG
MALAY PIRATES ***

This eBook was produced by Martin Robb

AMONG MALAY PIRATES A TALE OF ADVENTURE AND
PERIL by G. A. Henty.

CHAPTER I.
"I wish most heartily that something would happen," Harry Parkhurst, a
midshipman of some sixteen years of age, said to his chum, Dick
Balderson, as they leaned on the rail of her majesty's gunboat Serpent,
and looked gloomily at the turbid stream that rolled past the ship as she
lay at anchor.
"One day is just like another--one is in a state of perspiration from
morning till night, and from night till morning. There seems to be
always a mist upon the water; and if it were not that we get up steam
every three or four days and run out for twenty-four hours for a breath
of fresh air, I believe that we should be all eaten up with fever in no
time. Of course, they are always talking. of Malay pirates up the river
kicking up a row; but it never seems to come off."

"There is one thing, Harry--there is always something to look at, for
there are canoes constantly going up and down, and there is plenty of
variety among them--from the sluggish dhows, laden with up country
produce, to the long canoes with a score of paddlers and some
picturesque ruffian sitting in the stern. It adds to the interest when you
know that the crews are cutthroats to a man, and would make but the
shortest possible work of you if they had got you in their power."
"Yes, Dick. Look at that canoe coming up stream; what a good looking
chap that is in the stern, though by the way he scowls at us I can quite
believe he would, as you say, cut our throats if he had the chance. That
is a pretty little child sitting by him, and what a gorgeous dress she has!
There, you see, he can look pleasant enough when he speaks to her. I
fancy they must have come from a long way up the river, for they look
wilder than most of the fellows who pass us. If that fool who is steering
her does not mind what he is about, Dick, he will either run into that
canoe coming down or else get across our chain. There, I told you so."
The man at the tiller was in fact, looking, with mingled curiosity and
hostility, at the gunboat that he was passing but a few yards away, and
did not notice a canoe, manned by six rowers, that was coming down
with the stream, taking an oblique course across the bows of the
Serpent, and was indeed hidden from his view by the hull of the vessel,
until he had passed beyond her. Then there was a sudden shout and a
yell from a dozen throats, as the two canoes came into collision, the
one proceeding up the river being struck on the quarter with a force that
almost cut her in two, and in an instant her occupants were in the water.
As the Malays were to a man almost as much at home in the water as
on land, the accident would have had little effect beyond the loss of the
boat and its contents, had it not been that the stern of the other craft
struck the Malay chief with such force as to completely disable him,
and he would have sunk