This fifth trip was quite different from any of the others. In the firstplace, the little gallipot of a boat that we were in was gravelyoverloaded. Five grown men, and three of them--Trelawney, Redruth, andthe captain--over six feet high, was already more than she was meant tocarry. Add to that the powder, pork, and the bread-bags. The gunwale waslipping astern. Several times we shipped a little water, and my breechesand the tails of my coat were all soaking wet before we had gone ahundred yards.

The captain made us trim the boat, and we got her to lie a little moreevenly. All the same, we were afraid to breathe.

In the second place, the ebb was now making--a strong, rippling currentrunning westward through the basin, and then south'ard and seaward downthe straits by which we had entered in the morning. Even the rippleswere a danger to our overloaded craft, but the worst of it was that wewere swept out of our true course, and away from our properlanding-place behind the point. If we let the current have its way weshould come ashore beside the gigs, where the pirates might appear atany moment.

"I cannot keep her head for the stockade, sir," said I to the captain. Iwas steering, while he and Redruth, two fresh men, were at the oars."The tide keeps washing her down. Could you pull a little stronger?"

"Not without swamping the boat," said he. "You must bear up, sir, if youplease--bear up until you see you're gaining."

I tried, and found by experiment that the tide kept sweeping us westwarduntil I had laid her head due east, or just about right angles to theway we ought to go.

"We'll never get ashore at this rate," said I.

"If it's the only course that we can lie, sir, we must even lie it,"returned the captain. "We must keep upstream. You see, sir," he went on,"if once we dropped to leeward of the landing-place, it's hard to saywhere we should get ashore, besides the chance of being boarded by thegigs; whereas, the way we go the current must slacken, and then we candodge back along the shore."

"The current's less a'ready, sir," said the man Gray, who was sitting inthe foresheets; "you can ease her off a bit."

"Thank you, my man," said I, quite as if nothing had happened, for wehad all quietly made up our minds to treat him like one of ourselves.

Suddenly the captain spoke up again, and I thought his voice was alittle changed.

"The gun!" said he.

"I have thought of that," said I, for I made sure he was thinking of abombardment of the fort. "They could never get the gun ashore, and ifthey did, they could never haul it through the woods."

"Look astern, doctor," replied the captain.

We had entirely forgotten the long nine; and there, to our horror, werethe five rogues busy about her, getting off her jacket, as they calledthe stout tarpaulin cover under which she sailed. Not only that, but itflashed into my mind at the same moment that the round shot and thepowder for the gun had been left behind, and a stroke with an ax wouldput it all into the possession of the evil ones aboard.

"Israel was Flint's gunner," said Gray, hoarsely.

At any risk, we put the boat's head direct for the landing-place. Bythis time we had got so far out of the run of the current that we keptsteerage way even at our necessarily gentle rate of rowing, and I couldkeep her steady for the goal. But the worst of it was, that with thecourse I now held, we turned our broadside instead of our stern to the_Hispaniola_, and offered a target like a barn door.

I could hear, as well as see, that brandy-faced rascal, Israel Hands,plumping down a round shot on the deck.

"Who's the best shot?" asked the captain.

"Mr. Trelawney, out and away," said I.

"Mr. Trelawney, will you please pick me off one of those men, sir?Hands, if possible," said the captain.

Trelawney was as cold as steel. He looked to the priming of his gun.

"Now," cried the captain, "easy with that gun, sir, or you'll swamp theboat. All hands stand by to trim her when he aims."

The squire raised his gun, the rowing ceased, and we leaned over to theother side to keep the balance, and all was so nicely contrived that wedid not ship a drop.

[Illustration: _They had the gun, by this time, slewed around upon theswivel_ (Page 125)]

They had the gun, by this time, slewed around upon the swivel, andHands, who was at the muzzle, with the rammer, was, in consequence, themost exposed. However, we had no luck; for just as Trelawney fired,down he stooped, the ball whistling over him, and it was one of theother four who fell.

The cry he gave was echoed, not only by his companions on board, but bya great number of voices from the shore, and looking in that direction Isaw the other pirates trooping out from among the trees and tumblinginto their places in the boats.

"Here come the gigs, sir," said I.

"Give way, then," said the captain. "We mustn't mind if we swamp hernow. If we can't get ashore, all's up."

"Only one of the gigs is being manned, sir," I added; "the crew of theother is most likely going around by shore to cut us off."

"They'll have a hot run, sir," returned the captain. "Jack ashore, youknow. It's not them I mind; it's the round shot. Carpet bowls! My lady'smaid couldn't miss. Tell us, squire, when you see the match, and we'llhold water."

In the meantime we had been making headway at a good pace for a boat sooverloaded, and we had shipped but little water in the process. We werenow close in; thirty or forty strokes and we should beach her, for theebb had already disclosed a narrow belt of sand below the clusteringtrees. The gig was no longer to be feared; the little point had alreadyconcealed it from our eyes. The ebb-tide, which had so cruelly delayedus, was now making reparation, and delaying our assailants. The onesource of danger was the gun.

"If I durst," said the captain, "I'd stop and pick off another man."

But it was plain that they meant nothing should delay their shot. Theyhad never so much as looked at their fallen comrade, though he was notdead, and I could see him trying to crawl away.

"Ready!" cried the squire.

"Hold!" cried the captain, quick as an echo.

And he and Redruth backed with a great heave that sent her astern bodilyunder water. The report fell in at the same instant of time. This wasthe first that Jim heard, the sound of the squire's shot not havingreached him. When the ball passed, not one of us precisely knew, but Ifancy it must have been over our heads, and that the wind of it may havecontributed to our disaster.

At any rate the boat sunk by the stern, quite gently, in three feet ofwater, leaving the captain and myself, facing each other, on our feet.The other three took complete headers, and came up again, drenched andbubbling.

So far there was no great harm. No lives were lost, and we could wadeashore in safety. But there were all our stores at the bottom, and, tomake things worse, only two guns out of five remained in a state forservice. Mine I had snatched from my knees, and held over my head, by asort of instinct. As for the captain, he had carried his over hisshoulder by a bandoleer, and, like a wise man, lock uppermost. The otherthree had gone down with the boat. To add to our concern, we heardvoices already drawing near us in the woods along the shore; and we hadnot only the danger of being cut off from the stockade in ourhalf-crippled state, but the fear before us whether, if Hunter and Joycewere attacked by half a dozen, they would have the sense and conduct tostand firm. Hunter was steady, that we knew; Joyce was a doubtfulcase--a pleasant, polite man for a valet, and to brush one's clothes,but not entirely fitted for a man-of-war.

With all this in our minds, we waded ashore as fast as we could, leavingbehind us the poor jolly-boat, and a good half of all our powder andprovisions.