The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-03-27

On to the creek; the other four were in
a line behind these, and it seemed that
their broadsides were directed to the
opposite side of the pool, for the other
two boats were in the way of their fir
ing at the creek. They were long, low
vessels, rowing some 200 oars on each
side. Each carried a number of small
brass guns, and they were evidently
full of men, for numbers could be seen
on deck, and boats were passing to and
fro between them and small village
at the edge of the pool. Having taken
in all the details of the scene, the lieu
tenant passed the word for the mate to
leave his own boat and join him. When
he did so he whispered to him:
L thought it was as well that you
should have a view of these fellows po-
sition, too, Morrison. as ii would be of
use to you if you have to take boat in
to attack them"
Two minutes later the boats were
drawn back again to the open water in
their rear, and rowed as noiselessly as
! before down the creek, no word being
spoken until they were half mile
away from the. pool.
That is a snug hiding place, Mr..
Morrison" the lieutenant said.
1T is, indeed. sir. Who would have
thought the scoundrelS were so close
to us, or that they lay up this narrow
dozen times and never thought worth
examining. l should not have dreamt
that one of those craft could have
passed through"
Il doubt whether they did pass
through. They hardly could have
done so without breaking down a good
many of those branches, and we must
have seen signs of that. 1 think they
must have gone into that pool by some
creek coming in on the opposite side.
You see, four out of the six boats were
anchored in line, so as to bring their
broadsides to bear on some point OPP
posite to them, while the other two
guarded them from any attack from
this side. Naturally they thought it
unlikely that any boat would come up
here, and so directed their main atten-
ton to the other opening. The next
thing to find out will be where the
other stream joins the river, other
wise, as soon as we make our appear
ance they will escape that way, and
there is not the least doubt that they
could row away from our fastest boats
However, it is a great thing that we
have discovered their whereabouts
without their having the least notion
that We have done so, and l am sure
the captain will be very pleased when
he hears that we have found them. 1t
will give him the whip hand over that
lying rascal Sehi."
Captain Forest smiled grimly when
the lieutenant made his report of the
discovery that he had made.
Thank you. Mr.. Hopkins; that is a
very valuable discovery. Just at pres
ent matters have not come to a point
when we can turn it to account The
next thing Will be to find out where
the other passages come out. II will
be d serious business to attack them in
the boats alone; these pTahus carry a
tremendous lot of men, and the Malays
will fight desperately. 1, do not say
that we might not succeed, but we
should lose a lot of men in the at
tempt: it would be hot work even with
the ship attacked by six of these fell
lows at once. If it was in the night,
we might fail to see any of them be-
fore they were upon us, and we should
have hard work to beat back 400 or 500
of them If they all came sWarming on
deck together. However. we can wait,
and the first time the rajah shows any
signs of tTeachery We can pounce upon
his fleet. He will not dream that we
have discovered their hiding place, and